Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 71
February 19, 2019
Rejection…
What do Melville, Orwell, Hemingway, Clancy, and Rowling have in common? You’re correct if you say they’re well known authors. But they’ve also been rejected by agents and publishers. Most of our lives are filled with good and bad events. Some of the latter correspond to rejection. For an author, rejections are especially painful.
According the NY Times, Melville was asked, “Does it have to be a whale?” Orwell’s essay on British cooking was rejected because someone didn’t like his recipe for...
February 14, 2019
Experimentation…
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! It’s the day lovers celebrate…maybe book lovers? Enjoy it!
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Writers should never stop experimenting. I don’t mean silliness like writing a crime story in reverse (Deaver) or a mystery where the ending comes first (Garcia Marquez). Or a horror story containing a monstrous clown who eats people (King)—OK, maybe that was fresh and new at the time, and played off on some people’s clown phobias. No, I just mean telling a story in a new way with new characters...
February 13, 2019
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #166…
The roller coaster. I don’t know about where you are, but here in Montclair, NJ, we had three days of subfreezing weather, a few days like spring, and then back to winter—up and down we went, confusing all the flora and fauna and making people sick. Mother Earth seems fickle some times, so be careful, everyone. Extreme weather conditions aren’t to be trifled with.
Hemingway and Orwell. According to an article in today’s NY Times, they had works rejected by agents or publishers. Melville was a...
February 12, 2019
Author organizations…
Previously I’ve avoided them, putting them in the same class as contests. Most authors don’t have much money to spend, and most orgs and contests cost money! Besides, I’ve had an APS professional membership for years, and at least that membership includes Physics Today, a glossy pop-sci ‘zine that’s loaded with all sorts of science and technology info (name me one author org with a ‘zine like that!). (By the way, that ‘zine and Science News provides a lot of background material for my sci-fi...
February 8, 2019
Do they serve coffee in heaven?
Many of us start our work day with coffee. Let’s forget about whether there are any health positives or negatives for doing so. Everything in moderation, yada yada yada, makes it a harmless addiction with mental benefits—that jolt of caffeine is a pleasant way to jumpstart our brains.
Of course, there’s coffee and then there’s great coffee. I’ve waged war against Starbucks coffee in these pages because their coffee is mediocre at best and tastes like burnt toast at worst. (Go ahead and sue me...
February 7, 2019
The NY Times Book Review, Part Two…
[Note from Steve: You can find Part One in the “Writing” archive of this blog.]
In a much earlier post, I was a bit harsh about suggesting you use the NY Times Book Review for the bottom of your bird cages. I actually scan it every Saturday or Sunday (it’s part of the Sunday edition, but we get that on Saturday…and we have no birds now). I scan it on the slight chance that I’ll see some book I’ve read. I’ll have to confess that I’ve never purchased a book that was listed therein, either befor...
February 6, 2019
Review of June Trop’s The Deadliest Fever…
The Deadliest Fever. June Trop, author (Black Opal Books, 2018). Miriam bat Isaac is an alchemist and amateur sleuth. This novel, the last one of a series recently published, focuses more on the second role. This is a mystery with historical fiction overtones that includes the clash of two cultures, one Jewish and the other Roman, and they somewhat coexist in Alexandria during the time of Nero.
Someone desecrates the synagogue leaving it a mess with blood and oil on the floor. But then one of...
February 5, 2019
Hard-boiled…
Two recent events brought back fond memories. I downloaded Theodore P. Druch’s Pure Gold, a collection of three novellas inspired by hard-boiled crime fiction, and ABC News decided to revisit the Robert Blake case. Although I have written hard-boiled crime stories myself, the fond memories were about a childhood where I “graduated” from reading one Hardy Boys story (The Secret of Wildcat Swamp) to books by authors who comprised the hard-boiled movement.
Pure Gold and Blake AKA Beretta are unr...
February 1, 2019
Review of Sandra Gardner’s Grave Expectations…
Grave Expectations. Sandra Gardner, author. (Black Opal Books, 2019) This novel continues in the Carl Hiaasen tradition of the first book in the series, Dead Shrinks Don’t Talk, which I also reviewed. In other words, it’s a serious mystery that’s hilarious at the same time. You will recall that the Dr. Watson for Marabella Vinegar’s Holmes is her ghost-mom. (Or is it the reverse? Ghost-mom has ambitions to be Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. Dame Angela, who played Ms. Fletcher, is still aliv...
January 31, 2019
Sex, violence, and all that…
One advantage for authors becoming minimalist writers is that they can leave a lot to readers’ imaginations. Some readers might not realize it, but their own minds are wonderful instruments for filling in the gaps and creating their own images about what is going on from just a few suggestions offered by the writer. The Goldilocks Principle applies. Not too many suggestions, not too few, but just enough. This technique is especially beneficial when writing scenes containing sex, violence, and...
