Killer Instinct – Author Zöe Sharp – ~99,000 words, $14.95 PB / $3.49 E I accidentally followed some author I’d never heard of simply because her tweets tended toward humor. After reading a few of her clever observations, I picked up Killer Instinct, her first book. Wow. What a great book. And don’t I feel […]
Still Looking for a Great Heroine
My post for Heroines in Fiction produced several unexpected results. First surprise: the hands-down favorite was Charlie Fox, the martial-arts expert created by Zoe Sharp. I’d never heard of Charlie Fox until two weeks ago when I met her author on Twitter. I read the book and loved it, so I included her. Apparently, she has a lot of […]
Poll: Heroines in Fiction
Update: While this poll remains open (heck, why not?) I’ve posted a new one called “Design Your Own Heroine“. Take the poll! Be heard! How should a female lead act, look, think? Literary heroines are everywhere these days. From Anastasia Steele to Katniss Everdeen, books are filled with more multi-faceted, complex women than ever […]
Heroine Archetype: Katniss Everdeen
I read 50-80 books a year and post reviews for 10-20 of them. This is the only one that is not a review. I’m posting this in the hopes of getting more writers, movie moguls, TV producers, etc to understand how a real literary heroine works. Since everyone finally caught on to The Hunger Games, writers […]
On Writing 3: Appreciating the Craft
Our goal as writers is to craft a story so interesting that strangers will pay money to hear it. Do you appreciate the craft of writing? Like professional footballers, writing celebrities make it look easy. James Patterson is one of the most deceptive writers of our era. You can read his books but you cannot […]