Michele E. Gwynn's Blog, page 33

Creative Writing that Transports Readers from Victoria Dougherty

Image from victoriadougherty.net
I am both saddened that is has taken me so long and excited to have finally discovered the written work of author/writer Victoria Dougherty.

Victoria Dougherty's 'Cold' on Wordpress
Having just read Stepping on the Throat of His Own Song , a fictional essay on Dougherty's blog, I am ready to devour every other piece of writing on it like a bag of potato chips.  I simply cannot read just one. 

The essay follows a KGB agent named Kosmo Zablov in 1956 Moscow during the cold war.  The reader is drawn immediately into the thoughts and inner dialogue of Zablov as he considers his life and how came to the moment he is currently in; a moment that is pivotal - life or death.  He thinks of his brother, Yakhov the journalist, as lucky for being so self-assured in his choice of career even if Zablov thinks he's a little delusional about how smart he actually is when he, himself, has had to create his own luck rising up within the constructs of the KGB by hook or crook.  His deceptions are hard on his heels and catching up to him in the form of another agent sent to follow him.  If caught, Zablov knows how it will go for him having interrogated many in his own lifetime.  It will not end well.  Desperation drives him onward as he seeks to elude his tail and get to the perceived safety of the flat he commandeered through illegal means following a previous case in which he was in charge.  Will luck find him one more time?

You can find her on Goodreads and her website which is 'in the making' here.

Read her New York Times essay The Wrong Kind of Inheritance .

From the biography of Victoria Dougherty:  Victoria Dougherty has for nearly twenty years distinguished herself as a master storyteller, writing fiction, drama, speeches, essays, and television news segments/video scripts.

In Prague, Ms. Dougherty co-founded the acclaimed Black Box Theater, translating, producing and acting to sold-out audiences in several Czech plays – from Vaclav Havel’s riveting “Protest” to the unintentionally hilarious communist propaganda play “Karhan’s Men.” Black Box Theater was profiled in feature articles in USA Today, International Herald Tribune, and numerous European publications.

Currently, Ms. Dougherty lives with her family in Charlottesville, VA, and has recently completed a series of thematically linked Cold War spy thrillers. She is represented by Josh Getzler of Hannigan Salky & Getzler.

Huff Post Live interviews Gigolo Vin Armani

As a freelance writer, various interview opportunities present themselves to me that run the gamut from a former UN Ambassador (Sichan Siv interviewed for the San Antonio North Central News ) to a famous cable TV male escort in the form of the very personable Vin Armani.  I interviewed Vin about his book, Tao of the Gigolo, while I worked as the senior editor for a start up magazine online called FashionErotica.

He's not a surface guy at all, and is, in fact, quite the thinker.  He studied philosophy at Howard University, and for Armani, the job of being a gigolo isn't so much a job as it is an experience along the path that is his life.  (Read my interview with Vin Armani here)


I was reminded today of just how down to earth he is after catching this live video interview on Huff Post Live .  Armani discusses how he approaches each date and describes them as feeling much like going on a blind date.  He shares that each is different, each woman enters into a date with a male escort for different reasons and that the expectations women have in these situations are vastly dissimilar than those a male might have if engaging a female escort.  It was quite an illuminating interview, and I was once again reminded that a career as a writer can lead to unique encounters and always leads to meeting the most interesting people.

New crime novel series worthy of reading

Sometimes treasures are not underground in a faraway land, but right in your backyard - or neighborhood.  That turns out to be the case as an article in one of my local community newspapers announced that Bob Doerr, author of the Jim West Series (crime/mystery/thriller) was awarded the Military Writers Society of America Writer of the Year

Doerr is a resident of Garden Ridge, Texas, (northeast of San Antonio) a small but lovely little city not five minutes down I35 from my own home,   He's a retired Air Force criminal investigator and special agent in counterintelligence.  It seems retirement didn't necessarily mean do nothing or play golf, but instead, has turned into a second career as a writer.

I've been reading his book Dead Men Can Kill (available on Amazon.com) and can tell you that his lead character, Jim West, is an interesting fellow.  Written in first person, the reader is immediately invited into the mind of West and we see the story unfold through his eyes.  He's a humble man and compassionate.  He's also shrewd and insightful.  In this book, he seems surprised at what a simple demonstration of hypnosis reveals, and further, that he is the one that opened this Pandora's box.   

I'm reminded of writers like Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankel, and Dan Brown when it comes to a continuing series of books written around the criminal investigations the main character is often drawn into.  I'm three chapters in and hooked.  It's a good thing, too, because now I can't give you any spoilers!  You'll have to read the book, and then the series, yourself.

Please check out author Bob Doerr.  You won't be disappointed!

Eat, Sleep, Write features Harvest

Logo for Eat, Sleep, WriteIf you haven't yet discovered the website, Eat, Sleep, Write , then please allow me to introduce you!  This site features promotional excerpts from books for anyone to read, review, and get completely sucked into. 

Here, you get the opportunity to see if a book is your cup of tea or not by reading a minimum of 2,000 words from the story.  What better way to find some good reading material, yes? 

It's also a great place for author's to promote their work (should it be accepted) and get introduced to a whole new audience of readers.  ( Submission Guidelines )

You can now read an extended chapter from my book, Harvest, on Eat, Sleep, Write for FREE!  See what the book is all about and get caught up in the suspense.

Eat, Sleep, Write Harvest Michele E. Gwynn