What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said? Harper Lee's masterpiece and only true novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has been analyzed to death by critics and is quintessential reading for any middle school English class. How Lee manages to write with such pathos, conviction, and storytelling skill without ever having... Continue Reading →
FINALLY!!! After a three-year-long wait, the short video I asked my daughter to help me produce is complete! "The King's Sacrifice" is based on the fairytale intro that appears at the novel's start. All of the art was done by Jasmine (save for the tower and the map), who has greatly improved since she started... Continue Reading →
Writing is hard and storytelling is even harder. It is a fool's errand paved with heartache and disappointment and oddly placed metaphors. So, if you're dreaming big, wanting to see your name appear at Barnes & Noble next to the big shots of the literary world, do yourself a favor and step away from the... Continue Reading →
I am going to try and keep this short and to the point, so forgive my rant, but I am furious at the moment because Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Amazon have all pretty much shat over my name. By mere association, my work of twenty years has been chucked into the junk bin of... Continue Reading →
"The book was better" always gets thrown around when readers compare a movie to its novel counterpart. And I admit that, with few exceptions, the novel version is superior. The reasons for this are many. Transitioning a story from one medium to another is often like translating a pun into another language. What works in... Continue Reading →
I finally got around to reading one of this generation's most beloved and successful fantasy authors: Brandon Sanderson. Is the guy all he's cracked up to be, at least judging by his debut novel, Mistborn? While I found much of the book a bit too formulaic for my tastes—we are treated, yet again, to another... Continue Reading →
R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War starts as a typical coming-of-age fantasy about a girl from humble beginnings who discovers she has special powers. Despite a cliched beginning, the first chapter had me hooked, as it's probably the best bit of writing in the novel --- not surprising given the knock-them-dead-from-page-one nature of publishing today. The... Continue Reading →
Everything old is new again! Nostalgia sells, and like any good business, Hollywood is banking on your childhood like never before. Instead of the innovative storytelling we grew up with in the '80s, we are inundated with sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots. Disney gave us new Star Wars, Amazon's Rings of Power brought us back... Continue Reading →
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (what a name!) centers around an apocalyptic, end-of-the-world scenario involving a super-flu that wipes out most of humanity. It's a more concise and grounded version of Stephen King's The Stand, and was of particular interest to me given our post-COVID world. Mandel weaves a complex narrative with multiple... Continue Reading →
The Art of Storytelling 
You must be logged in to post a comment.