Blue Angel by Francine Prose

I first read her book on writing, and was so impressed I had to read one of her novels. This one was on my list to read, since it was a National Book Award finalist. It's a real literary page-turner, something that is rare. I love the writing, the characters, the plot, and especially the cover.

I didn't care much for the ending, but what could the author do? Any last minute change of fortune would have seemed trite and unrealistic, but I longed for some way for that detestable Angela to get punished. Oh well.

I also noticed quite a few proofreading errors, rare in a modern novel. I saw plenty in my foray into the old pre-computer Pulitzers that I bought used, but it's unusual in a computer written novel.

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

An outstanding resource for the writer. She confirms my technique of learning to write by reading as much as possible. Actually she is the first author I have read that says she reads while writing a story or novel, something that I do as well. Anyway, it's good to get some validation of my own process.

She does rely on some old classics in her examples, and she seems stuck on the Russian authors - but that is understandable. There is an excellent reading list in the back of the book that I need to incorporate into my own reading. There are a lot of classics I seem to have missed.

And it is obvious that I am not reading close enough. Prose has the ability to see the skill of the writer that I don't seem to have at this time. Hopefully I can learn!

Agent Pitch in August

For better or for worse, ready or not, I have signed up for an agent pitch in August. I get ten minutes in front of an actual literary agent to attempt to convince her to take me on as a client. Sixteen weeks and two days to get Church of Hooks and Lures presentable.

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

An excellent book. Not a prize winner, except that it was named a notable book by the ALS. It's deceptive too, since the ending was a surprise to me. That doesn't happen often, since I am such a jaded, experienced reader! The middle section might drag just a little, and the author makes a lot of the one-room schoolhouse setting, which borders on nostalgia. In fact, the little bits of nostalgia are the only detracting elements of the novel. I highly recommend it.

Beneath the Velvet Skies by Rusty Van Reeves

I had to read for this for my local book club. I didn't finish it - got in about 200 pages and gave up. It's a LuLu book, so I assume it is self published. It's a good starter novel, but definitely not ready for prime time, and not good enough to be published. Too many plot lines, too many characters, too many short scenes, bad dialog, and so forth and so on.

Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage

An intriguing, creative little book. The story of Firmin, a literary rat who learns to read by eating books. He has a better vocabulary and is better read than I am. It's dark humor, though, not suitable for children. One of the ALA's notable books.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner. I've read all the winners since 1947, so I can unequivocally state this is the first "speculative fiction" (aka science fiction) winner. McCarthy doesn't usually write sf. As sf goes, it is not as good as other post-apocalyptic novels I have read. He focuses on the relationship between a father and son as they journey down "the road", paring the rest of the story to the bone. We only get glimpses of post-apocalyptic life, and everything is ambiguous. There is no explanation or history that explains what has happened, the reader is left to imagine. The principal difficulties for the survivors are starvation and avoiding the cannibals that seem to be wandering about.

I can't write a book opinion without commenting on what I would have written differently. The focus for the father should be that he is trying to find a safe place for his son, since he is slowly dying. As written, they just seem to wander south. If the father had a goal of finding a group of people to take in his son before he dies - and he actually succeeds before passing away, the novel would be much better. As written, the father dies, and the kid gets lucky. Not very satisfying.

A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer

An excellent book, insightful and sometime surprising. Not very satisfying to read. The main character is not likable - he ruins the lives of several people by indulging his ill-fated love affair. The thin plot stretched around that love affair is not very satisfying either. We go to the brink of disaster several times but never take that final step. And the ending is a non-ending.

But it's still a great book. Any changes to satisfy me would probably have made the book not as good.

First Place GWA 2006 Annual Contest

Actually first and second place in the Georgia Writer's Association Annual contest for 2006. Here is the announcement from Geri Taran:

Congratulations to all who entered GWA's Annual Members' Contest.

I am pleased to announce the winners, received yesterday. Please note that due to the limited number of entries, overall, and the fact that some members entered numerous selections, some individuals won more than one prize.  

Fiction
1st     Sam Smith for Ellis, not Elvis
2nd     Sam Smith for Merle Littel
3rd     Tom Pilgrim for Under Lock And Key

Essay
1st     Bobbie Christmas for A Pound of Bacon, a Ton of Courage
2nd     Debbie Unterman for Revelation
3rd     Bobbie Christmas for I am a Writer, By Golly

Poetry
1st     Gabriel Stauf for Heavy Tipper at the Grand Hotel
2nd     Gabriel Stauf for Mango Encounters
3rd     Jill Jennings for A Different Kind of Christmas

All who entered can be proud, however, as these were all excellent entries and we thank you for your continued support of Georgia Writers Association and all it represents in the greater literary community of Georgia. We hope that next year the number of entries will be far greater, even though it will make the task of judges far more difficult.

