A review of Law of the Jungle by John Otis (2011) ★★★★1/2 Law of the Jungle is a successful effort by John Otis, a longtime South American correspondent, to document the kidnapping of three American military “contractors” who had the misfortune to crash in the southern hinterlands of Columbia on February 13, 2003. Their work as professional avian counter narcotic … Read More
A review of The Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman (2002)
Tony Hillerman is a prolific writer of westerns; I was given The Wailing Wind by a friend to test drive this famous author. The book is one of many in a series of modern westerns featuring a Navajo Tribal Police Sergeant Jim Chee and his retired boss Joe Leaphorn, as well as a young female Native American officer, Bernadette Manuelito. … Read More
Long Sentences
What makes a short sentence short and a long sentence long? (And a long sentence a run-on sentence?) 1. That depends. (2 words) 2. That depends on a lot of things, including pacing (e.g., lengthy, dramatically slow sentences versus shorter, “faster” ones) and historical aptness (e.g., using longer sentences to make an eighteenth century fiction piece reflect that period’s slower … Read More
What is horror, exactly?
Help me out, here, please. My novel 22 Dutch Road is supposed to be a horror book, but my monkeys aren’t sure if it’s got enough, well, to put it bluntly, gore. (Allergen alert: copies of the book are printed in facilities which also process gore). Is gore necessary for a “horror” book? Per book-genres.com’s definition: “Horror stories are designed … Read More
Marketing Monkeys
According to my monkeys, the easy part of writing a book is writing it; the follow up to get the word out, to “market,” that’s the real work—little did I know. Seriously. Holy heck! My wife (Head of Marketing) and I are discovering the ins and outs of getting reviews, blogging, contests, fair pricing, and oddly enough, how to sign … Read More
A Great Escape
Okay, so it’s out there: my novel, 22 Dutch Road, a book weaving such diverse elements as dachshunds, samurai, schizophrenia, economic insecurity, panic rooms, octogenarians, corrosive paternalism, and Tasers, all together. Why read it? If you like dark fantasy (think Stephen King) and want–or need—an escape from life’s anxieties, it should deliver for you, or so my monkeys tell me. … Read More