Lenore H. Gay's Blog, page 3
August 10, 2017
BOOK REVIEW: Afterlife by Marcus Sakey
BOOK REVIEW: Afterlife by Marcus Sakey
Thomas & Mercer, 2017
[Source: Marcus Sakey]
Curious about fiction portraying parallel universes, time travel and life after death, I looked forward to reading Afterlife. Sakey has many fans from his previous books. The online reviews of Afterlife were mostly positive. The book itselfSakey’s prose was solid, a well-crafted book full of intriguing ideas. The layered afterlife was well-developed and kept me reading.
The two main characters could’ve been mo...
August 7, 2017
Writing About Trauma
Flannery O’Connor in Mystery and Manners wrote: “The longer you look at one object, the more of the world you see in it; and it is well to remember that the serious fiction writer always writes about the whole world, no matter how limited his particular scene.”
PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is more commonly discussed and written about in the 2000s than in previous decades. Sometimes PTSD is referred to as PTS, not labeling the stress a disorder. My first job was working in an inpatien...
August 1, 2017
Celebrating Goodreads’ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week
[Source: Goodreads]
While discussing post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction with an academic writer, he asked if I’d read any of John Wyndham’s works. I had not. My friend recommended The Day of the Triffids. This book was considered one of the earliest books published in the genre.In 1925 Wyndham began writing short stories. In 1951 Doubleday published his first novel, The Day of the Triffids, in London. In May 2013, following my friend’s advice, I bought the book.
I wasn’t disappointed. T...
March 29, 2017
Shelter of Leaves is a 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Finalist
March brought a surprise: My book Shelter of Leaves is a 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year finalist for science fiction!
Foreword Reviews writes, “These finalists represent the best books published in 2016, and submitted to Foreword Reviews for award consideration, and were narrowed down by Foreword’s editors from over 2,200 individual titles across 65 categories.”
Finalists will be judged by an expert panel of librarians and booksellers curated specifically for each genre. Winners will...
February 10, 2017
Triggering a Map of the Imagination
“I’ll draw another mental map and build a city entirely with ice-covered pink stones…”
[Source: San Diego Book Review]
On February 3, I wrote a blog post for the San Diego Book Review, entitled “Triggering a Map of the Imagination.” Check it out and let me know what you think!Life in Other Worlds
“My first attempt at novel writing began in a ridiculous way…”
[Source: San Diego Book Review]
On December 20, I wrote a blog post for the San Diego Book Review, entitled “Life in Other Worlds.” Check it out and let me know what you think!Writing: Early On
“…stories were always with me, floating through my mind, collecting.”
[Source: San Diego Book Review]
On October 28, I wrote a blog post for the San Diego Book Review, entitled “Writing: Early On.” Check it out and let me know what you think!July 26, 2016
NAMES: CLUES TO CHARACTER
In my novel, Shelter of Leaves, names carry meaning. The first paragraph below is an excerpt from the deleted prologue.
Beside her swimming pool, Elaine closed her eyes against the sun. She imagined a drifting boat flanked by trees; crimson, marigold and burnt sienna leaves spun to the ground. Brilliant leaves signaled good fortune, after all she’d married a man surnamed Owen. The name meant “wellborn” in Greek.
Early on, I named a main character in my book Sabine. An image of Degas’ painting...
June 9, 2016
WRITING TRAUMA
WRITING TRAUMA
Flannery O’Connor in Mystery and Manners said: “The longer you look at one object, the more of the world you see in it; and it’s well to remember that the serious fiction writer always writes about the whole world, no matter how limited his particular scene.”
A symptom list of PTSD will give a reader information, but not a fictional character. The most effective fiction writing stays close to the bone, close to a particular character in all her complexity. The character isn’t t...
May 18, 2016
Survival: Dreams
SURVIVAL: DREAMS
Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize winning essayist, in answer to a question from the audience about what is needed to become a writer, gave an answer, obvious, yet profound. It surprised me. She replied that the writer has to do more than live out in the world. In a firm voice she declared, “Our minds are our capital. You must write about what you particularly love.” (University of Richmond.11/83.)
What did I particularly love? Maps of all kinds – mental maps of familiar p...
