David Abrams's Blog, page 88

Advice: That’ll Be 5 Cents, Please

Opinions: just like certain anatomical parts, we all have ’em. I was recently invited by the good folks at Bloom to dispense a few. Specifically, I was asked to share the best writing advice I ever received. I don’t know if this is the best advice I’ve ever packed in my toolkit (which is full of hammers, screwdrivers and pliers from Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, Stephen King,  Dani Shapiro  and others), but it’s certainly something which has stuck with me over the years:

  &...

Friday Freebie: I'd Walk With My Friends If I Could Find Them by Jesse Goolsby

Congratulations to Sabrina Holland, winner of last week's Friday Freebie:  Ana of California by Andi Teran.

This week's book giveaway is I'd Walk With My Friends If I Could Find Them by Jesse Goolsby. Not only does Goolsby's debut novel have one of the best titles of the year, it comes loaded with outstanding writing which burrows into the lives of soldiers before, during and after war. It's one of the best novels about the veteran condition in America I've read in years--right up there w...

Book Radar: Ron Rash, Geraldine Brooks, Rick Moody, Mark Lawrence

Book Radar rounds up some of the latest publishing deals which have caught my eye, gathered from reports at Publishers Marketplace, Galley Cat, office water-coolers and other places where hands are shaken and promises are made.  As with anything in the fickle publishing industry, dates and titles are subject to change.


1.  From Publishers Lunch comes the announcement of this sale:

Ron Rash's untitled novel, about two brothers who share responsibility for a murder, and a collection of...

My First Time: Naomi Elana Zener

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 Naomi Elana Zener, author of the novel Deathbed Dimes as well as satire fiction, which is posted on her blog Satirical Mama . Naomi blogs for Huffington Post and her articles have been published by Kveller, Absrd Comedy, and Erica Ehm’s Yummy Mummy...

Sunday Sentence: “The Bowl” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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


It was an hour of thaw, with spring voices in the warm wind, and wherever there was light enough you could see drops glistening and falling. You could feel the cold melting out of the stars and the bare trees and shrubbery toward Stony Brook turning lush in the darkness.

“The Bowl” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Friday Freebie: Ana of California by Andi Teran

Congratulations to Emma Cazabonne, winner of last week’s big 33-book giveaway .

This week’s book giveaway is Ana of California by Andi Teran. This new novel is sure to appeal to fans of Anne of Green Gables...or anyone who likes a fresh take on classic literature...or anyone who enjoys a good book--frankly, anyone who likes to read. And now, a word from the publisher on the merits of Ana of California...

In the grand tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and The Three Weissma...

Front Porch Books: July 2015 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, independent bookstores, 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 Edelweis...

Trailer Park Tuesday: The Given World by Marian Palaia

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




Marian Palaia's debut novel The Given World is a haunting narrative about the Vietnam War--and yet, there's not a single bullet fired in combat, there are no scenes of jungle patrols in its pages, and we don't see any embittered veterans rolling their wheelchairs through the bureaucratic stink of VA hospital corridors. No, The Given World treats the war in a much more oblique...

My First Time: Sean Murphy

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 Sean Murphy, author of the just-published novel Not to Mention a Nice Life . Murphy has been publishing fiction, reviews (of music, movie, book, food), and essays on the technology industry for almost twenty years. He is an associate editor at The W...

Sunday Sentence: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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


Today was Sunday, and Aunt Alexandra was positively irritable on the Lord’s Day. I guess it was her Sunday corset. She was not fat, but solid, and she chose protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra’s was once an hour-glass figure. From any angle, it was formidable.

To Kill a Mockingb...