[1. From The Editor's Desk]
[2. Author Interview]
[3. Columns]
[4. Voices from the Forum]
[5. Bragging Writes]
[6. New Releases]
[7. Coming Soon]
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Greetings and welcome to the fourth issue of The Fiction Forum Review!
First, I'd like to announce that The Fiction Forum
was awarded Preditors & Editors' "Truly Useful Site
Award" for July! I was sincerely honored that
the site received this award. Thank you to David Kuzminski!
You might have noticed that The Review looks
different this month. Well, this is the beginning of
a transition toward lighter pages. Hopefully the download
was much faster for this issue. There is now a side
navigation bar. You can read this entire issue without
clicking through to the web site. You will find [return
to top] anchors throughout the issue so you can go back
to the navigation bar if you choose.
This month we have several author interviews: Jonathan
Ames and Frank Caceres. The book reviews are "Dream
Quest" and "Finding Your Voice." "Finding Your
Voice" is a Writer's Digest book. We are now reviewing
writing books on a regular basis. This month's columns
include "Getting It Down," "The Path Toward Prose,"
and "Word Alchemy."
There are plenty of New Releases, so be sure to check them out!
Things to look forward to for The Fiction Forum:
We are going to be accepting short story submissions. I would like to
start publishing a short story each month. The details will be in
next month's issue.
The Fiction Forum will soon become a member of Backwash.com. We're going to
have our own community on the site. This will give us a place to host
live author chats! If you're interested, let me know.
The SHORT FICTION critique group is getting ready to
start. If you would like to join, visit the web site
for details. We're still looking for a Critique Group
moderator for FLASH FICTION:
If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to email me
at editor@fictionforum.net.
Renee Faucher
Owner, The Fiction Forum The Fiction Forum Review,
Copyright 2003.
Published by The Fiction Forum-Where Fiction Lovers Come to Play! http://www.fictionforum.net
The Voices from the Forum feature is available to all writers.
Topics available for submission are:
--"What role did writing play in developing your view of the world?"
--"As a reader, how would you describe your relationship with your
favorite novel? Did it affect your every day life--does it still?"
--"What are you reading? How would you describe your current
experience with the text?"
Please keep your response under 300 words. You may include your homepage or web site url and your email address for inclusion with the submission. Do not send attachments. Include your response in the body of an email to voices@fictionforum.net. Please note that all
submissions are subject to editing and submission does not guarantee publication.
"What role did writing play in developing your view of the world?"
by Carrie Smoot
Writing has always helped me make sense of the world. Once I got past
mandatory school essays, I wrote letters to friends and family
reflecting on everyday things: sunsets, flowers, school trips,
disappointments and joys. I wrote in journals and attempted poetry,
making me laugh. Growing up, I was painfully shy. I hated my voice,
and was hesitant in speaking. Pen and paper were easier. I could say
something without being interrupted or teased, everything I wanted,
taking my time. Fiction and nonfiction strengthened my vocabulary and
knowledge, and I wanted to be involved with book production some day.
I wanted (and still do!) to write like the British novelist Rumer
Godden or the historical biographer/novelist Irving Stone. Even so,
fame would probably elude me. I wouldn??™t have prestigious jobs, or
ever write The Great American Novel. I was afraid to write for
publication. ???Try,??? said the voice in my head. But fear was still
there.
A college professor encouraged me to write a book review,
eventually published in the literary magazine. He encouraged me to
write more about current events. I asked so many questions of a friend
covering a campus activity that she asked if I wanted to cover it
myself. I had to turn it down, but an idea was forming??¦
Right out of college, I got a job as a stringer, and then wrote when I
could after I was hired full time in a different field. A former
co-worker once told me, ???You??™ll go far by asking questions.??? That??™s
the main part of journalism??”to ask questions about all kinds of things
others would be interested in, and then explain them to readers so
they can use the information and understand it. Get out of your
comfort zone. Even now when something happens I dash to the computer
to get it down. You never know when it will wind up in an article or
essay.
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The voice in Jonathan Ames??™s memoir, My Less Than Secret Life, his
collected columns, What??™s Not to Love?, and two novels, I Pass Like
Night and The Extra Man, is that of a very bright man who may or not
be coming apart. His words make you laugh tears and bite your lip
with truth. During his recent stretch performing Eric Bogosian??™s
monologue ???Notes from Underground??™ in Manhattan??™s East Village,
I inquired about his frame of mind.
FF: I've been trying to decide whether you're a novelist who also
writes personal histories or a personal historian who also writes
novels. Can you help me out?
