K. Makansi's Blog, page 18

2013: Year In Review as a Reader

Here I’d like to remark briefly on the past year in reading. In a few days I’ll post a list of New Year’s resolutions for my writing, but in this post I’m focusing on my favorite books of the year. I’m happy to share this list with the blogosphere, but this is meant as an […]

Book Review: “Hunger” By Knut Hamsun

I’ve been trying to add more quote-unquote literature to my repertoire of finished books. When I was a child I hated reading anything set in the real world. I found books without magic or elves or talking animals to be unbearably boring, and I had no desire to read anything that had any sort of […]

2013 — A Great Year to be a Reader

Wow! It’s seriously a thrill to see The Sowing included on a list like this. I can’t believe I’m seeing my name alongside names like Hugh Howey and Brandon Sanderson. Thanks to Will Swardstrom for including me, and for taking a chance on The Sowing. I can’t wait to check out his work in 2014. […]

Book Review: “Minutes Before Sunset” by Shannon Thompson

Minutes Before Sunset was perhaps the worst book I’ve ever fallen in love with. When author Shannon Thompson emailed me and asked if I’d like an e-book copy of her urban paranormal romance, Minutes Before Sunset, I was initially hesitant. Urban paranormal is not a genre I’ve read much in, and romance is a word that typically […]

Book Review: The General In His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Here again is another book about death. I apologize for reading such morbid books recently, especially around the holiday season, but there you are. It can’t be helped. The General In His Labyrinth is a departure from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ typical subject, or so I am told. His writing style, normally in the magical realism world […]

Book Review: “Red Phone Box” Edited by Salome Jones

A few months back, I got connected with TLC Book Tours because of my love for Doctor Who. So when my TLC contact asked me if I would be willing to read a fantastical, mysterious, dark story featuring as one of its central aspects a time- and space-traveling red phone box (which is actually much […]

Author Interview: Debbie Young

Meet Debbie Young, the editor of the Alliance of Independent Authors Self-Publishing Advice blog (www.selfpublishingadvice.org), and the author of the book promotion handbook Sell Your Books! She blogs book marketing tips at Off The Shelf Book Promotions (www.otsbp.com), while her personal blog, short stories, flash fiction, travelogues, memoirs, and reviews of other indie authors’ books […]

I Wanted To Love You

In the snow, we whistled, chased birds, threw ourselves down hills, ran along railroad tracks and chased trains blindly through the soft senescent light of streetlights. We drank tea and coffee and ran together and fought and I broke the spines of your books as an act of vengeance. In the flowers, we bled, we […]

Book Review: “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making” By Catherynne Valente

Fairies, golems, wyverns, magical swords, talking furniture, flying cats, and evil sorceresses. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making has all of these and more, critical elements of a soon-to-be childhood favorite that, I hope, will stand among the classics of the genre. The Girl Who… seems to me best described by elements […]

Author Interview: Dan Holloway

Meet Dan Holloway, a novelist, performance poet, and journalist. He is the MC of spoken word show The New Libertines which has toured festivals across the UK, and was winner of Literary Death Match in 2010. His new book, Self-publish With Integrity, helps writers to discover why it is they really write, and then achieve it. […]