April 29, 2009 at 11:41 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Memoir, review, Stephen King, Writing
I’m nearly 10 years behind in the review of this book. If you haven’t yet read King’s On Writing, it’s past time to get to it. If you aren’t interested in writing but are interested in the life of the author (even a little bit) pick this one up.
The first half of this book cover’s the life of Stephen King. Guess what? It was interesting. Actually, it wasn’t just interesting, but laugh out loud funny in quite a few parts. I have always imagined that this man had come from some blue blood New England family, when it’s the complete opposite. King has worked his butt of to get where he is and that makes me appreciate him a great deal more then I did. The incite that he provides into his experiences is worth the read.
I’ve read quite a few How-To books on writing. Yes, I know, it doesn’t exactly show here. I try to keep things nice and casual. This book is one of the best. His explanations are the no holds barred advice that writers need to hear. He also includes examples of good editing and admits where he has his own problems. This is probably the only book on writing that I’ve come across where the other admits that he doesn’t poop (sorry, King, I try to keep the site PG) gold bricks on the first go around.
Again, even if you don’t give a damn about writing, the family stories in this book are priceless.
Mr. King, I doubt you’ll ever read this blog, but if you do, I need to say thanks for finishing this book!
Leave a Comment
April 29, 2009 at 11:25 pm (Uncategorized)
After over 6 months of inaction, I am happy to say that I am back to continue this blog. Life has been a little bit crazy, but when it’s all said and done, that’s what makes it interesting.
I’ve kept up with my writing (and reading) and have a few things out being reviewed (and hopefully accepted) my magazines and such. Now… on to the reviews! If anyone has any suggested reading or would like an opinion on a book, feel free to ask. New books = happy me!
Leave a Comment
September 3, 2008 at 2:01 am (Uncategorized)
For all those commuters out there, those long road trip drivers and people with boring desk jobs…get onto iTunes and look up Podiobooks, or go to podiobooks.com! I stumbled onto this completely by accident. Hell, I didnt even realize that I was already listening to one..I just thought, ’sigh…another ad on free download.” OK…its worth it. No more paying for hours of entertainment. There are some FANTASTIC stories out there!
There is the Heaven series by Mur Lafferty (already reviewed…see, I had no idea this was a podiobook!) which is bloody fantastic. I just finished the first two books of 7th Son (anyone interested in cloning) which is great…and then I also just finished up Ancestors…I’ll be reviewing both 7th Son and Ancestors in the days to come. Honest. I just had a short sabbatical. 
So pick up your MP3 player and plug in! These authors know there stuff and are pumping out some fantastic stuff for us!
1 Comment
August 1, 2008 at 6:42 pm (Uncategorized)
There I was, library card in hand, with nothing to read before a weekend at the beach. Suddenly, I saw it. The Book of Joby. Wait…thats a lie. I saw a book with a dragon on the cover. Its been awhile since I have read a good fantasy book, the ‘fantasy fiction’ (as opposed to fantasy non-fiction??) library tag added to the draw and I figured…what the heck?
There are two major downfalls to this book. I ‘borrowed’ it from the library on Wednesday and didn’t actually go to the beach until Friday morning. By the time I actually got to the beach… I finished reading the book in less than two hours (having spent two days sneaking readings before hand)…I was already to the last hundred or so pages. So…BAD Mark Ferrari for writing a book that I couldn’t put down! Now I’m at the beach and all I have to do is blog! The second downfall? No dragons. But thats ok. Shapeshifters and demons make up for the lack of dragons.
This was a fabulous book and I have a really hard time grasping how this could possibly be ANYONES first novel. This is so well written, so gripping, and so involved that it could easily be a very good writers magnum opus. Which of course means, Mark Ferrari…that I am expecting many extraordinary novels to follow in the footsteps of this one!
The basic story premise? Mr Ferrari has thrown God and the Devil into battle..well, into a wager, in this novel. God had withdrawn, he will not interfer, while Lucifer can do whatever he wants to win…except, of course, for telling Gods champion that he is embroiled in a bet between Heaven and Hell…and failure will result in an Earth built in the imagine of Lucifer. Did I mention that God choses a 9 year old boy? Huh? What? No really, thats what happens!