JA: I don't know that one has to precede the other. I guess I'm just
a writer and for a while I was writing novels, and then I got my
column for New York Press and started writing personal essays (though
your phrase personal histories is more elegant), and now I'm writing
novels again, but still, sometimes, writing personal histories. And
added to all this mix, to make things more confusing, is that first I
wrote a novel, I Pass Like Night, and then I couldn't find my 'voice'
in fiction, so I started telling stories from my life on stage, and
then I did find a fictional voice in The Extra Man, while still
telling stories on stage, and then I stopped the stage stuff for a
few years to finish the novel, and then I started the column and
returned to the stage, which sounds overly dramatic in a number of
layered ways . . . Anyway, before I started writing personal
histories, I was telling personal histories.
FF: Do you have a favorite among your books, or one of which you're
proudest?
JA: I think I'm proudest of The Extra Man. That I sustained a story
for a 'long' book; that I had a singleness of purpose for four
years to write that book and it happened. Lately, I've been feeling
good about What's Not to Love? as a testament that I was doing some
interesting stuff writing my column every two weeks.
FF: You've styled for yourself a niche I find enviable: you get to
write in a funny, direct voice the things people actually want to
read. How has your style evolved?
JA: I've always liked the straight-forward ???American??? prose style, as
seen in Hemingway, Hammett, Bukowski and numerous other
practitioners. I think when I first started writing, my 'ear' was
more genuinely musical and poetic while being straightforward. I wish
I could write like that again; but I think that takes a certain amount
of inner youthful pain and self-seriousness that I've lost. And I
have to say answering questions about my work and writing makes me
feel a little embarrassed. But what the hell, it's nice to be asked
questions and so I'll pretend that I'm a real writer who gets to
answer questions like these.
FF: How did it begin for you? Were you writing for the New York Press
when you sold your first book?
JA: I sold my first book in 1987. It was a novella, my senior thesis
at Princeton. I was 23. I took a year and a half to expand into a
novel, and it came out in 1989. Then I had a severe case of
second-novel psychosis and didn't publish my second book, The Extra
Man, until 1998. I started writing for the Press in December of 1996,
after The Extra Man had been rejected by about 25 publishers and I
was going to quit being a writer, but a friend of mine read some of
The Extra Man to the Press's then editor, the great and incredible
John Strausbaugh, and he decided to publish some of it as a short
story, and from there I started writing essays for him and the Press
for about 10 months and then started my column in the fall of 1997.
If any of this makes sense, and in February of 1997, The Extra Man
was finally accepted by a publisher, the last one in New York that
hadn't yet said no, Scribner. So thank the deities for them and the
editor who purchased it, Leigh Haber.
FF: I didn't see Eric Bogosian perform 'Notes from Underground,' but
your performance includes tics and actions that struck me as your
creation. How much input did you have in the piece?
JA: I added a few lines, not much, and Eric was wonderfully flexible
to work with in allowing me to find a way to become the character. I
ended up hamming it up a lot more than he initially wanted I think,
but he was very generous with me and allowed me to ham it up, which
is my natural inclination.
FF: Your hilarious readings of your own work hinge on
self-deprecation and goofiness. Is that your instinctual reaction to
performing or is it a strategy you've developed?
JA: I guess it's instinctual.
FF: Which dead or otherwise impossible-to-meet writer has affected
you most personally? Someone who has soothed or outraged you or made
you wonder why you bother.
JA: I love so many writers; they've all kept me going. I love books.
I think every writer is a book lover. But the writers I reread . . .
let's see: Raymond Chandler, Bukowski, PG Wodehouse . . . recently I
reread John Barth's The End of The Road. Some day I hope to reread
Cervantes' Don Quixote, which I think is the greatest book I've ever
read.
FF: Okay, bad living is fun. Should we really just limit ourselves to
coffee?
JA: I don't tell people what to do, except maybe to appeal to them
not to hurt themselves, if they can help it. For me, at the moment,
coffee is my only chemical vice. The other ones just beat the crap
out of me. But I'm fine with it. Boxing is not fun when you get your
ass kicked all the time, so it's the same thing with me as far
alcohol and its cousins are concerned.
FF: You make a big commotion about being bald. Would you swap four
inches of height for hair? Would you accept six extra inches of
waist-line as a trade?
JA: Good question. I guess not. So I will count my blessings.
FF: What'll your next book be like? When will we see it?
JA: It's a comic novel; an homage to the novels of PG Wodehouse. It
is titled, Wake Up, Sir! It will come out with Scribner in the spring
of 2004, if all goes well.
