David Abrams's Blog, page 89
June 26, 2015
The Big, One-Millionth Pageview Friday Freebie Contest (aka The Mother of All Giveaways)
Congratulations to Bart Zimmer, winner of last week's Friday Freebie contest, As Good as Dead by Elizabeth Evans.
This week's book giveaway is a big one--"big" as in, "all previous Friday Freebies were sardines compared to this Moby Dick-sized lineup." It's all in celebration of passing a major milestone here at The Quivering Pen: the one-millionth pageview. Earlier this week, the Blogger odometer rolled over into the seven digits. That means, over the course of the past five years, one milli...
June 25, 2015
On MFA Programs and States of Being
On MFA Programs and States of Being by Marian Palaia
If you are reading this, it means you are interested in books, writing, literature. Maybe you are interested in the writing life; maybe you want to be a writer. Maybe you want to be a writer and you have some talent for writing, a love for language, an ear for how words can go together in the service of more than clever ideas. If that is indeed the case, I say, YES. By all means, do it. The world needs writers. It needs stories. Our stories...
June 22, 2015
My First Time: Tawnysha Greene
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 Tawnysha Greene, author of the Young Adult novel
A House Made of Stars
. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee where she currently teaches fiction and poetry writing. She also serves as an assistant fiction editor for Cutthroat: A...
June 21, 2015
Sunday Sentence: “Centrifugal Force” by Jodi Angel
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
Nobody said anything, and then the sound of the hammer stopped and Harold stood upright and stretched his back and looked at the group of us, gathered around, and Harold said hey, you guys wanna go walking? and we all nodded and Harold rubbed his hammer clean on the patchy lawn and shoved the head into his back pocket so that the handle stuck out like a comb, and we all followed him to t...
June 19, 2015
Friday Freebie: As Good As Dead by Elizabeth Evans
Congratulations to Myra Faye Turner, Bart Zimmer and Nina Lehman, winners of last week's Friday Freebie: Waveland by Simone Zelitch.
This week's book giveaway is a copy of As Good as Dead by Elizabeth Evans. Read on for more information about the book Library Journal called an "intelligent and literary psychological novel."
At the high-octane Iowa Writers' Workshop, small-town Charlotte is thrilled and confounded by her relationship with charismatic and sophisticated Esmé. One moment, Esmé ap...
June 14, 2015
Sunday Sentence: “The Little Boat” by Jane Kenyon
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
The gloom was lavish and agreeable.
“The Little Boat,” from Otherwise: New & Selected Poems by Jane Kenyon
June 12, 2015
Friday Freebie: Waveland by Simone Zelitch
Congratulations to Carl Scott, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Book of Laney by Myfanwy Collins.
In this week's book giveaway, three lucky readers will win a copy of Waveland by Simone Zelitch. Thanks to the publisher, The Head & and the Hand Press , for providing the copies of the book. Read on for more information about Waveland.
As Beth Fine would tell her daughter years after Freedom Summer, back in 1964, she was the girl who did everything wrong. She takes part in a wade-in...
June 11, 2015
Front Porch Books: June 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...
June 8, 2015
My First Time: Catherine Kyle
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 Catherine Kyle, a Ph.D. candidate in English at Western Michigan University, where she has taught writing and contemporary U.S. literature, including banned books, graphic novels, and young adult literature. She is the author and illustrator of the...
June 7, 2015
Sunday Sentence: “Rain in January” by Jane Kenyon
Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary.
I woke before dawn, still
in a body.
“Rain in January,” from Otherwise: New & Selected Poems by Jane Kenyon
