David Abrams's Blog, page 160

Trailer Park Tuesday: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

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




You can sell a lot of books in 16 seconds.  All it takes is one creaking door, an ominous thrum of deep music, and a trickle of blood down the side of a bathtub.  And if you're touting Stephen King's forthcoming book Doctor Sleep , the word "REDRUM" finger-painted on the wall.  That's right, boys and ghouls, Danny Torrance from The Shining is back, all grown up...

My First Time: Marion Winik

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 Marion Winik, author of the new memoir, Highs in the Low Fifties: How I Stumbled through the Joys of Single Living .  Laura Lippman, author of And When She Was Good, has this to say about Winik's latest book: “Highs in the Low Fifties hits the...

Sunday Sentence: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

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



Her tongue is quick and slippery in his mouth, a warm little amphibian.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Friday Freebie: The Possibility Dogs by Susannah Charleson

Congratulations to Jim Simpson, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: the double-prize package of The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison.

This week's book giveaway is The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me About Service, Hope, and Healing by Susannah Charleson. Here's a little more about the book:

An inspiring story that shows how dogs can be rescued, and can rescue in return. With her critically acc...

My First Time: Scott Elliott

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 Scott Elliott, author of the novel  Temple Grove , which was released earlier this year by the University of Washington Press.  Set in Washington's Olympic Peninsula among the majestic stands of Douglas fir, Temple Grove has earned praise f...

Sunday Sentence: Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead

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



Insensate, he was drawn against the tide of subtlers and ambulances, the carriages and caissons, the long parade of the hip-shot, the mud-spattered, the blood-dirty, and the slaughter-gutted, the wheeling army of the dead and the dying.  For twenty miles they came against him and the coal black horse in a relentless tide and he rode on without hesitation through their broken and dr...

Combat Panorama: A Sneak Peek at Joe Sacco's The Great War

I came home yesterday to find a thin envelope from publisher W. W. Norton, heralding an advance copy of a book they thought I might like: The Great War .  Inside: a piece of 8-1/2 by 11 cardboard that unfolded into an astonishing triptych of a battle scene drawn by Joe Sacco (author of Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde , among others).  These were three of twenty-four panels from Sacco's new "book" coming in November.

I air-quoted "book" because though this will be a handsome volume pack...

Friday Freebie: The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison

Congratulations to Jonathan Butters, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Son by Phillip Meyer.

This week's book giveaway is another terrific two-fer: one lucky reader will win a copy of both The Wonder Bread Summer (paperback) by Jessica Anya Blau and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving (hardcover) by Jonathan Evison.

Jessica recently wrote a memorable My First Time guest blog for The Quivering Pen, featuring--among other things-- a naked men's book club .  She also mentio...

The Quiet Outrage of War: Sparta by Roxana Robinson

Conrad Farrell comes home from the war in Iraq, skin unbroken and all limbs still attached...and yet he is a damaged man, a wounded warrior struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder--like so many (too many) of our returning veterans.  PTSD is at the heart of Roxana Robinson's riveting new novel Sparta which describes the condition in terms I've never before seen on the page.  Precise as a psychological case history, the book charts the painful journey of Conrad from gung-h...

Front Porch Books: Stephen King, flappers, Dani Shapiro, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Willa Cather, and war poetry

I'll have a proper edition of Front Porch Books later this month, but for now, I wanted to talk about the books which landed on my doorstep in a single day.  It's always a miniature Christmas whenever I come home from a long, soul-draining day at work and find a pile of boxes and/or large envelopes waiting for me to open, but yesterday was an especially Good Day, bringing a treasure trove of books I'd ordered from Amazon, advance copies from publishers, and the latest installment in my s...