David Abrams's Blog, page 96

Most-Anticipated Fiction of 2015

Get ready...get set...get reading.  The next twelve months are about to roll over you with an avalanche of gotta-get-it fiction and it's going to take all of your stamina to keep up.

Not that I'd expect anyone to "keep up."  Hell, I'm still working on my 2012 must-read list (make that "the lists from 2006-2012") and don't even get me started on last year's most-anticipated books list .  I've only read four out of those 20 titles.  And now they'll have to scoot over and make...

My First Time: Sharma Shields

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 Sharma Shields, author of The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac , coming from Henry Holt in early 2015.  This debut novel has been described as "a dark, fantastical, multi-generational tale about a family whose patriarch is consumed by the hunt for th...

Sunday Sentence: The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter by Craig Lancaster

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


Down isn't the same as out.

The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter  by Craig Lancaster

Friday Freebie: The Big Year-End Book Giveaway

Congratulations to Renata Birkenbuel, winner of last week's Friday Freebie book giveaway: The Kept by James Scott, Glyph by Percival Everett, What Happened Here by Bonnie ZoBell, All I Have In This World by Michael Parker, Arts & Entertainments by Christopher Beha, Our Senior Year by John Abraham-Watne, The Gods of Second Chances by Dan Berne, and Harm's Reach by Alex Barclay.

This is the last Friday Freebie of 2014 and I'm clearing the shelves of books which have been patiently waiting i...

My Year of Reading: Best Books of 2014

When I sit in my favorite reading chair in December and think about all the books about to come my way over the next twelve months, there is, admittedly, a feeling both of dread and hope.  I want my reading to be something I look forward to each day, a feeling of can't-wait-to-get-to-the-page.  Sometimes the reading year turns out to have that kind of vibrancy....but there have been times when it seems every other book was heavy and dull as lead, the language uninspired and the char...

My First Time: Marian Palaia

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 Marian Palaia, author of The Given World , coming in April from Simon and Schuster.  Lorrie Moore (author of Bark ) has this to say about the book: “In The Given World, Marian Palaia has assembled a collection of restive seekers and beautifully...

Sunday Sentence: Station Zed by Tom Sleigh

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


There was a Bay, there was a Pig, there was a Missile.

"Songs for the Cold War"
from Station Zed by Tom Sleigh

Front Porch Books: December 2014 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...

Friday Freebie: The Kept by James Scott, Glyph by Percival Everett, What Happened Here by Bonnie ZoBell, All I Have In This World by Michael Parker, Arts & Entertainments by Christopher Beha, Our Senior Year by John Abraham-Watne, The Gods of Second Chance

Congratulations to Michael Cooper, winner of last week's Friday Freebie contest: Closed Doors by Lisa O'Donnell and Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly.

This week's book giveaway is an eclectic grab-bag of titles to stuff your Christmas stocking (though, by the time the books arrive at the winner's house, it will be more like a New Year's gift).  Up for grabs: paperback copies of The Kept by James Scott, Glyph by Percival Everett, What Happened Here by Bonnie ZoBell, All I Have In This...

Friday Freebie: The Kept by James Scott, Glyph by Percival Everett, What Happened Here by Bonnie ZoBell, All I Have In This World by Michael Parker, Arts & Entertainments by Christopher Beha, Our Senior Year by John Abraham-Watne, The Gods of Second Chance

Congratulations to Michael Cooper, winner of last week's Friday Freebie contest: Closed Doors by Lisa O'Donnell and Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly.

This week's book giveaway is an eclectic grab-bag of titles to stuff your Christmas stocking (though, by the time the books arrive at the winner's house, it will be more like a New Year's gift).  Up for grabs: paperback copies of The Kept by James Scott, Glyph by Percival Everett, What Happened Here by Bonnie ZoBell, All I Have In This...