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A native of New York City, Frank Caceres holds a Bachelor of Business
Administration degree from Manhattan College and a Master of Arts in
Vocational Education from the University of South Florida. He shares
the distinction of being a Manhattan College Alumnus with America's
Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, and novelist James Patterson. As a Vietnam-Era
veteran of the U.S. Army, Caceres has a number of short stories
and essays that were published in various journals, magazines and
anthologies. He began his writing career by composing business
correspondence and procedure manuals but he had always dreamed of
writing a book. He realized that dream with the publishing of his
book Because They Were.
FF: Frank, when did you decide that you wanted to be a writer "when
you grew up?"
FC: Well, I've been writing, mostly business letters, reports,
procedures manuals, etc. for most of my adult life (exactly when that
began is debatable), but I??™ve always wanted to write a book. Like
most authors, I suppose, I??™ve had a novel lurking inside me for many
years. I began writing fiction, which is much less depressing (and
more believable) than business-related correspondence, in January
1999, after I earned my Master??™s degree -- I guess I wanted to keep
up the momentum my mind had gotten into.
FF: Was there one defining moment in your life that made you decide
that now is the time to get started on that novel?
FC: Both my parents have passed away, my mother being the last to go
in 1995. Since her death, I??™ve become more aware of my ethnic
background, adopting the use of the accent over the ???a??? in my name.
It??™s always supposed to have been there (my dad always signed his
name with it) but I hadn??™t used it before. My novel deals with issues
of prejudice and discrimination, but it revolves around a sense of
family and national unity. My parents??™ deaths brought their
sacrifices and hardships to the forefront in my thoughts.
FF: When you first sat down and began seriously thinking about where
your writing career would take you, what were your initial thoughts?
Did you have a course charted in your mind as to where, and how, you
would begin?
FC: Becoming a published author didn??™t really enter my mind until
early 1999, and I had no clue as to how to begin. Prior to 1999, I
hadn??™t spent much time reading for pleasure. It didn??™t take long
for me to realize that I had to read fiction in order to understand
how to write fiction. I??™ve since become a voracious reader and
almost need a part-time job to afford all the books I buy. My first
publication was a short story I wrote entitled, "Squints" that was
produced in Thema, a literary journal, in spring 2000. I continued
to write short stories and essays and sent them wherever I thought
they had a chance of being published. Little by little, I saw more
acceptance letters in the mail. In the meanwhile, I kept plugging
away at my novel.
FF: Tell us a little bit about your book and how it developed.
FC:Because They Were is a story about a Puerto Rican man and an
African- American woman who run for the two top spots in our nation??™s
government. Their primary opponent is the leader of a racist "church"
who is found assassinated early in the novel. The Hispanic
candidate??™s younger brother is found next to the body with the
proverbial smoking gun in his hand, and is accused of the murder.
My experiences as a Latino growing up in New York City, which
classifies me as a Nuyorican, laid the foundation for this novel. My
characters are a conglomerate of various people I??™ve known in my
lifetime.
FF: Did you target a specific audience when you began writing
Because They Were, or do you think your book will appeal to any
audience?
FC: Anyone who has experienced the sting of prejudice should finish
my book with a sense of satisfaction that there is hope, and that
intolerance can be overcome. Those who have never tasted the
bitterness of being hated, or looked down upon because of a skin
color or an accent, will (hopefully) come away from my novel with a
heightened understanding of what people have to live with each and
every day -- being punished for a sin they??™ve never committed.
FF: What words of wisdom, inspiration and sage advice can you offer
to our readers as they start their way toward fiction "careers?" Do
you believe that writers should write what they know?
FC: A famous author referred to his first drafts as the sputum
that spontaneously emerged from him and were transformed into words
and thoughts. I think the most important thing for a writer to
remember is that ideas should flow freely from somewhere deep
inside. As soon as the writing becomes manufactured, it quickly
takes on a plastic, synthetic and artificial tone. Yes, write what
you know is a good foundation on which to build a story, but
sincerity and spontaneity are most important. A writer can always
go back and correct spelling and grammar, but the original thought
is fleeting and must be captured and memorialized on paper before it
vaporizes into nothingness.
FF: I imagine that writing is like any other habit/routine. You would
have to get yourself on some sort of a schedule...is that correct?
Does your writing day follow a set schedule or do you write when you
can?
FC: My writing routine is that I have no writing routine. I have a
full-time job, am trying to market my novel, am studying for a
Doctorate degree, all while I try to write. I generally do most of
my writing on weekends, though many weekends come and go without a
single new word being added to my manuscript. The interesting thing
is that, once I do sit at my computer to write, I can??™t seem to stop.
I??™ll often write for twelve to fifteen hours without stopping. My
aching back is usually the first reminder that I??™ve overdone it.
This happens to work for me, but I think it??™s important for a writer
to keep at it each and every day if possible. Perhaps it??™s the
work-associated writing I do that helps to keep my pencil sharp.
