Adam Blumer's Blog, page 8

A Chat with Novelist Deb Brammer (with Giveaway)

Welcome to a new dimension of my blog: interviews. I’d love to highlight friends of mine who’ve written some fantastic books, books I can wholeheartedly recommend to you and your friends. As you know, I believe in clean and meaningful Christian fiction, so I’m careful about who I endorse. My new guest is Deb Brammer, an author friend I’ve known for several years. Without further ado, join Deb and me as we sip our coffee and chat about Christian publishing. So, Deb, how long have you been writing for Christian publication? For about thirty-five years. I had my first article published by Regular Baptist Press in 1979. How many books have you written? I’ve had eight books published. Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World and Two Sides to Everything are written for preteens and involve cultural changes made by an American in Taiwan and New Zealand. Moose is fiction…

Book Giveaway of Fatal Illusions

I’m giving away three copies of Fatal Illusions. Please visit The Vessel Project to comment and enter the drawing. http://vesselproject.com/2015/09/03/b...

Book Review: The Giver

I finally found time over vacation to read The Giver by Lois Lowry. She’s also the author of Number the Stars, one of my all-time favorite YA novels. The Giver also won the Newberry Award, and I was eager to read it (certainly no small amount of buzz over it, since the release of the movie, which I haven’t yet seen). But overall I’d have to admit that I wish I’d liked the novel more than I did. It didn’t live up to its hype for me. Though the novel is well written and offers a lot of interesting social commentary in the context of an imagined future world, I struggled to get through it. Jonas’s world is certainly not one where I would like to live, and perhaps that’s one reason why I didn’t enjoy the novel. It certainly isn’t a “happy” story. Here is Publisher’s Weekly summary: In the “ideal”…

Where Am I on the Next Novel?

The next novel is written. So where am I in the process of publishing it? For me, writing the novel is the easiest part, though finding writing time is always a challenge. Revising is the hardest part because I tend to be a perfectionist and sometimes work and rework a scene over and over again before I think I’ve got it right. Then even after I think I’ve got it right, I’m later not happy with it and want to do something else. Or I have an ending in mind, but then a new idea dawns. When new ideas spring forth, I write them all down and then give them time to simmer in my mind. Whether I choose to use them isn’t an easy process. A novel literally has thousands of moving parts. If you tend to be an indecisive person, novel writing may not be for you, because every chapter,…

Book Review: Ends of the Earth by Tim Downs

Book Summary Nick Polchak must stop a terrorist from causing a global ecological nightmare. Two beautiful women from Nick’s past are competing for his heart. He’s not sure which impending disaster makes him more nervous. When forensic entomologist Nick Polchak is called to the scene of a murder on a small organic farm in North Carolina he is astonished to find that the victim’s estranged wife is an old friend, a woman he once worked with, a woman he once had feelings for. When she asks Nick to investigate her husband’s drug-related murder, Nick seeks the assistance of Alena Savard, the reclusive dog trainer known to the people of northern Virginia as the Witch of Endor.Alena jumps at the chance to renew her relationship with Nick, but when she arrives in North Carolina she discovers that she’s not the only woman who has her eye on the Bug Man. Soon Nick…

Is a Standing Desk Right for You?

Realizing that I’m not getting any younger and hearing the remembered words of my chiropractor that my biggest problem affecting long-standing neck and back issues is that I sit too much at my job, I decided to seriously pursue using a standing desk in 2015. This video might help motivate you to consider doing the same. I literally spend more than fifty hours a week in front of a computer. I could feel myself getting older by the hour with chronic back pain, neck pain, and stiffness. It was time for a change. If you’ve done any online research about ergonomics, you’ll discover that standing desks are a hot topic. And once you start researching them, you’ll find quite a variety of styles and prices. Some range from cheap make-your-own varieties. Others can cost literally thousands of dollars. The options can be overwhelming. And yes, nobody wants to stand all…

Is a Standing Desk for You?

Realizing that I’m not getting any younger and hearing the remembered words of chiropractor that my biggest problem affecting long-standing neck and back issues is that I sit too much at my job, I decided to seriously pursue using a standing desk in 2015. This video might help motivate you to consider doing the same. I literally spend more than sixty hours a week in front of a computer. It was time for a change. If you’ve done any online research about ergonomics, you’ll discover that standing desks are a hot topic. And once you start researching them, you’ll find quite a variety of styles and prices. Some range from cheap make-your-own varieties. Others can cost literally thousands of dollars. The options can be overwhelming. Since I already have a desk system, I narrowed down my research to simple ways to raise my desktop somehow. (I use a laptop with…

Excellent Article on Writing Fictional Dialogue

Hey, all those fiction writers out there, here’s an excellent breakdown of what “to do” and what “not to do” in good dialogue writing. I hope this is encouraging to you. If only half of the fiction authors I edit would take this advice to heart, my job would be much easier. Thank you, C. S. Lakin! http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/0...

Giveaway: 2 Print Copies of Fatal Illusions

To celebrate the relaunch of Fatal Illusions through Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, I’m giving away two free print copies of the novel. To enter the drawing, please respond below, beginning February 25. The winner will be chosen on March 11, 2015. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Johnstown Flood

Why do I like stories about disasters and tragedy? The Titanic. The Galveston Hurricane. The Holocaust. These are all topics I find myself interested in, mainly because, though some people certainly die, I like the stories of everyday people who overcome incredible odds. That’s the crux of every good novel, if you think about it. Plus these are real people—nobody made them up—and their stories of courage and tragedy haunt me. The Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, is one of those stories that grabbed ahold of me and wouldn’t let go until I’d finished reading David McCullough’s fine, engaging book. I wanted to know how two thousand people could just die because of a broken dam. And how could a dam fall into such disrepair and fail? Didn’t the people in the valley below realize they were living in a major flood zone? Didn’t anyone warn them? Why would anyone…