Literature

“Origin” by JA Konrath: A Devil of a Technothriller

I’ve enjoyed JA Konrath’s writing for a while. I read his blog whenever it updates, and I even downloaded his non-fiction ebook of collected essays on writing, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, for my Kindle and read a few entries a day. One particular entry grabbed my attention more than others. In it, Konrath talked [...]

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Writing My Novel: Kill Kill Kill

One of the major philosophies of fiction writing is called “kill your darlings.” In it, anything is fair game when it comes to editing. No matter how much the writer loves a sentence or word or scene or even character, if it does not advance the plot in a tangible way, it must be cut. [...]

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What Makes Great Literature?

Recently, the idea of why one reads has been a discussion in our household. And it turns out that my wife and I read for entirely different reasons. We look for something completely different in literature, and because of that, I don’t think either of us really gets the whole experience. She reads for the [...]

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Book Review: “The Red Pyramid” by Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid is an interesting mix of YA urban fantasy and mythology that Rick Riordan made famous with his Percy Jackson series of novels. And while I have not read the Greek-mythology inspired novels, nor have I seen the movies, I fully expect to since I enjoyed The Red Pyramid pretty well. Riordan also [...]

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The Worst Books in Existence

A while back, I had a post chronicling the three best books I’ve ever read. So now, inspired by a fantastic post at World’s Strongest Librarian, I bring you the exact opposite of my earlier post: A collection of books that, for one reason or another, I completely despise. These are made up of books [...]

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Theater Review: Will Stutts in “Mark Twain’s America”

Until very recently, I had never seen a one-man show. I love theater, even minored in it in college, yet somehow that one basic form always eluded me when I attended productions. Thankfully, I can no longer say that. Mark Twain’s America made for both a fantastic evening and spectacular show. My wife works at [...]

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The Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses 4

This summer, my wife and I are presenting papers at Slayage in St. Augustine, Florida. For those of you unaware, Slayage is a biennial national academic conference dealing with any and all of the Whedonverses. Jennifer presented there in 2008, while this is my first go-round. To say that I’m excited would be fairly understated. [...]

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Ebook Sample Chapters: Best Idea Ever

Growing up, I loved game demos and shareware. There was something sublime about the variety of choice one had with free partial games. If I wanted to play DOOM, I could. A level of Jumping Flash? Why not? I could even play multiplayer Twisted Metal and wash it down with some Warhawk or the entry [...]

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