FF: I know a lot of people like to ask writers, "where do you get
your ideas?" For the beginning writer ideas seem as elusive as
capturing the Loch Ness Monster.
FC: Ideas for writing topics are not hard to come by. We??™re
surrounded by interesting people, each of whom has a story to tell.
Listen and observe -- story ideas have a way of showing themselves.
For example, a co-worker once told me a sad story about an old high
school classmate of his. This poor guy suffered through an
incredible string of tragedies before, unable to deal with it any
longer, he committed suicide. It prompted me to write a short story
that was eventually published in a literary journal.
FF: I understand you have had some medical issues to work through in
your life, has this affected your ability to write and have you used
your writing as a therapy?
FC: I have Multiple Sclerosis and my neurologist once asked me if the
protagonist in my novel had MS. When I told him no, he asked me
about the adage, "Write what you know." I promised him that my next
novel would "star" a man with MS.
FF: Do you want to tell us a bit about what you are working on next?
FC: My second novel, entitled Chronic Nights deals with a serial
killer who targets men in wheelchairs. My protagonist, indeed, has
MS. For some odd reason, this guy??™s personality seems remarkably
similar to mine. I??™ve finished the first draft, my sputum, and have
begun the sometimes painful task of re-writing and editing.
FF: Did you find it difficult to go from the craft of writing to the
business of marketing your work?
FC: Writing truly is a craft -- an art form. But publishing is
strictly a business. Ask any salesman and he??™ll tell you that one has
to hear a hundred "no??™s" before getting one "yes." This is also true
of getting published. Just as a salesperson sees every "no" as
getting one step closer to a "yes," a writer has to look at each
rejection slip as one piece closer to an acceptance letter.
Perseverance and faith in your work will eventually win out.
Whatever happens, don??™t let the rejection slips stop you from
writing.
FF: When can our readers expect to see your second novel?
FC: I've finished the first draft of my second novel, entitled
Chronic Nights. The entire prologue of Chronic Nights is on my
web site, www.novel-guy.com.
FF: Frank thank you for taking the time to talk with me and tell us
about your writing habits and how you got your start on fulfilling
your dream as a novelist. I hope everyone takes the time to check out
your site, and your book.
Does the word "outline" cause fingers of dread to claw their
way down your spine? Outlining: Does it conjure up images of your high
school English teacher standing in front of the classroom explaining
the "finer" points of A, Roman Numeral IV and footnotes? Would you
feel better with the terms diagram, skeleton or road map? Even though
it's a matter of semantics, some writers are tempted to break every
pencil in the house and toss the keyboard out the window at the
thought of having to sit down and outline their idea.
What works for you?
Many writing purists believe the use of an outline stifles
creativity. "A story, if it is well written, will just flow," they
say. On the flip side, a writing instructor of mine said recently, "If
I know where the story is going, so will my reader." She obviously
resides with the non-outlining faction of writers.
Still other writers adamantly state that without an outline, a
writer will paint themselves into a corner, or be at the top of a
cliff with no where to go but down. They say that the outline is a
necessary evil to keep your character/story on the straight and narrow
toward that finish line we call "The End."
Some writers need at least a vague idea of their story's
beginning, middle and end. But there are those individuals out there
who are so meticulous in their plotting that they contemplate chapter
and verse, sometimes down to which scenes, sentences and conversations
will occur in which chapter.
Personally, I know how my story begins, what might possibly happen in
the middle and definitely how it ends. How I (my characters) actually
get there is a delicious mystery. I am a "story-boarder." I love the
look of a white board/dry erase board when it is covered in various
colors and sizes of sticky notes. Sticky notes are portable so if an
idea for a scene, a solution to a dilemma my hero has gotten himself
into, or the path my heroine takes to get from town to town can be
jotted down on a sticky note and stuck to my white board when I get
home.
The closest I have gotten to outlining my story is to take my white
board and draw on a grid (the squares I drew on are the size of my
stickies) and label the top rows with chapter numbers and the side
rows with scene/idea titles. The beauty of the white board and sticky
notes is that offers me some semblance of structure while not being as
confining as a high-school term paper outline.
So??¦ what kind of person are you?
Whether you painstakingly diagram hundreds of computer generated pages
of plot, sketch your idea/story out on a white board, cover your walls
with post-its or simply throw a dart at a plot point and go from there
- you need to know yourself well enough to choose the method that
works for you.
If you are not the type to get bogged down with the details, the idea
of having to complete an outline will be a task too daunting to
surmount. When faced with this dreaded obstacle, your creative urges
will eventually suffocate from the perceived lack of freedom. The joy
of writing will be leached from the process??¦ and you don't want that
to happen!
