In the business of juggling disparate elements and merging apparently irreconcilable positions, Kraft has few equals. Many writers that have provided less have been better known. Even though Kraft’s novels are a guilty pleasure and despite the trappings of Proust…
Tag: fiction
A Review of Growing Young by Dean Warren
Dean Warren’s newest book, Growing Young, proves once again that he is a master of this writing genre. He writes of a futuristic society while weaving in facts of things happening in our own time; scientific and genetic research, unemployment,…
Interview with Noah Lukeman
Noah Lukeman, literary agent and author of The Plot Thickens and TheFirst Five Pages talks about his books, the differences between writing and agenting, the chief function of books and films, trends for literary heroes, the state of the publishing industry, self-publishing, his next…
A Review of Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
While the novel is sweet and charming, it lacks the power and edge, and even the quirky oddness that makes Yoshimoto’s earlier work so intriguing. The ending too is a bit forced, leaving the reader unsatisfied. Despite the lack of…
How to Write Damn Good Fiction by James Frey
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…
A Review of The Scar by China Mieville
Much of what makes Mieville’s work so appealing to readers not normally enamoured with fantasy literature is classic literary technique. His settings are very well mapped out, his characters are complex and, strong and very real, even when they are…
A Review of Baudolino by Umberto Eco
In this, his fourth novel, professional liar Umberto Eco spins the yarn of Baudolino, a fellow artificer hailing from Eco’s hometown of Alessandria and possessing more than a bit of the author’s personality. Like Eco, Baudolino is a master of…
A Review Of Harkening: A Collection Of Short Stories Remembered by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Carolyn Howard-Johnson has the magical way with words that makes her a great story teller. She has the talent and determination to succeed that all writers strive to achieve. Her descriptions of characters and places are so real that her…
A review of Going Home by Michael de Valle
But it is when de Valle brings death itself directly into the story that his prose really shines. The complex relationship between life and death are the centre of action in “Two slices of blue”, a story about a child who is given back his eyesight from a donor’s corneas. The tightness of the narrative is superbly handled as de Valle moves back and forth between the moment of death/damage, a wife’s realisation that she’s lost her husband, and a parent’s experience of their child’s accident and subsequent operation.
A Review of Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The whole tone is a bit Alice in Wonderland like, and even has a talking cat, silly songs, cryptic messages, characters that metamorphosis, and the kind of almost surreal play between waking and dreaming, life and death, shadow and light which made…