David Abrams's Blog, page 140

Friday Freebie: The In-Between Hour by Barbara Claypole White, Outerborough Blues by Andrew Cotto, Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar, and Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles

Congratulations to Kirsten Murchison, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Deep Whatsis by Peter Mattei.

This week, The Quivering Pen is giving away a bundle of books. One lucky reader will win a copy of each of the following: The In-Between Hour by Barbara Claypole White, Outerborough Blues by Andrew Cotto, Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar, and Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles.  Lighthouse Island is a hardcover, the others are trade paperbacks.  Because each of thes...

Front Porch Books: January 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, but also sprinkled with packages from Book Mooch, Amazon and other sources.  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 t...

Rough, Dark, Shaggy....and Beautiful: a review of Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

Butcher’s Crossing
by John Williams
Reviewed by Derek Harmening

Just try to imagine: You’re fetally curled, knees knocking your chin, fingers so cold you can’t move them of your own volition.  A thick, rancid stench fills the air and a shroud of darkness envelops you.  Why?  Because you’re wrapped up in the bloody hide of a freshly killed buffalo.  Burrowing lice and fleas crawl over your arms and neck and face, probing, biting, but you can’t move lest your small shelter ope...

Trailer Park Tuesday: This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.




I weep with pity for those of you who missed Wiley Cash's debut novel, A Land More Kind Than Home .  A thunderbolt of a novel about faith and family, it garnered critical praise, readerly love, and cannonballed onto the New York Times bestseller list.  If you didn't discover Wiley C. last year, now is your hour of redemption.  His new novel, This Dark Road to Mer...

Sunday Sentence: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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


It never occurred to me that half the population of Vermont wasn't experiencing pretty much what I put myself through every night--bone-cracking cold that made my joints ache, cold so relentless I felt it in my dreams: ice floes, lost expeditions, the lights of search planes swinging over whitecaps as I floundered alone in black Arctic seas.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Friday Freebie: The Deep Whatsis by Peter Mattei

Congratulations to Michael Cooper, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Heart of Everything That Is by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.

This week's book giveaway is The Deep Whatsis by Peter Mattei. Here's the whatfor from the whozit publishers: The Deep Whatsis follows a brilliant antihero staggering into madness as he navigates among Brooklyn hipsters, advertising tyrants, corporate hypocrisy, and the ghosts of his past.  Meet Eric Nye: player, philosopher, drunk, sociopath.  A...

Trailer Park Tuesday: In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.


There's nothing particularly ominous about a man chopping wood.  Unless, that is, you are Red 14 Films and you're making a trailer for Matt Bell's novel In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods .  Then it's creepy as Jack Nicholson chopping a hole in a door and scaring the shit out of Shelly Duvall.  The In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lak...

My First Time: James Scott

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 James Scott whose just-published debut novel, The Kept , is earning lots of praise fresh out of the gate with many critics comparing it to the works of Cormac McCarthy.  Set in 1897, the book takes readers on a harrowing journey across a wintry lands...

Sunday Sentence: When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket

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


I reminded myself of a lesson I'd learned in my training: Do the scary thing first, and get scared later.

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket

Friday Freebie: The Heart of Everything That Is by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

Congratulations to Jim Mastro, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti and Raw: a Love Story by Mark Haskell Smith.

This week's book giveaway is The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, an American Legend by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.  One lucky reader will win a hardback copy of this history of the American West, published by Simon & Schuster last November.  Here's more about the book from the publisher:

In the bestsellin...