David Abrams's Blog, page 156

My First Time: Bill Roorbach

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 Bill Roorbach, author of Life Among Giants , which has just been released in paperback by Algonquin Books.  He’s also written several books of nonfiction (including Temple Stream and Writing Life Stories ), a collection of short stories ( Big Ben...

Sunday Sentence: "The Mountain Man's Relativity Theory" by S. Brady Tucker

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



As we turned our animals toward home, I could hear the skulls in the panniers softly and hollowly bumping against each other, and I hoped against all hope that the dental records would be enough to identify them, that we could somehow bring them back to the world, to those families who waited in front of cold hearths for their return.

Last line of "The Mountain Man's Relativity Theory,"
a...

One Book, One City, One Fobbit

Of all the honors bestowed on Fobbit since its publication nearly a year ago, few have been as gratifying as its selection as a "one-book, one-community" pick.  The idea of a city, a county, a state urging its citizens to band together in harmony to read the same book at the same time--a civic book club, if you will--is still a surprising concept to me.  I have visions of entire football stadiums filled with rows of readers silently turning pages.  Ah, if only...

According to th...

Friday Freebie: Women in Bed by Jessica Keener and The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan

Congratulations to Karen Carlson, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach.

This week's book giveaway is a pair of novels which--I'm going out on a solid, unbreakable limb here when I say this--are definite must-reads for this end-of-summer season.   Women in Bed by Jessica Keener and The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan are two solid works of fiction which everyone should have on their bookshelf.  One lucky reader will win a copy of both books in th...

It's Miller Time for Fobbit!

I took a trip to the DMZ this morning....and survived.

Dennis Miller, legendary ranter and raconteur, was kind enough to give me a little air time on his nationally-syndicated show.  While I was in the Dennis Miller Zone, we talked about Fobbit (natch), 20 years of papercuts in the Army and how I came to be living the good life out here in Montana.

Click here to hear the conversation at The Dennis Miller Show's website .

P.S.  Dennis is probably the only person I'll ever allow to call...

Trailer Park Tuesday: Falling to Earth by Kate Southwood

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




I've had Kate Southwood's debut novel, Falling to Earth , in my towering, teetering To-Be-Read stack of books (aka Mt. NeverRest) for a long, long time––ever since I first mentioned it here at the blog in the November 2012 edition of Front Porch Books .  This week, I finally had enough breathing room in my reading schedule to pick it up and turn past the first two pages I'...

My First Time: Kristen Tsetsi

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 Kristen Tsetsi is a journalist, a former adjunct English professor, and a former cab driver.  Her novel about the Iraq War, Pretty Much True... , was published by the Missouri Breaks Press last year.   Click here to visit her website.


My Fi...

Sunday Sentence: Return to Oakpine by Ron Carlson

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



He had a voice so deep, it seemed to have been machined.
Return to Oakpine by Ron Carlson

Soup and Salad: Emma Straub's Quiet Secret, Gregory Spatz's Winter Wonderland, Jamie Quatro's Story Ideas, The Death of Bookstore Readings, E-Book Tours, Writers Tricking Agents, Canadian Covers, Slightly Brilliant Bookstore Ads

On today's menu:

1.  At The Millions , Emma Straub ( Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures ) writes bravely and openly about her miscarriage:

      My miscarriage was kept quiet, so quiet that many people will only hear of it now, a rare feat in the age of social media.  And yet, the facts: I sold my first novel on a Monday.  That Friday, I found out that I was pregnant.  My husband and I had only been trying for a couple of months, and we were shocked.  The tim...

Friday Freebie: Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach

Congratulations to Brenda Vaccarello, winner of last week's Friday Freebie, Ballistics by D. W. Wilson.

This week's book giveaway is Life Among Giants , the novel by Bill Roorbach which is being released in a gorgeous new paperback edition by the good folks at Algonquin Books.  Richard Russo praised the book by saying, "A bravura performance.  It's been a long time since a writer's written so brilliantly about subjects as varied as pro football, dance, food, and murder in the same boo...