David Abrams's Blog, page 67

Soup and Salad: RIP Jim Harrison, Emily St. John Mandel and Laura van den Berg Talk Dystopia, “Difficult” Women Puzzle Margaret Dilloway, Susan Perabo Marvels at Tobias Wolff, Ghosts Haunt Elizabeth Brundage, What Novelists Should Worry About, Jodi Paloni

On today’s menu:


1.  The death of author Jim Harrison ( The Ancient Minstrel , Legends of the Fall , etc.) a week ago touched nearly all of us in ways great and small. I was stunned but not surprised by his passing. He’d worked hard and played hard and it showed in recent photos of the 78-year-old. You could hear the Grim Reaper sharpening his scythe every time you looked at that face. Nonetheless, the passing of a legend is always a sad, regretful thing. Speaking of coulda-shoulda-wouldas,...

Sunday Sentence: Daredevils by Shawn Vestal

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


At Wembley, every moment of the crash announces itself. Every altered atom in our body, each as it altered, a cracking network of breakage running through us, and every instant palpable. We land on our right shoulder, pulverizing the humerus and clavicle and driving one large crack through the scapula and two vertebrae, and then all the way down the right side of us by degree, crushing a...

Friday Freebie: Perfect Days by Raphael Montes

Congratulations to Martha Gifford, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo by Boris Fishman.

This week’s book giveaway is Perfect Days by Raphael Montes. You can see a trailer for the book here . Keep reading for more information about Perfect Days...

A twisted young medical student kidnaps the girl of his dreams and embarks on a dark and delirious road trip across Brazil in the English-language debut of Brazil’s most celebrated young crime writer. Teo Avelar i...

My First Time: Chris Bachelder

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 Chris Bachelder, author of the novels Abbot Awaits , U.S.! , Bear v. Shark , and most recently The Throwback Special . He is also the winner of The Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize for Humor. His short fiction and essays have appeared in McSweeney’s, The...

Sunday Sentence: By the Iowa Sea by Joe Blair

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


To the question, “If you had (you name an amount of time) left on this earth, what would you do?” I would answer, “It doesn’t matter. In the end, it will be too late for this question.”

By the Iowa Sea: A Memoir by Joe Blair

Friday Freebie: Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo by Boris Fishman

Congratulations to Melissa Seng, winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: Liar: A Memoir by Rob Roberge, UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir by Emily Lindin, Mesa of Sorrows: A History of the Awat’ovi Massacre by James F. Brooks, Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation by Dean Jobb, Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson, and Fight Like a Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World...

14 Notes to Myself Prior to Entering the Cave of Rewrite

1.  You are about to enter a hole in your imagination. It is cold and it is very dark. Do not be frightened. Take a moment to let your eyes adjust, then walk forward into the black unknown.

2.  There is only one way in (starting the rewrite) and one way out (the finished draft). Do not stop until you’ve groped your way back to the light.

3.  Your manuscript currently stands at 52,000 words. You must read each and every one of those words, weigh their merits, and decide their fa...

Trailer Park Tuesday: 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

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





Today, I give you two ways of looking at Mona Awad. In the first trailer, the author of the new novel 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl goes undercover at one of America’s best independent bookstores, Tattered Cover in Denver. There, posing as three different booksellers, her mission is to find the perfect book for befuddled bookstore browsers. It’s no spoiler to say that...

My First Time: Matthew J. Hefti

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 Matthew J. Hefti, author of A Hard And Heavy Thing , a novel of love and redemption (and one which I particularly happen to love, calling it “brilliantly-observed and exquisitely-paced”). Audible recently purchased the rights to A Hard and Heavy Thing and...

Sunday Sentence: Dead Man’s Float by Jim Harrison

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary. Note: I’m going to cheat this week with extra sentences because I couldn’t pick just one from Jim Harrison’s terrific new collection of poetry. The sentences come from “Solstice Litany,” “Zona,” and “Easter Again,” respectively.


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