The Honest Writer: Is a self-published book as worthy as a traditionally published one?

  Recently, author Jonathan Franzen told The Guardian just what he thought of Amazon and what it’s done to both writers and book publishing.  Suffice it to say, he wasn’t flattering.  Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, is “decimating literary culture in favor of the yakkers and tweeters and braggers.”  Serious writers are being undermined, Franzen says.  […]

The Honest Writer: Nancy Hill’s “It Could Have Happened”

  It Could Have Happened, by Nancy Hill is a gorgeous collection of short stories, each inspired by equally gorgeous black and white photographs, taken by the author herself.  Consider these, as the book’s subtitle says, fairy-tales for grownups.  Love lost, love found, fortunes gained, fortunes lost, evil parents, evil children, women full of joy […]

The Honest Writer: “Shadowboxing,” a novel by Paul Sophia

      Paula Sophia’s novel, Shadowboxing, dares you to keep reading. This is a painful, tense, and authentic account of a young man’s struggle with sexual identity. Bill Guyles joins the Oklahoma City Police force after serving in Iraq. He has a girlfriend, albeit a particularly flaky one, who’s not interested in commitment and […]

Our Love Could Light The World reviewed by Dominique Bruno for Souvenir

        Reviewed by Dominique Bruno Anne Leigh Parrish’s Our Love Could Light The World introduces us to the Dugans, a family in Upstate New York who seem fated to permanent misfortune.  Mrs. Lavinia Dugan, who always assumes “the worst,” goes to work each day to support her five children and their dog Thaddeus. Her […]

Blue Jasmine

  Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, for all its brilliance and light, is essentially a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).  Each movie give us a beautiful, fragile woman who’s fallen on hard times through no fault of her own – but wait, and forgive the spoiler, Allen’s Jasmine does cause her own downfall by […]

The Honest Writer: Author Pam McGaffin

        Author Pam McCaffin offers some comments on her writing life, and her story, “Boundaries,” which recently appeared in Eclectica Magazine.  Below in her self-interview. Why do you write and what are your goals as an author? Goals? I have only one right now: Finish the novel. I’m about three quarters of […]

The Honest Writer: Some Thoughts From Grant Jarrett

    Grant Jarrett’s story, “A Perfectly Reasonable Request,” appeared in the July 2013 issue of Eclectica Magazine.  He was kind enough to share some thoughts about his writing life, and the origins of his story. “The odd, inappropriate comment from a pretty girl in grade school, the young woman who was somehow unable to […]

The Honest Writer: Narrating Emotion

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of the Yeah Write Review.  A copy of the Review may be purchased here.           Narrating emotion means making your reader see what a character is feeling without explicitly stating it.  If you tell the reader what’s going on, she’s just observing […]

The Honest Writer: A Review of Joe Clifford’s Choice Cuts

Joe Clifford isn’t your everyday writer.  His stories aren’t for quiet family times, with young cheerful faces turned innocently to the light.  Nor are they for the faint-of-heart, or those who believe that all human beings basically want to do the right thing. They’re for readers who don’t flinch or look away.  Who can take […]