Steven E. Wedel's Blog, page 22
April 5, 2014
Review: The Exorcist
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Simply put, this is still the best horror novel ever written. Blatty’s use of language — particularly simile — is beautiful and touching or sickening and depraved, but always right there, pushing the reader to see what he wants you to see.
The Exorcist is the story of Father Damien Karras’s journey from doubt to faith. Yes, there is a young girl who is possessed and the demon within makes her do some pretty gross things, but the sto...
April 1, 2014
Inheritance Released Today
My first novella without any supernatural elements is now available from MoonHowler Press. It’s called Inheritance. It is the story about a mother who comes home from the grocery store to find her daughter’s boyfriend and two other guys raping the girl. The mother spent almost her whole life as a victim and her one goal in life was for her daughter not to become a victim like she was.
This is the novel that was originally going to be published by Stone Threat Publishing, but with that company...
March 31, 2014
Review: UnStrung
UnStrung by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this VERY short book quite a lot, but rather than answer questions about Lev it really just created more questions about the People of Chance, particularly Wil. I’d say more, but that would give away the ending and that just wouldn’t be fair. It’s worth the read, but don’t expect the whole story of what happened to Lev between leaving CyFy and showing up in The Graveyard.
March 29, 2014
Review: Unwind
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It took me a little while to get into this one. In the first third of the book Shusterman really overused the word “bolt.” Everyone was on the verge of bolting here or bolting there. It’s a small thing, maybe, but it annoyed me. Also, I found the coincidence of Connor, Risa, and Lev just coincidentally meeting like they did on the highway to be a bit much to swallow.
After that, however, the book really picks up steam and I found myself readin...
March 23, 2014
Scrivener: Day 1
I wrote my first novel on a Brother electronic typewriter that would show me nine characters on a little digital screen before they were committed to paper. From there I moved up to a Smith-Corona Electra XP typewriter, and then on to a Smith-Corona PWP3 word processor before getting my first computer. After upgrading that computer a bit (we’re talking 8088 processor here) I got hold of a copy of WordPerfect 5.1 and thought there would never be a better writing tool created.
Bill Gates pretty...
March 20, 2014
10 reasons why the 1970s were awesome
There was a 10-year period that pretty much shaped my world, providing the cultural touchstones by which all things that came after would be measured. I suppose it’s that way for most people. For me, that time period would have been about 1975-1985; that would be from the ages of nine to 19. What makes that time period so awesome? I’m glad you asked.
#1 KISS
Nothing from childhood did more to influence me than the band Kiss. Blood-spitting, fire-breathing, fist-pumping straight-up rock-and-roll...
March 15, 2014
Review: The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m not sure how many times I’ve read The Grapes of Wrath. I know this is the sixth year I’ve taught it in my AP Literature class. Since it is the 75th anniversary of the book’s publication and my group of AP students is an exceptional one, I decided to re-read the novel this year. As always, I found something new. And my students taught me something about it, too.
The book is full of symbolism, animal imagery, and biblical allusio...
March 4, 2014
Thoughts on Self Publishing
Is there a more controversial topic among writers than the dreaded one about publishing your own work? Probably not. As little as 10 years ago it was unthinkable for anyone aspiring to commercial success to even consider vanity publishing. Of course, back then it was pretty dang expensive, unless you got tied up with a place like PublishAmerica.
Today? Well, there is still a stigma, but the practice is becoming more accepted. For those who haven’t caught on yet, my books published under the Mo...
February 24, 2014
Review: Dark Matter
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Nobody writes a ghost story like a Brit. Dark Matter is a slow-building ghost story in the perfect setting for such a thing, the frozen wasteland of the Arctic during that time when there is no sunlight.
It has been a long, long time since a story has made the hair on my neck stand up, but when Jack has his second visit from the thing that haunts Gruhuken I felt that delicious feeling.
This is a short book, and as I said, the ghost story bu...
February 19, 2014
Review: Fire and Ash
Fire and Ash by Jonathan Maberry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I can’t remember the last time I read through an entire series so fast. All four books in just about two months, with a couple of other books thrown in. That’s pretty fast for me. Despite that, as I’ve said with the previous three books, I wasn’t very impressed with the series.
Don’t get me wrong, there was some good stuff. Like so many others, I really enjoy a good apocalyptic story. And I suspect that a whole lot of my issues with thi...
