From the monthly archives:

May 2006

The Confession

May 18, 2006

Like Carl Lewis, this one got me from out of the gate. But unlike Lewis, the promise that “The Confession” reeled me in with vanished down the stretch.
This book had it all: successful shrink with a penchant for infidelity, sexy Marin, intriguing (if not fresh) plot, a sleazy prosecutor, an angry wife, and a crooked [...]

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Where’s the beef?

May 16, 2006

You might be thinking, “He’s reading 52 novels this year. There ain’t that many reviews here. Homeboy better get cracking.”
I’m only behind on the reviews. The reading, I assure, is up to date. I’m even a little ahead. Look for more reviews in the coming days. Only fifteen or so to catch me up.

Sphere: Related [...]

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Missing Persons

May 14, 2006

I’m not yet sure what I think of this novel. I got turned on to the author by my mom, who loaned me an earlier work called “Blinded.” My interest, really, is fuelled by proximity. White lives in Boulder, Colo., and his books are set in the quaint college town that lies just 40 miles [...]

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Is this too sensitive? Are we too sensitive?

May 12, 2006

I read this morning that NBC fired a producer for plagiarism:
The script said that trainer Michael Matz “ran into the fire to save the lives of three children.” The narrator paused dramatically and said, “ran into the fire.”
The pause and last line echoed one delivered by Martin Sheen, who plays the president on “The West [...]

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The simplicity cycle

May 12, 2006

I was zooming around the Internet the other day and I stumbled across a site called Change This. It’s another creation from marketing expert Seth Godin.
This site, which he launched with Amit Gupta — the wunderkind behind The Daily Jolt — is an attempt to leverage the power of Web 2.0 … maybe not so [...]

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The first draft is always shit

May 8, 2006

I was recently reading a from Immediate Fiction, the wonderful book from Jerry Cleaver at the The Writer’s Loft in Chicago.
Cleaver pointed out the Ernest Hemingway quote that titles this post. Cleaver follows up by adding his own bit of wisdom … paraphrased: “If Hemingway thought all first drafts were shit, why should yours be [...]

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