I wonder how many entries they received? I know that I sent several. Also it's interesting to see that they liked "Ellis,Not Elvis" better than "Merl Littel". I would have ranked them the other way around.

The results are encouraging, and they come at a good time - when I am about to start on a major rewrite of my current novel. A little acknowledgment  does help quite a bit.

Drop City by T. C. Boyle

Boyle is a great writer, and I've read a lot of his short stories. This novel is about a hippie commune that makes the move to Alaska after they are evicted from their California ranch. It's a good read, but in my humble opinion about 150 pages too long. The hippies are obnoxious, selfish, self-centered, childish, etc., and how many times can you read about them getting stoned?

More hippies needed to die in this novel. Only one hippie and one Alaskan died - not enough.

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard

A National Book Award winner, so it has gotten plenty of praise elsewhere. My observation? All the action takes place offstage. Remove the direct action from the novel and it becomes a cerebral exercise.

David Fulmer Class Wrapup

This was the "Fiction Shop II" offered at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. Currently only the beginner version of this class is offered.

David is a mystery writer, and I had heard him talk to the Georgia Writer's Association before I took this class, so I had some idea what I was getting into. I had also read his novel "Jass". Since then I have also read "Chasing the Devil's Tail" and "The Dying Crapshooters Blues", so I was well aware of David's style and his abilities.

I had only taken online classes before. One, from the Gotham Writer's group, was excellent. The other, from Algonkian, was terrible. This was my first class in-person with other writers, and for me that was the most valuable part of the experience. Yes, I am painfully shy. Reading in front of the other students and the teacher was a good experience for me.

Did I learn anything new? Not really. Once you get past the basic or even the journeyman level, it is hard to impart anything new to a student. But it is all good, and certainly worth the money.

David also did a "critique" of up to twenty pages after the class. I sent him two short stories, about eighteen pages. He sent back a nice cover letter, and what I would call a copy-edit of the pages. I have to admit that was a little disappointing. The copy-editing is so subjective, and the suggestions were few. I was hoping for some overall comments about the stories. Did they work? Were they engaging? and so forth.

Overall though, I thought the class was great and a good use of my time and money.

Prince Edward by Dennis McFarland

I read this book carefully, with a critical eye, since one of my novels deals with similar subject matter - the desegration of the public schools in the South. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered this novel. I had already written a first draft of my novel before a writing friend said, "You know, that sounds very similar to 'Prince Edward'". Of course, if I am going to continue to work on my novel, I must read this one.

It's an excellent novel, well written and researched. The important question, for me, is whether my novel is sufficiently different from this one, and whether I can write a novel as good as this one. The answer to both questions is yes, I hope.

Prince Edward is told from the viewpoint of a ten-year-old boy, but it is really the viewpoint of an adult relating what happened to him when he was ten. It can be very confusing. The boy is naieve and confused ny the actions of the adults around him, yet the man (who is really telling the story) knows more than the boy. At times it was confusing and irritating.

There are many loose threads not tied up, which drives me crazy. The author relies on an epilogue to finish up many things, but this is not very satisfactory. He also, it seems to me, sticks too much to actual history, instead of letting the story flow to a more natural conclusion. There are a lot of unanswered questions when the novel finishes.

There is a seperate plot about child abuse, a plot that seems more important than the main plot of desegregation.  In fact, I had to ask myself, "what is this book about?" The child abuse? The desegregation? The boy's efforts to understand why grown-ups lie? His dysfunctional family?

I also disliked the "info-dumps" that were given by the adult narrator. For instance, before we meet the black preacher, the author gives us his entire history, something the boy could never have known.

So yes, the novel is worth a read, but can I do as well or better? With a lot of work I hope I can...

Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins

A frustrating novel to read, for me, for several reasons. The author refused to use conventional punctuation for dialog. There are no quotation marks. Of course I have read novels written like this before, but usually the author takes great care to make sure it is still readable. That's not the case here, and it literally (pun intended) gave me a headache. The author also has great difficulty with her transitions, which is a mistake she should not be making. Many times I was confused by abrupt changes in time that the author didn't bother to prepare the reader for.

Well, enough bitching. I thought it was going to be a real, maudlin, tear-jerker, and for about two thirds of the novel it was. But in the last couple of chapters she redeemed herself. I can't rate it very highly though.