As if thats not enough of a story, Ferrari throws in Arthurian legend into the mix. I mean honestly…wow.
Dont just borrow it from the library, add it to your shelf. This was the best read that I have had in quite some time!
Oh, and check out Mark Ferrari who also is a very talented artist. Enjoy.
Leave a Comment
July 30, 2008 at 3:08 am (Psuedopod, dark, fiction, obese, paranormal, podcast, review, short story)
Re: Votary by M.K. Hobson.
I first heard Votary on Pseudopod, which is a short horror fiction podcast, and I very nearly turned it off. Several times. But I have to admit that this has ended up being one of my favorite stories so far. Even though I think its disgusting. If you listen/read the story, you’ll see what I mean.
Hobson masterfully describes the adoration of a daughter for her unnaturally obese father. Yes, its all fine and dandy that a daughter loves her father, but the writing was so descriptive regarding the scent of the childs’ father and wrapping up in folds of fat. It was really hideously disgusting. Which is why I almost turned it off…then remembered, ‘oh wait, horror story, its supposed to be gross.’ So…mission accomplished. I was horrified.
This one really stuck with me. Thats what I like about it. I listened to it for the first time several weeks ago, and have had to hear it several times since. It’s not that I don’t like this story..its really just… GROSS. But I keep coming back to it. The writing is fantastic… I really think its all around fantastic…in a weird way. Does this make sense? I’m so completely.. gacked by the story that I have to say its great, not just good. I’m pretty sure Hobson achieved with me exactly what she was planning with this story. I don’t know what else to say except that I am left wide eyed and horrified. I give this 4 out of 4 barf bags. Which is a good thing for a horror story. ;-D
1 Comment
July 27, 2008 at 9:23 pm (Great Lakes, Loch Ness, dark, lake monster, legends, paranormal, underwater)
What comes to mind when I say, “Lake Monster?” Are you thinking, Nessie? Loch Ness? Or just rolling your eyes? This blog isn’t about Nessie. It IS about similar creatures reportedly sighted over the last 200 years in the Great Lakes. I would imagine that most people that pay attention to the paranormal field, if not the cryptozoological field, have at least heard rumors of Champ, the rumored monster of Lake Champlain. Uh…which is actually not one of the five Great Lakes, although I’ve found references including it as a missing sixth. For this blog, we are going to poke around a bit at the depths of the Great Lakes.
Lake Erie is rumored to contain a similar creature similar to Nessie, dubbed ‘Bessie.’ The first documented sighting was in October of 1817. Reports from way back when describe her as about 30-45 feet long with dark, possibly black skin, and bright eyes. The most recent sighting that I could find mention of was in 1993 by two local fire inspectors. If you happen up to Lake Erie and are feeling very brave (insane), Tom Solberg of the Huron Lagoons Marina is supposedly still offering a $100,000 reward for the SAFE capture of Bessie. Best of luck with that and send me photos.
Lake Ontario shares a similar history. Honestly…in the digging that I did, most of the stories on Ontario seemed remarkably similar to the sightings on Lake Erie…some happened within several weeks of each other. I can’t help but wonder just how long it would take news in the 1800s to travel. However I do have to note that one encounter stated that a man scared off the monster with his fishing pole….perhaps just a very large snake in this Great Lake?
Lake Superior’s rumored monsters are my favorite. As with the majority of these monsters, the Native Americans of the area had a history of stories about the occupants of the lake. They believed that Lake Superior housed a gigantic fish, a sturgeon, to be exact, that had a habit of swallowing natives on the lake. In the late 1700s, a merman was actually sighted. Yes, think bottom half fish, upper half man. The Natives explained that this was some sort of god of water.
Lakes Huron and Michigan do not have such extravagant sightings…at least, not that I could find, but have their share of 30-foot snakes stories. Just as a side note, there are quite a few lakes in the world that claim lake monsters. We’re talking in the well about one hundred.
If you have any interest at all in pursuing this topic, since I obviously just touched the tip of the information, you might want to check out:
American Lake Monsters
UnMueseum.org
1 Comment
