David Abrams's Blog, page 137

My First Time: Tova Mirvis

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 Tova Mirvis, the author of Visible City , The Outside World and The Ladies Auxiliary , which was a national bestseller.  Her essays have appeared in various anthologies and newspapers including The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, and...

Sunday Sentence: Balefire by Shann Ray

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


            In a few short years
            the older brother would be gone
            into
            the maw
            of an ancient canyon,
            his dark vehicle
           ...

Friday Freebie: Knitting Yarns by Ann Hood, Last Friends by Jane Gardam, Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne, North of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson, The Promise by Ann Weisgarber

Congratulations to Lauren Bufferd, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen.

This week's book giveaway is another big blow-out bonanza. It's time to clear the decks of some extra books which have been piling up over the last few months. One lucky reader will win a copy of Knitting Yarns  edited by Ann Hood, Last Friends by Jane Gardam, Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne, North of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson, and  The Promise by Ann Weisgarber.  Last Fr...

My First Time: Je Banach

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 Je Banach.  Je is a member of the residential faculty in fiction at the Yale Writers' Conference.  In 2013 she was awarded the CT Artist Fellowship for Fiction; she was previously awarded the New Boston Fund Fellowship in Fiction.  She...

Sunday Sentence: Demon Camp by Jennifer Percy

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


Sergeant Caleb Daniels wanted to save all the veterans from killing themselves. A machine gunner three years out of the 160th Special Operations Regiment, 3rd Battalion, he’d tried to kill himself, four or five times, but he was interrupted each time—once by his dead buddy Kip Jacoby; once by his girlfriend Krissy, whom he met at a strip club; once on a lake by his house in his canoe whe...

Graffers R Us in Butte, Montana

Today at the blog, I thought I'd share something special about my adopted hometown.  Since we moved to Butte, Montana five years ago, my wife and I have settled into a comfortable lifestyle in what we're calling our “forever home.”  We're happy here--not only in this Craftsman house which was built in 1920, but in the town as a whole.  Though on the surface, Butte might look like the victim of urban blight, if you look past the crumbling walls of its historic buildings, you'll...

Friday Freebie: Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen

Congratulations to Celeste Young, winner of last week's Friday Freebie, The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah.

This week's book giveaway is the new novel by Bich Minh Nguyen, Pioneer Girl .  If you're a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House series, then Nguyen's book is probably already on your radar.  If not, then you better put it there!  But I think Pioneer Girl will have universal appeal to anyone looking for a good, satisfying read.  Here's more about the pl...

My First Time: Patrick Hicks

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 Patrick Hicks, whose debut novel, The Commandant of Lubizec , will be released later this month.  He is the author of several other books, including the poetry collections  This London and Finding the Gossamer .  Later this year, his ne...

Sunday Sentence: Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin Powers

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


I tell her how Private Bartle says, offhand,
that war is just us
making little pieces of metal
pass through each other.

Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin Powers

Still Reading Still Writing

The view from my writing deskWe are adrift in snow.  For the past three days, flakes have fallen steadily, without cessation, turning my driveway into an obstacle course, the streets into amusement-park rides.  Cars parked curbside are no longer recognizable as anything but half-oval bumps in a blank white landscape.  Today's newspaper headline reads "Pummeling to continue," warning us another eight inches could be on the ground here in Butte, Montana by tomorrow morning.

This i...