Whatever works for you is the way to go. You can't compare your
approach to writing the way your neighbor does - individuality is one
of the rules of writing. If you know that you cannot possibly wade
your way through a 100,000 novel without having a completely mapped
out route, then by all means determine which approach works for you
(whether it's the formal outline, a detailed synopsis, etc.) and let
your creative juices flow.
There are writers who actually plot out, and write outlines for, flash
fiction pieces. It works for them.
Many writers need only know what their characters want in order to
"outline" their story. For example: If Mary needs to exorcise the
house she has recently inherited because she has no where else to
live, then the writer knows he must work at getting Mary from the
beginning, to the middle, and happily to the end.
Help is out there
There are many books on the market that appeal to each plotting
personality. There are also myriad Internet sources that offer
thumbnail sketches of various plot/outline devices. Maybe you simply
need a detailed character sketch because once you know your character
inside and out they will help you write their own story.
Opt for the writing method that works for you. Sit down at the
keyboard and put those words to paper. The only way to get any writing
done is to show up at the page. Take a few minutes now and determine
what works for you and simply go with it.
A change in perspective will do you and your writing some good. It
keeps you on your toes. Being a little uncomfortable, a little less
certain, challenges you to right yourself according to new rules. I
used to have a writing teacher whose lifelong goal was to walk through
all worlds freely and yet confident of who she was at her core.
Writing what you know means getting out and learning something about
yourself, something about your characters, something about life.
And, sometimes change means letting others show us a thing or two.
My greatest struggle thus far as a writer has been moving house. We're
in a new neighbourhood, in an area of Toronto called Greektown. Smoke
gets in your eyes. It's nothing to walk past a driveway and see a pig
on a spit, turning under the watchful eye of someone's very, very old
grandmother. There are new noises, new disturbances, new things to
look at, new ways in which to look, and, most interestingly, new ways
of looking at me. We are the foreigners here. It's something you come
to take for granted when you stay in one place for any great length of
time. Work. Friends. Certainly our personal traditions. We assume we
know what our identity is. Nothing like moving to a neighbourhood
where you don't speak the language to remind you that the world is a
big place that's forever growing.
It started the day we were handed the keys. I was standing in the
emptiness, planning the big move. The windows were open full and
conversations spilled in off the sidewalk. I was counting outlets,
measuring closets and cupboards, mentally arranging and re-arranging
all the furniture, not understanding one word I was hearing, when I
came across my reflection in the closet door mirrors. My body was
different. For a second, I was on the list of things to note: Strange
woman in bedroom. Keep an eye out for her. It was the light, the bend
of the glass, who knows. I just didn't recognize the person staring
back at me. She would take some getting used to. It all would. I went
home and folded into the couch like I'd done almost every day for five
years, reading a book, napping, lazily flipping through the television
channels. A fiery orange ball moved across the wall, the sun setting
through the tree on our front lawn. I started to resent having to give
up one of the few things I knew was right - like, really right. That
fiery ball was mine. But we owe it to ourselves to keep guessing.
Imagine Gauguin without Tahiti. Peter Gabriel without Youssou N'Dour.
Hemingway without Africa. The loss of a parent or child or lover. The
exhilaration of new love. The triumph of old love. The anguish of
heartbreak. Life keeps coming. And, we're in the position to respond
to it. What a gift.
Follow the example of John Dugdale who was a successful commercial
photographer when he developed CMV retinitis, which causes blindness,
usually occuring in the last stages of AIDS. He chose to see his
illness as freeing, giving him the opportunity to reinvent his
photographer's eye. With the help of assistants who set the focus, he
pulled from an endless catalogue of what he remembered things feeling
like to create a stunning series of portraits, largely of himself.
They're hauntingly personal, ghost-like, almost not there. Just like
his view of the world.
While I'm not good with change, I do like surprises, because they do
all the work. All I have to do is react. In our new place, we have
both sunsets and sunrises. The freezer actually keeps food solid. And
I can flush the toilet without scalding my girlfriend in the shower.
Unfortunately, the morning paper falls annoyingly out of reach, and
the pigeons sun themselves on our deck more than we do. But I've
identified the creaky floorboards, allowing me to successfully pace
the apartment without bothering the downstairs neighbour. And I write
at the dining room table now, the scene of drinks and conversation
through the afternoon and well into dusk, laughter, and some tears,
too. It suddenly seems like a long haul to the recent memory of
sweating away in a tiny room with no air to circulate.
