“I tilted my head, bared my teeth and drove them into his wrist. An angry spurt of crimson blood erupted from the puncture. He howled, clutching his wounded wrist and staring down at me in horror. My mouth was wet with his blood again as a wicked snarl curled my lips.” – Christian Baines, The […]
“I prefer the society of one faithful person to an association of rapid talkers, who more than anything else seek admiration from one another.” ― Matthew Pearl, The Dante Club The Dante Club marks Matthew Pearl’s debut novel, and it’s impressive. The craftsmanship displayed here is akin to that of a seasoned author. Each page […]
“It is an adventure story of Shelley’s search to discover, in his words, ‘whence I came, and where I am, and why.’” – Ann Wroe, Being Shelley: The Poet’s Search for Himself BEING SHELLEY: The Poet’s Search for Himself (Pantheon Books, Jan 2008) by Ann Wroe provides an insightful and profound examination of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s […]
“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” – Oscar Wilde A SIGNIFICANT milestone for me in 2024 was releasing my first Gay Paranormal Romance novel, The Night Belongs To Lovers, part of the ghost story-themed “Own-Voices” project: Haunted Hearts. This series features […]
WHEN examining the concept of the “Trauma Narrative,” it’s evident that many literary works—spanning genres from horror to romance to dramatic fiction—adhere to a recognizable yet troubling pattern. At the center of these stories often lies a protagonist or antagonist ensnared by a singular, overpowering emotion that casts a shadow over their entire narrative […]
“You feel so alone and scared, but you cover it up with a bravado that nothing has changed. But everything has changed, hasn’t it? You’re changing, and it scares you.” – Shane K. Morton, Shadowing My Dreams LIFE changed for Jack Thompson when a car hit him, and he died for a few minutes. Three […]
A BOOK with two time periods is called a split-time novel or a dual-timeline book. These books combine two stories into one cohesive narrative and often feature one storyline in the present day. The alternating timelines create a sense of mystery and suspense that keeps readers engaged and intrigued. The pacing of each timeline is […]
“THE TERMS gents, bad boys, and barbarians have, in a way, nothing to do with the poets themselves or their works; and I certainly don’t intend them to be indicators of how a writer should or should not write. Think of them, rather, as impressions that might be drawn, tendencies that seem to point in […]
“It begins with letting him win / allowing him to see what’s within / without knowing if he’s kin.” – Mark Ward, Circumference (2018) ADMITTEDLY, I have never been a huge modern poetry connoisseur. I appreciate the power poetry has to express human emotion and tell stories more lyrically and fluidly than fiction; still, I’ve […]
“He was cadaverously thin, almost shockingly pale, and stared at the writer from dark-shadowed eyes set deep under a pale, high brow that melded into a pale, bald scalp. A few strands of graying hair lept out from the sides of this skull-like visage.” – Dan Simmons, Drood THE NOVEL Drood, by Dan Simmons, is […]
