Ben East Books

Grid of posts 2×3

  • Review–Does Harry Dream of Electric Sheep?

    The Marquis de Sade comedy hour? Adolf Hitler touching base with his inner child? A casual discussion of pillage and plunder with Genghis Kahn and Attila the Hun? John Altson’s Does Harry Dream of Electric Sheep? An Adult Social Satire really can lighten any subject. At its core, Altson’s book is a fun riff on Jonathan Read more

  • Review–The Second Most Dangerous Job in America

    I revisited The Second Most Dangerous Job in America (Atticus Shorts, 2012) when I learned Steve Himmer was releasing his next book, Fram (ig Publishing), which came out in January this year. Any discussion of this short treat must focus on observable detail and rudimentary character. There’s little to be found by way of plot, but Read more

  • Beginnings and Endings

    You might inscribe the title of your novel a couple dozen times before it sticks. You might make it longer, shorter, TBD, Working Title, WIP, B.S., Nada, Whatever… whatever. And revert after all that to the original working title. Or not. But “The End”… this is a thing you only write once on a manuscript. Today was that Read more

  • TITLES—ARGH!

    One week to go before the deadline to submit your novel-length manuscript to the 2015 Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest. Get it done! The goal’s had me burning the midnight oil the past couple months, forcing me to put off a lot of other substantive posts. Among the big items I’d hoped to reflect on recently Read more

  • In Which I “Interview” Jon Stewart

    Good morning, Jon. Thank you for being here this morning. Thank you for having me. I didn’t know you also did morning programs. Actually, I think I just stayed up too late. What time is it? Let’s get right to it, shall we? After 17 years of attacking the schmucks in the media and in government, there Read more

  • Crime Fiction: The Cost of Doing Business

    Jonathan Ashley crams a lot into The Cost of Doing Business, from ghetto shootouts with Tec-9s to sociological laments about middle class norms. It’s got elements of the tough-talking hood narrative, and the book is entertaining in places, but ultimately much of the action is muddled by drawn out sentences and the narrator’s distracted observations. What Read more