Mark Stevens's Blog, page 39
October 24, 2015
Q & A #35 – Tom Bouman, “Dry Bones in the Valley”
I met Tom Bouman at the South Dakota Festival of Books in September and I was lucky enough to sit on a panel with him and South Dakota’s extremely popular Sandra Brannan. I had read Dry Bones in the Valley and … Continue reading →
October 19, 2015
Warren Hammond – “The Tides of Maritinia”
If you have read the three KOP novels (KOP, KOP KILLER, and EX-KOP), you know Warren Hammond has no problem throwing a reader straight into a brand new, boldly-envisioned world. And as with the KOP trilogy, Tides of Maritinia is … Continue reading →
October 7, 2015
Nicholson Baker – “Traveling Sprinkler”
How would you begin to list the topics that Traveling Sprinkler engages? For starters—poetry, classical music, funk, Yukon Jack, cigars, Charles Darwin, Quaker meetings (“meeting”), Debussy, Matisse, Picasso, Ravel, Planet Fitness, The Talking Heads, Crystal Method, shrink-wrapping boats, jake brakes, … Continue reading →
September 23, 2015
Q & A #34 With Christine Carbo – “The Wild Inside”
See that bear on the cover? And the title? I was drawn to The Wild Inside immediately. Yes, the cover sold me. I found the book at first when I did some research on my fellow panelists at Bouchercon 2014 … Continue reading →
September 7, 2015
Nightmares Unhinged
The late Wes Craven, who died last week, said this about horror movies: “It’s like boot camp for the psyche. In real life, human beings are packaged in the flimsiest of packages, threatened by real and sometimes horrifying dangers … … Continue reading →
August 29, 2015
Q & A #33 With Stephen and Joyce Singular – “The Spiral Notebook”
On the night of July 19, 2012 my wife and I decided to sleep outside in our side yard to stay cool. We live in the Stapleton neighborhood, in east Denver where the airport was located before the city opened … Continue reading →
August 26, 2015
Phil Klay – “Redeployment”
I think every single taxpaying citizen of the United States should read the short story “Redeployment.” Why? I suppose to stop and think about what we are asking men and women to endure and how we are asking them to … Continue reading →
August 16, 2015
Q & A #32 With David Corbett – “The Mercy of the Night”
I first encountered David Corbett at Left Coast Crime in Colorado Springs (2014) as he delivered a terrific three-hour class on developing character in fiction. Later, I read The Art of Character—Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film and TV and … Continue reading →
July 17, 2015
Richard Ford – “Let Me Be Frank With You”
The Sportswriter was one of the few books I’ve read twice. I dug Independence Day and Lay of the Land, too. I can’t imagine reading Let Me Be Frank With You without having devoured all that’s come before for Frank … Continue reading →
June 30, 2015
David McCullough – “The Wright Brothers”
I’m sure there are readers who can compare this history / biography to what’s been published before but I imagine that I’m more typical. My knowledge of Wilbur and Orville Wright is reduced to a few bullet points. They were … Continue reading →
