Lev Raphael's Blog, page 52

What's in a Name? Plenty!

"Lev" isn't a common name in Michigan so I'm used to people not hearing it correctly and asking if it's "Les." Over the phone they might think I said "Len" or even "Lez." Seriously.



Lately, though, I've been confronted by an even more annoying name problem. I'll check into an office or a pharmacy or some other establishment and when they ask my name I do what everyone else in the country does and is expected to do. I give them my last name: Raphael.



But I get the brainless question, "Is that y...

Praise for the American Soldiers Who Saved My Father From a Death Train

In early April 1945, my father was packed into a train with 2500 other prisoners from Bergen-Belsen as the Nazis insanely tried to keep British and American troops from rescuing them. The train was made up of 45 cars with their doors sealed shut; the crowding was horrific and of course there was no food or water.







In the chaos of war, this hellish train wandered for a week and finally stopped at Farsleben, a tiny town not far from the Elbe, sixteen kilometers from Magdeburg, the site of one o...

Veterans Day Praise for the Holocaust Liberators Who Saved My Father's Life

In early April 1945, my father was packed into a train with 2500 other prisoners from Bergen-Belsen as the Nazis insanely tried to keep British and American troops from rescuing them. The train was made up of 45 cars with their doors sealed shut; the crowding was horrific and of course there was no food or water.







In the chaos of war, this hellish train wandered for a week and finally stopped at Farsleben, a tiny town not far from the Elbe, sixteen kilometers from Magdeburg, the site of one o...

Veteran's Day Praise for the Holocaust Liberators Who Saved My Father's Life

In early April 1945, my father was packed into a train with 2500 other prisoners from Bergen-Belsen as the Nazis insanely tried to keep British and American troops from rescuing them. The train was made up of 45 cars with their doors sealed shut; the crowding was horrific and of course there was no food or water.







In the chaos of war, this hellish train wandered for a week and finally stopped at Farsleben, a tiny town not far from the Elbe, sixteen kilometers from Magdeburg, the site of one o...

Why Are We Arming Our Police Departments For War?

My novels have been born in various ways, sometimes with the idea of a character, or through a scene, or from an overhead or imagined scrap of dialogue.



But my 25th book Assault With a Deadly Lie came to me four years ago when I started reading stories about little towns like Neenah, Wisconsin. It's home to only 25,000 people and in the past seven years has had only two murders, but today it's the proud owner of a thirty-ton armored combat vehicle which can protect anyone inside against mines....

Why Do So Many Writers Say Writing Torments Them?

There's a quote by Flannery O'Connor currently making the rounds on Facebook: "Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system."



I see her point that writing isn't an escape from reality: It's an attempt to make something out of reality. But "terrible experience"? Give me a break.



Being stu...

Bullies in the Classroom

We probably all have memories of our favorite teachers, the ones who inspired us and still make us smile years later.



And then there are the ones who are like Grendel at the banqueting hall in Beowulf, casting a long shadow. Like my fifth grade teacher who made that whole year hell for me and a lot of other students she didn't like for reasons I'll never know. There was one in this group whose last name was Greif (pronounced to rhyme with "knife"); he was argumentative and she kept caling him...

Writer's Notebook: The Waiting Game

I started pub­lish­ing way before email and the Inter­net, and the thing I hated most was wait­ing. Like wait­ing to hear about a story or man­u­script I'd sub­mit­ted. I'd obses­sively check my cal­en­dar and count days, weeks, months. I kept writing, kept reading books about writing, and kept all kinds of cal­en­dars which I checked when­ever I wasn't busy. Hell, I checked them when I was busy, and they started to look as crowded as the Peri­odic Table.



I thought getting published would end...

Hank Phillippi Ryan and Lev Raphael Rap About Writing

We all know that writing is a solitary affair -- even when you talk to yourself and your spouse or your dog comes in and stares at you.



That's why it's so much fun for us authors to go to conferences. It's not just about meeting fans, though that's always a treat. It's about communing with our peers. It's about piercing the bubble of loneliness. But there's something even better than being on a panel or hanging out at a bar afterwards or going out to dinner: appearing with a fellow author at a...

Hank Phillippi Ryan and Lev Raphael Rap about Writing

We all know that writing is a solitary affair--even when you talk to yourself and your spouse or your dog comes in and stares at you.



That's why it's so much fun for us authors to go to conferences. It's not just about meeting fans, though that's always a treat. It's about communing with our peers. It's about piercing the bubble of loneliness. But there's something even better than being on a panel or hanging out at a bar afterwards or going out to dinner: appearing with a fellow author at a b...