So, things are looking good for me. My characters still have to suss
out the situation. They'll no doubt hide under the table with the cats
until they figure out whether this is just a vacation or if we're here
to stay. I'm sure they're looking forward to the day it makes sense
for me to turn right and not left coming up out of the subway. When it
makes sense to pull out two keys instead of one. When it makes sense
to wander the streets wondering where we parked the car last. When it
makes sense to think about only them, once more, and not all this
other new stuff that occupies me needlessly. Slowly, they'll step out
in the night and find a nook to call their own. And we'll all be
together again like nothing ever happened.
When I??™m feeling a bit playful-or when I??™m feeling stuck-I like to
pull out my notebook and jot down a dozen or so nouns. These have to
be ???hard??? nouns, not words that can work as nouns or verbs such as
???paint,??? ???race,??? ???touch,??? or ???table.??? (This in itself is an
interesting exercise because it??™s not quite as easy as it seems.) A
sampling from a recent list included: pumpkin, cabinet, purple, and
thesaurus.
Now take your knowledge of the words??™ ???noun-ness??? and heave it out
the window. For the rest of the exercise, you now have a list of
VERBS. Use them as such. Think about how your words can be used to
express specific actions, how they can shade a sentence with the
perfect nuance of meaning.
For example, using the list above, you might come up with the
following:
--After the annual ritual of holiday overindulgence, Maxwell and I
pumpkined on the couch. --The debate had splintered into three or
four disparate arguments. Through it all, Loraine remained quiet,
plucking pertinent lies from the cacophony and cabineting them away
for future use. --Picking blueberries roused Marie??™s memories of
childhood. The fruit purpled her fingers, leaving her a physical
reminder of less complicated times.
This week, collect interesting nouns. During one of your writing
sessions, verb them and write sentences. Does it feel natural? Do
your sentences pop from the page? Do you feel uncomfortable? Can you
see specific instances in your work that may benefit from interesting
verbs?
Of course, this nifty technique, like all things clever and crafty,
can be overused. I don??™t believe our readers would be too keen on
passage after passage of smart alecks who ???thesaurus??? their way out
of an argument or existential whiners who ???taffy??? their emotions. But
???verbing??? nouns can help us avoid the am-is-are-was-were-be-being-been
quagmires that cripple otherwise strong writing. By exploring
interesting, fresh ways to express our thoughts, we learn to stretch
our powers and have fun along the way.
"Dream Quest" by Bill Pottle, http://www.dreamqueststory.com
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Reviewed by: April Chase
Published: Writer's Club Press, 2003
ISBN: 0-595-26804-8
Format: Trade Paperback, 336 pp.
Rating: 4 Stars
This imaginative and entertaining fantasy, which according to the
publicity materials, the author began writing while he was in the
sixth grade, is a winning combination of action, romance and magic. It
combines a bit of Tolkein, a bit of the Arthurian saga and a touch of
Dungeons and Dragons into a witty tale that will appeal to readers of
all ages.
The story begins with young Tarthur, an orphan who is a bit of a ne'er-
do-well in his home village of Krendon. One night, he has a startling
dream, in which he kills the evil Death Lord of Daranor and makes off
with a magic spell. When he awakes, he is amazed to find that he has
copied the spell down on a scroll. The writing is in a strange script
he can't understand, and the ink is colored blue, red, brown and green
- though his pen is black. Realizing that this is an odd and possibly
important event, he takes the scroll to the village wizard, Zelin, who
understands its significance immediately. It seems to be the key to
recovering the lost Water Orb, a magical relic that controls the force
of Water, stolen from mankind hundreds of years past. Believing that
Tarthur may be the chosen one who can reclaim the Orb, Zelin sends him
and his friend Derlin on a fabulous quest that changes their lives -
and their world - forever.
Pottle's writing style is a treat. Quick-paced and funny, Tarthur and
Derlin's coming-of-age adventures will keep readers eagerly turning
the pages to see what is next. The support characters, including the
wise mage Zelin and his wizardly cohorts, the good King Garkin and his
Royal Knights, and the other friends the boys make along their voyage
are well done, believable and likeable. There are an awful lot of them
to keep track of, but that is to be expected in an epic of this scale,
and Pottle does an admirable job of keeping them all straight.
Then, of course, there are the ladies - the evil Queen Marhyn; Yvonne,
the co-ruler of the Guild of Thieves, who falls for Tarthur; and
Valena, the beautiful Elven princess who secretly loves Derlin. Thank
you, Bill, for giving us realistic heroines and not just model-perfect
figures with no role in the plot!
There is plenty of action as the forces of good fight the goblins,
ogres, black dwarves and dreaded Death Knights of the evil army. There
is not much gore or gruesome description, though, so the book should
be suitable reading material for just about any age. And I think I can
safely reveal, without giving too much away, that good triumphs over
evil in the end??¦at least temporarily. Pottle's website says that a
sequel is planned!
