Category: reading

  • Tri-athlete reader

    Tri-athlete reader

    Reading a print book exercises a different part of the brain than reading an ebook. I jokingly like to think of myself as a “tri-athlete reader” because I exercise different parts of my brain by reading print books, ebooks and audiobooks. View my Consortium SF Series at Amazon. My science fiction book OMNIORB is available…

  • My Favorite Fiction Books from 2017

    I read other books than the ones listed below, but they were non-fiction or fiction I didn’t want to include as a favorite. Speculative Fiction (Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror) A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron This is the fourth installment of Aaron’s Heartstrikers series, the story of which proceeded nicely until…

  • Five tips for new writers

    Five tips for new writers

    I still consider myself a new writer, but I was first published at twelve years old. I won’t tell you how long ago that was, but it was before Ronald Reagan sat in the White House. Here’s the thing: you’re constantly learning as a writer. You’re learning your craft. You’re learning how to use grammar…

  • In honor of fifty years of YA novels

    In honor of its fiftieth anniversary, I read The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton again after about twenty-five years. Hinton has been said to single-handedly jump started the YA publishing market. I went through a period of reading YA novels. Most of Hinton’s–That Was Then, This Is Now; Rumble Fish–and tackled Paul Zindel’s books beginning…

  • The Reading Mediums

    Several years ago, when I bought my Kindle, I felt like I was betraying the book publishing industry. Maybe I was. I got over it quick, though, because I love the convenience of reading a digital book. Now I read books on my iPad mini either through the Kindle app or through the public library’s…

  • What I’m Reading …

    I have been a fan of Connie Willis for a long time. Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog are two of her books I love. I just finished rereading Doomsday Book for the upteenth time. This is  unusually, because only a few books have been written that I read more than once,…

  • My reading plan for this year: read more “widely”

    The biggest pet peeve I have with myself is how I don’t read widely enough. What I mean is, I don’t read across genres. I stick to the same kinds of books. At the end of each year, I look at the list of books I’ve read and I realize it’s two-thirds speculative fiction: science…

  • Support Self-Published Writers and Small Publishing Houses

    As I plan my reading list for 2016, I want to include several self-published writers and small, independent publishing companies. So far I plan to read the following: Storming: A Dieselpunk Adventure by K.M. Weiland Read her novel Dreamlander last year and loved it. She also has great books for fiction writers and a blog…

  • In Passing

    Check out JR Wirth‘s new book In Passing. I designed the cover! Here’s some promo copy: “Trying to bring closure to her haunted youth, Mary Elizabeth Stroll’s past and present converge during a haunting, day-long interview. In Passing is a dark, yet romantic, paranormal tale, which thrusts two adolescent, suicide victims into a haunting afterlife…