David Abrams's Blog, page 155

Friday Freebie: Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, edited by Sarah Weinman

Congratulations to Mike Hooker, Christine LaRue, and Drew Broussard, winners of last week's Friday Freebie contest: Tumbledown by Robert Boswell.

This week's book giveaway is the exciting new short-story anthology Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives , edited by Sarah Weinman.  And when I say "exciting," I mean the whole package is thrilling--from the pulpy cover art right down to the selection of female thriller writers (many of whom will be new to most readers).  As I wrote  earlie...

Front Porch Books: August 2013 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...

Trailer Park Tuesday: Night Film by Marisha Pessl

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





The trailer for Marisha Pessl's sophomore novel Night Film has gotten so much airplay--an "exclusive" sneak peek in Entertainment Weekly , a featured segment on CBS Sunday Morning --that it's enough to turn a struggling midlist writer's eyes green as jade.  Pessl is the proud owner of one of the slickest book trailers of the year and I want to hate her for that.  But...

My First Time: Doreen McGettigan

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 Doreen McGettigan, author of Bristol boyz Stomp , a memoir of the random road rage murder of her brother, musician David Albert; Sophie, the true story of a homeless woman Doreen and her husband took in and cared for; and The Father’s Pain, the true...

The 20 Best Books of 2013 (so far)

Taking a cue from novelist Elliot Holt's recent blog post , here are some late-summer reading recommendations from Quivering Pen headquarters--the creme de la creme of what I've read since January (not all of them published in 2013), roughly in the order in which I read them.  Ms. Holt's novel, You Are One of Them , might well have made the list, save for one simple reason: I haven't yet read it (but it's in the To-Be-Read queue!).  So, without further ado--and without additional comm...

Sunday Sentence: Falling to Earth by Kate Southwood

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


When there was outside work for her to do on the farm in winter, she'd always hurried along and done it and saved staring into the distance for the window over the kitchen sink.  The white, sleeping fields reaching out endlessly from the house, the sleeves of her old, blue cardigan pushed up for work, the click of the vegetable peeler on the slick, white ball of potato in her hand,...

"I am not a book!" (Six Crises by Richard M. Nixon)

Look What I Found is an occasional series on books I've hunted-and-gathered at garage sales, used bookstores, estate sales, and the occasional pilfering from a friend's bookshelf when his back is turned.  I have a particular fondness for U.S. novels written between 1896 and 1931.  If I sniff a book and it makes me sneeze, I'm bound to fall in love.

First of all, hat tip to my friend and Spokane freelance writer Kevin Taylor for the title of this blog post after seeing a picture I po...

Friday Freebie: Tumbledown by Robert Boswell

Congratulations to Lauren Parker, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Women in Bed by Jessica Keener and The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan.

This week's book giveaway is the new novel by Robert Boswell, Tumbledown which comes to us from the good folks at Graywolf Press .  The publisher is graciously offering three copies of the novel to blog readers (howls of delight from all sectors of the blog-o-sphere).  Here's more about the novel:

Robert Boswell’s first novel since Century...

Deep-South Blues: Bill Cheng's Southern Cross the Dog

Southern Cross the Dog
by Bill Cheng
Reviewed by Diane Prokop

Robert Lee Chatham, the main character in Bill Cheng’s blues-infused debut novel Southern Cross the Dog , believes he was cursed by the Devil as a baby, or in the vernacular of the blues, “born under a bad sign.”  The opening line is, “When I was a baby they put a jinx on me.”

In all matter of ways, Chatham’s life as a black child/man is down, dirty, and star-crossed.  He’s witnessed the lynching of his brother, suffered thro...

Trailer Park Tuesday: The Novelist

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


This week's trailer is not for a book, nor even a movie, but something completely different: a video game called The Novelist.  I'll get to the game in a minute, but first....a personal confession.

I did a lousy job balancing my life as a family man and a writer.  This is not a wallow in self-pity or regret (okay, maybe a little), but a clear statement of fact.  In...