Tag: fiction

Literary Terms: High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Magical Realism, and Frame (Portal) Stories

Long ago, in a different world, I was a German major (among other things) at University. One of my most memorable seminars was one focused on my favorite genre, fantasy. While there are those who argue that this is “merely” a genre, the incorporation of themes, structure, and leitmotifs in these stories has made them…

writing

Book Review: Leaving Berlin

I got a chance at the pre-release ARC of Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon as part of my membership at NetGalley. It intrigued me as a throwback to my time living in Berlin–and under Communist “secret informer” eyes even before that–, as well as a complete change of pace from my usual fare of scifi,…

Review

Book Review: Born Confused

I got this title through my membership at NetGalley because I was intrigued by the cross-cultural perspective of a second-generation South Asian young woman facing the summer before her senior year. I hoped the immersion in the Indian-American point of view would take me past the very young voice the author imbued in her protagonist,…

Review

Book Review: Lovers and Beloveds

As you may remember, one of my goals this round was to post more book reviews… since that was, ostensibly why I started this blog. As I faced the final countdown to the end of my MBA capstone project, all the backlog of my frustration with being kept from my beloved fictional worlds boiled over…

indie

Cover Reveal: Hallow’s Eve Triptych

Last night I got the gift of my latest cover, so today… I’m sharing the love with everyone else! 🙂 I’m in the final rounds of editing and tweaking this set of three short stories, and have tentatively decided release day is 11/27. Mark your calendars! 😀 Together, the collection is me pushing my own…

indie

What Do You Look for in a Review?

Based on an invitation I received via GoodReads, I decided to join a Blog Hop describing what it is I look for in a review–and what it is I try to include in my own reviews–even though this represents a bonus post for this week. 😉 If you read the results from the poll that…

Review

Plot Bunnies and Story Prompts

I received my edited manuscript this morning in the wee hours. I have a lot of work to do. As my editor said: “You’ve fallen into some bad habits…” Ominous words for an impending deadline. The good news is, she likes the plot, the characters, and the ending, so the rest is just editing my…

indie

Book Excerpt: Zombie Candy

This week’s posts come to you courtesy Novel Publicity, where author Frederick Lee Brooke is getting a little help promoting his latest effort–while I take a little bit of a breather and try to catch up with my Camp NaNoWriMo commitment. 😉 Please enjoy this excerpt from Zombie Candy, a genre-bending mystery by Frederick…

indie

Review: The Trouble with Tuck

I rang in the new year with a quick trip to visit family in Virginia, where I have a niece in the third grade. My brother honored me by giving her my name as her middle name and making me her godmother, so I try to pay close attention to what she’s up to–despite the…

Review

Review: The Whole Truth

Author Jim Murdoch contacted me to review the omnibus edition of his two paperbacks, Living with the Truth and Stranger Than Fiction, which he’s released as an eBook, available only via Smashwords. In specific, he was looking for a critique of the story arc across the two books. From that perspective, this is an easy…

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