Oh happy day! New books arrived for review, including one unexpected. Thanks to a tip from writing coach, author, and blogger Marylee MacDonald and literary website Dactyl Review I find myself in possession of not one but TWO books courtesy of author U.R. Bowie. The first looks like a novel of the most ridiculous order for … Continue reading Mail Call—Trump-Sized Satire
Month: March 2019
A Trail in Two Countries
Years ago I traveled the sands of Saudi Arabia, stopping along the way to tour the old camel train forts. I visited these caravanserai along the Hejaz Railway, the line targeted by T.E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. My journeys between 2003-05 took me north from Jeddah through … Continue reading A Trail in Two Countries
Operation Sheltering Sky
Rajasthan is desert country, 70% of the state---India's largest---an arid mix of scrub and sand. We trekked by camel into the Thar Desert about 50 km outside Jaisalmer. Abdullah led our beasts on foot, their names Simon, Paulos, and---inexplicably---Johnny No. 1. Toward sunset we reached the Sam Dunes. The wind died down and we made … Continue reading Operation Sheltering Sky
“The Whites…”
An ugly and violent upward trend divides us along ethnic lines today. In order to stay sane in the face of this spreading and dangerous hate, one need only look to Walter Sobchak, the right-wing nut job Vietnam vet (and convert to Judaism!) from The Big Lebowski... https://youtu.be/dQbpx5Be5rI His utter disdain for his own dirty … Continue reading “The Whites…”
Book Marketing & Helping Others
I've turned the tables on fellow indie writer and keen author interviewer Matthew Whiteside, who describes his Uniweb Productions website as A place for creativity, hope, inspiration, and all around good times. https://youtu.be/XZmi1laMEQo Anyone familiar with his interviews knows about the good times. But what about the hope and inspiration? What about the creativity? Find … Continue reading Book Marketing & Helping Others
Ten Questions
I am asked, "A book begins as an idea in the writer’s imagination. Eventually, this grain of sand turns into a pearl. What was the grain of sand that fired your imagination?" I respond: Orwellian signs in the DC Metro: “IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.” See what, exactly? Commuters staring empty-eyed at phones while … Continue reading Ten Questions
Writers’ Resources
Featuring two new resources for writers: Dactyl Review and Marylee MacDonald’s coaching blog. I came upon the first after engaging with the second by following the primary law of social media: be social. A quick exchange on Marylee’s blog pointed me the way to Dactyl Review, opening up a whole new platform for publishing book … Continue reading Writers’ Resources
Maneater
This review just slays it. Jason Overdorf hunts with a sharp pen and takes down Dane Huckelbridge's narrative about what would seem a brutally interesting topic. And he doesn't stop there. He spills ink like blood all over the slain author's enablers: "He is not without accomplices in this crime against the English language, either. … Continue reading Maneater
For All You Novelists
Creative writing is a walk along a fine line. That line divides the seen and the unseen, the knowable and the unknown, the past and the future, cause and effect. Sanity and madness. Creative writers tread by feel to bridge the one and the other. For some the means is poetry. For others, memoir, essay, … Continue reading For All You Novelists
Ben East Books 