"Finding Your Voice" by Les Edgerton
Genre: Non-fiction, Writing Resource
Reviewed by: Marianne Beck
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Format: Paperback, 241 pages
ISBN: 1582971730
Rating: 5 stars
"Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing"
by Les Edgerton gives you unqualified permission to put your unique
voice on everything you put on paper. He encourages you to give your
"critic nag dude" the pink slip-and loudly. Forget what your English
teach told you about sentence structure. And the masters-Edgerton
says we should appreciate their writings, but put their works in the
context of their time.
"Finding Your Voice" is written it's in own conversational, humorous
tone making the reader feel Edgerton is sitting in a rocking chair
smoking a pipe talking directly to them. Numerous diverse examples of
contemporary and "masters" writings throughout the book effectively
give the reader a way to grasp the intangible subject of voice. All
writers will appreciate the chapter entitled "The Elements of
Personality or "Voice"" which deals with tone, mood, vocabulary,
imagery and rhythm.
Nonfiction writers will find the chapter "The Link Between Material
and Voice. . . And Why You Should Break It" especially helpful. Most
of the exercises at the end of the chapters are worthy of your time,
including how to see the world through your character's eyes (94),
clearing your writing voice (71), and creating similes and images
(128).
By the end of the book, if you're still not convinced of the
importance of voice, Edgerton provide eye-opening quotes from agents
and editors that will make you want to work on this crucial aspect of
your writing. Then he provides a five page list of informative books
for your writing library that is worth the price itself, not to
mention the numerous other books he suggests interspersed throughout
the pages.
Despite one short political commentary on censorship and a few silly
ideas on how to exorcise your "critic nag dude," this book is a
keeper.
Edgerton says it perfectly, "Your mama was right: Just be yourself,
honey, and everyone will love you, pimples, bad haircut, gap teeth
and all" (70).
Therese Heckenkamp, author of Past Suspicion, will be featured in the
January 2004 issue of The Writer, contributing to the ???Breakthrough???
department an article describing her journey form teen writer to
publication, focusing on how she turned youth to her advantage in
writing Past Suspicion and getting it published. The Writer, the
oldest magazine for writers published in America, has won many
prestigious awards.
Jewels of the Quill is a group of award-winning women authors from the
Midwest. We write in nearly 30 categories of fiction, nonfiction and
everything in between. Among the 12 authors in the group, we've had
over 130 books published with another 36 contracted for from 33
publishers. We've won or finaled for almost 100 awards. Our books
are available in paperback, trade paperback, hardcover, electronic and
audio formats. In short, we offer something for every reader.
NEW RELEASES
New Releases
"Lawfully Yours" by Patricia A. Rasey
Genre: Historical Romance
Release: August 2003
Amber Quill Press, www.amberquill.com
Bounty hunter Ryder Storm likes women
little and trusts them even less. Against
his better judgment, he accepts the
job of tracking down the woman who murdered
a Rhode Island businessman. Finding
her seems simple enough, but keeping
his heart becomes the biggest challenge
of his life.
Cheri Henderson is a woman down on
her luck, working in the uncultured
West, trying her best to properly raise
her son without the benefits of a father.
Little does she know, however, the crude
bounty hunter sent to Tucson to catch
a murderer is actually looking for her.
???Don??™t trust anyone . . .??? So whispers
Robin??™s mother just moments before she
dies, setting in motion the intriguing
story of a teen on a quest to unravel
the secrets of her mother??™s past. Robin??™s
heart becomes torn as she tries to figure
out where she belongs and whom she can
trust. An artful interweaving of the
past and the present, of Robin??™s story
as well as her mother??™s, Past Suspicion
glows with hope yet burns with caution:
Beware how you live life, or the past
may return to haunt you . . . and those
you love.
Short description: It??™s 2416, and the
world is completely electronic. Everyone
learns, communicates, and sends messages
via Mind Effacers. Human sexual contact
has become a thing of the past, in an
effort to stop birth defects and overpopulation.
A small faction of rebels opposes the
government control. Their infamous rebel
leader kidnaps the head of the Mind
Effacer program, and proceeds to shock
her with revelations about the people
behind the cause, the real problem with
the 25th century society, and his own,
earth-shattering secret; one that will
change the future of the world.
"A Time For Pink Roses - All My
Life" by Teresa Louise Stanisha
Genre: Suspense
Release: July 2002
Publish America, http://www.PublishAmerica.com
ISBN:1-59129-7
When Devra Denira and Mitch Kolb, the
man of her dreams, were together, no
one could misinterpret the mutual desire
fueling inside them, just waiting to
be unleashed and tasted. Pittsburgh
born and raised, they shared the love
of music-especially his- ???The Sunshine
Song??? and happy music on his keyboard.
