How to Write Damn Good Fiction is not a writing book for beginners. It doesn’t cover the basics of characterisation, plotting, dialogue, grammar or novel construction. What it does cover is the difference between writing that is mediocre and writing that…
Category: Non fiction reviews
A Review of Platypus by Ann Moyal
Moyal writes clearly and arranges difficult material with crisp authority. This is a perspicacious book. Moyal cares about her subject and has used it to express more than a simple chapter of zoology. She sees the platypus within a very…
A Review of Buongiorno by Norman Kolpas
Buongiorno is full of easy and delicious meals that make for a lovely family brekkie on the weekend, or something special and different for guests who like being entertained in the am (if you have young kids, its a lot more…
A Review of A Writer’s Guide to Queries, Pitches & Proposals by Moira Anderson Allen
If you have a serious piece of work like a novel to sell, The Writer’s Guide to Queries, Pitches & Proposals is a necessity in order to ensure you maximise your chances of getting your book read by an agent or publisher.…
A Review of At the Crossroads by Frankie Schelly
Through the eyes of these four women many of the controversial issues of today’s Church are discussed. Schelly perceives accurately the crisis of an institution built heavily on medieval theology inadequate for today’s social problems. Women are accepted as equals…
A Review of Timepieces by Drusilla Modjeska
For readers not intimately familiar with Modjeska’s work, Australian art and literature, or interested in the problems of creating a work of art/literature as an artist/writer, the book will be hard to identify with and overly intellectual. Nevertheless, the essays…
A Review of Spice Notes by Ian Hemphill
Hemphill knows his stuff. He grew up on a herb and spice farm and has been involved in growing, using, packaging and marketing herbs and spices for most of his life, hence the nickname “Herbie” which has been with him…
A Review of The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter
A Review of The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter Overall, this is a very useful guide, and if it errs on the side of Poynter’s considerable enthusiasm and confidence in the face of what is a fairly daunting task for…
A Review of Eat First –You Don’t Know What They’ll Give You
The memoir was written as a book of remembrance for the author’s parents and for her daughter. Its readers will react to it in many ways. First it is a family document. It depicts the immigrant experience, specifically a Jewish…
A Review of The Healthy Kitchen by Dr Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley
The nutritional advice provided is sound, and not all at extreme, and the recipes are simple, healthy and very tasty. The Healthy Kitchen is definitely more of a cookbook than a diet book, but if you are inspired by the many tidbits…