David Abrams's Blog, page 129

Sunday Sentence: Darkness Sticks to Everything by Tom Hennen

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.




          One night I saw
          A cottonwood throwing itself
          At a sky full of lightning.
          In the morning
          Leaves were everywhere.

"Landscape in Pictures"
from Darkness Sticks to Everything by Tom Hennen

An Autobiography in 21 Pieces

1.  Winter is my favorite season.  Deep drifts of snow, runny noses, the Sanskrit of small animals’ tracks across the crust of a snowbank, crackling flames in a fireplace, marshmallows bobbing in cocoa.  And, of course, hibernating with a long, dusty novel.  I am winter at the core of my being.  This was solidified back in the 80s when my mother was going through a Color Me Beautiful  phase and we determined, through a professional analysis, that I was a Winter pa...

Friday Freebie: Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke

Congratulations to Tammy Zambo and Kevin McKinnon, winners of last week's Friday Freebie: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia.

This week's book giveaway is Wayfaring Stranger , the new novel by James Lee Burke.  This is not one of the bestselling Montana mystery writer's Dave Robicheaux books, but it does continue the legacy of his other characters: the Hollands.  And it includes an appearance by Bonnie and Clyde!  Wayfaring Stranger is a big stand-alone novel that covers a fas...

Front Porch Books: June 2014 edition

Front Porch Books is a monthly tally of books--mainly advance review copies (aka "uncorrected proofs" and "galleys")--I've received from publishers.  Because my dear friends, Mr. FedEx and Mrs. UPS, leave them with a doorbell-and-dash method of delivery, I call them my Front Porch Books.  In this digital age, ARCs are also beamed to the doorstep of my Kindle via NetGalley and Edelweiss.  Note: most of these books won't be released for another 2-6 months; I'm just here to pique...

The Great Big Roundup of 2014 Short Story Collections: The "Bigger Boat" Addendum

I knew it would happen.  I knew as soon as I clicked the "Publish" button on the previous blog post, The Great Big Roundup of 2014 Short Story Collections , more noteworthy books would start coming out of the woodwork.  Apparently, the woodwork is a pretty big place.

In the time it takes a penitent tear to fall, I'd collected so many "you-should-have-included"s that, to quote the late great Roy Scheider, I knew I was gonna need a bigger boat .  Rather than tacking this list onto t...

Sunday Sentence: Darkness Sticks to Everything by Tom Hennen

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.



For some reason we want to see days pass, even though most of us claim we don't care to reach our last one for a long time.  We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say, no, this isn't one I've been looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for the next, when, we are convinced, our lives will start for real.

"The Life of a Day"
from Darkness Sticks to Everything...

Stories to Set Your Mind at Unease: The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates

The "tales of mystery and suspense" in Joyce Carol Oates' The Museum of Dr. Moses  (2007) are sneaky little things.  The horror comes in on cat's paws, barely noticeable.

The full impact doesn't hit until a few hours or days or even weeks after you have set the book aside and gone on to cheerier things: whistling happy Broadway show tunes, picking daisies in a sun-drenched field, or eating a heavenly slice of lemon-meringue pie.  Then, as your mind drifts back to the stories and...

Friday Freebie: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

Congratulations to Thomas Baughman, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Wynne's War by Aaron Gwyn.

This week's book giveaway is Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia.  If you saw the earlier post here at The Quivering Pen where I featured Racculia's novel on a Trailer Park Tuesday , you know Bellweather Rhapsody is near the summit of my towering To-Be Read pile (aka Mt. NeveRest).  Other reading obligations have prevented me from cracking it open as of yet--but make no mistake, I'll...

Soup and Salad: Literature vs. Publishing, One Story's Debutante Ball, Virginia Hamilton Adair, John Irving, Summer of Proust, E-Books + Independent Bookstores = YES!, DIY Book Tours, Kyril Bonfiglioli's Penguins, Montana & NYC Must-Attends

On today's menu:

1. "Literature is not the same thing as publishing.  Publishing is ever-nostalgic for a mythic golden age, one that existed before the so-called death of print, the Amazon factor, the rise of self-publishing, and the supposed decline of reading.  Literature, as it is read and written, is indifferent.  At least that’s the way we look at it at Coffee House Press, and it’s how some others are thinking and acting, too—making literature public, to publish, in new way...

My First Time: Susan Jane Gilman

My First Time is a regular feature in which writers talk about virgin experiences in their writing and publishing careers, ranging from their first rejection to the moment of holding their first published book in their hands.  Today’s guest is Susan Jane Gilman, author of The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street .  She is also the author of three nonfiction books: Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress , Kiss My Tiara and Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven , which was named one of the 100 Best...