The heated passion is so hot onlookers
can feel the sizzling vibrations. He
gallantly takes her hands before their
first kiss. Devastated, they learn that
they are related. The shock shatters
their romance and unravels their lives!
Desperate, Mitch takes to bedding Mona,
an evil gold digger. While despondent,
Devra moves away to Connecticut to start
a new life. Her recurring dreams begin.
She later finds that they were actual
events that happened to Mitch. They??™re
not related after all! But Mona will
not let go, not for anything, attempting
to murder both of them until surrounded
at gunpoint! Will Devra ever get the
pink roses?
"Horses By E-Mail" by Staci Layne
Wilson, staci@staciwilson.com
Genre: YA / Adventure
Release: June 2003
Publisher: Amber Quill, http://www.amberquill.com
Publishing Format: Paperback and Electronic
ISBN, e: 1592791247 ISBN, p: 1592799140
Fourteen year old Karen lives with
both her parents, bratty younger brother,
Ryaen, and the family feline, Mr. Spock.
She wants a horse more than anything,
but her parents won??™t let her have one.
One day while reading a horse magazine,
Karen sees a notice in the letters section
from an English girl who "lives and
breathes horses!" and is looking for
an American keypal. The girl from England,
Melaina Brisbee, is fifteen years old
and owns two Connemara show ponies.
Eager to share her love of horses, Karen
writes a letter to Melaina.
And so, the adventure which will lead
both girls across continents and into
fierce competition, begins??¦
Super egos are playing a game while
evil forces lurk in the background.
Only a Game is a suspense-filled novel
about an emotionally dysfunctional family.
Diane, the mother, is an emotional wreck.
Alan feeds off his mother??™s terror and
insecurities. Their battle rages on
to a violent conclusion. Diane??™s teen
daughter, Crystal, is caught in the
middle between mother and brother. This
family is locked in the clutches of
terror while dementia and demons rage
forward
"Tell My Story Walking" by Cara
Shannon
Genre: Mainstream Fiction
Release: June 2003
Publisher: Book Locker, http://www.booklocker.com
While traveling in Australia In February
2003 with her two best friends, the
author and one of the friends unexpectedly
found themselves in a life or death
battle. During a morning swim in the
ocean, the two became trapped in a rip
tide. The rip carried them away from
each other and into the fight of their
lives and, ultimately, very close to
death??™s door.
Some people find shells in the ocean,
some people discover messages in a bottle
? but for Cara ? the discovery was the
incredible power and strength of friendship.
This story, this novel, was born from
that discovery.
Illinois 2027: Should mortal man tamper
with the natural progression of life
and death? The Luyet Cryonics Institute
seems Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth
and an agent of eternal life but beneath
the smile-laden promises, is a portal
guarantying nonhuman entities a flesh
and blood existence. Reincarnation,
the natural way of eternal life, is
replaced by technology causing a rip
in the fabric of the universe, which
threatens to reduce it to its most basic
components.
"68 A.D." by D.G.Bellenger
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: May 2003
Publisher: PublishAmerica, http://www.publishamerica.com
Ancient Roman history with a twist
of Egyptian mysticism makes 68 A.D.
an exciting, page-turning read, transporting
the reader to a time long ago when the
Roman Empire was in turmoil after Nero??™s
death. With the assassination of the
Emperor and the ascension of his son,
a rebellion surfaces and a mysterious
Egyptian shows up to help quell the
insurrection. Murder, kidnapping and
a female gladiatorial exhibition brings
intrigue and action to the story.
The
Fiction Forum Review is published by Renee
Faucher, Editor & Owner of
The
Fiction Forum. The Fiction Forum Staff and Contributors
for this issue: Book Reviewers: Marianne Beck, April Chase Columnists: John Caruso, Robbi Hess, Julie Wilson Interviewers: Robbi Hess, Mark Schofield Voices from the Forum: Carrie Smoot
All works contained in this ezine are the sole property of
The Fiction Forum and individual members of its staff, unless otherwise noted. The Fiction Forum asks for First Electronic Rights (or Reprint Rights upon approval) and Non-Exclusive Electronic Archive Rights from contributors. Writers retain subsequent copyrights and control of their work. Electronic and print duplication, or reprinting, without expressed permission by the author(s), alteration or claims of any kind to the articles, text, and graphics within this ezine are prohibited. No web site may copy and display any item from The Fiction Forum Review or The Fiction Forum, http://www.fictionforum.net, web
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