The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green I have a bad habit of occasionally reading stories in a way that I suspect the author would hate. In the case of The Fault in Our Stars, it started when I gave Hazel, the protagonist, an Essex accent and continued when Augustus, her love interest, became a young Brad Pitt. (Young,…
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Birdie

by Tracey Lindberg I occasionally struggle getting into a story. In the case of Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange, it had to do with the unfamiliar dialects. (Trainspotting improved once I was able hear the Scottish accent in my mind, whereas the great writing in A Clockwork Orange made the meanings of the made-up slang…
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Starship Troopers

by Robert A. Heinlein A smarter man than I once said that, while it is perfectly reasonable to dismiss a book due to its terrible beginning, a strong start doesn’t preclude a terrible transformation. (The original quote actually dealt with videogames, but it fits Starship Troopers so well that I couldn’t help myself here.) The…
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Reading at the Westfort Street Fair

If you’re in Westfort on Aug.22, I’ll be reading a passage from Lucifer every half hour from 12-5pm at CommuniTea and Coffee. Hope to see you there! (I’d recommend trying to get there around 3:30pm if you can; the passage I plan to be reading then is quite the doozy.)

Daydreams of Angels

by Heather O’Neill A short story collection is an interesting outlet for an author to experiment with her craft. Given that the sequestered narratives have so little time to show and tell, it gives an author ample leeway to branch out to different styles and dramas. Even if a tale sort of falls flat––and, many…
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TBPL Off the Shelf Interview

I was recently interviewed by the Thunder Bay Public Library; check it out here, if you want to learn more about Lucifer, as well as my experiences with publishing, promotions, readings, and leading writing workshops. In case you missed the last one with Book Goodies, you can find it here; this one had a bigger…
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More Lucifer Readings!

If you’re in Two Harbors on August 17th, I’ll be reading from Lucifer at the public library! If you can’t make that, and happen to be in Thunder Bay, don’t worry; I’ll be doing more readings during the Westfort Street Fair, on August 22nd, at CommuniTea and Coffee!

Teckla

by Steven Brust If, when reading, I catch a lot of errors in editing, it really takes me out of the story. I can get back to it, but it completely ruins my concentration when I see that someone happens to be eating “Eastern-style desert (sic) pancakes”––you know, the ones you eat after dinner––or talking…
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Yendi

by Steven Brust Sometimes a sequel comes across favourably when compared to the original. Yendi is most definitely a case of this, improving on what made Jhereg good, while learning from––and fixing many of––the problems of the original, while trying some new things in the process. I’m going to be comparing the two quite a…
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