Book Review: Pighearted by Alex Perry
It was pure serendipity. Slogging through my first draft of Book 1 (which I was convinced was a masterwork but later learned was crap), I found the Houston Writers Guild and joined a critique group. As I read through the work of the other four authors, I smugly thought: Okay, I’m better. Yep, better. Is this…Read More
Book Review: Uncaged by John Sandford & Michele Cook
Years ago, before eReaders and free video entertainment on airplanes, I travelled every week for work. Usually by air, so I spent lots of time in airports and didn’t yet have a Kindle or iPad. I was wed to actual, physical books. I still prefer to read that way, but there is a downside to…Read More
Book Review: Diminishing Return by Joseph D. Newcomer
Newcomer’s latest is not a good book, it’s a great one. It’s the first book in quite a while that made me truly think. It made me think about life, death, love, friendship, the general dumbing-down of public discourse and entertainment, the occasional, apparent, futility of existence. Pretty heady stuff for a relatively short (205…Read More
Book Review: Daughter of Hades by Mack Little
I first met Mack Little through the Houston Writer’s Guild. I ended up joining her writing group as she worked on the second installment of her Zenobia Grant series and I worked on SPARK. Since then, she has finished Book 1 of Daughter of Hades Series, and I was privileged enough to be asked to…Read More
Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
In case you’ve been living on Mars, Andy Weir wrote The Martian. It’s so good they made a movie out of it starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover, and some other famous people that I can’t remember now as I’m too busy thinking how cool it would be…Read More
Book Review: El Camino Blue by Joseph D. Newcomer
I follow Newcomer’s blog. That’s what led me to this book. Check him out at josephdnewcomer.com His website tells us that El Camino Blue is “loosely based” on a journal he kept during the last four months of high school. I survived my teen years and don’t want to go back. El Camino Blue drug…Read More
Book Review: The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Game was the first book I read by Orson Scott Card http://www.hatrack.com. I read it when it first came out and was hooked by Card’s writing. It may be one in my top 10 of all time. Janne from SPARK was named after the AI in Ender’s Game. A couple of weeks ago, I…Read More
Book Review: The Red String by D. Marie Prokop
I picked up this book at a local Comic Con – Baytown TX to be exact. I was there at my publisher’s table, hawking my book (and others) and figured I’d spread a little love to other local authors who were doing the same. There wasn’t much conversation, but I’m assuming that the woman who…Read More
Book Review: The Midnight Library (@MattHaig)
Matt Haig did something unusual in The Midnight Library. He made me want to commit suicide. He pulled me so thoroughly into his main character’s life that when she decided to kill herself, I thought: Yep. Good choice. I’d do the same. Stop it. It’s not a spoiler. It’s revealed in the first sentence of the book….Read More
Recursion (@Blake Crouch) Review
I was trolling for something to listen to as I commute between Houston and San Marcos. I was done for the moment with non-fiction, having just finished the truly excellent Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin ( @aglafley https://www.linkedin.com/in/ag-lafley-2381b3201/ and @rogerlmartin https://rogerlmartin.com – seriously, if you’re a business person, read this…Read More