Category: fiction
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26 Practical Things My Inner Kid Needed to Learn
Often in the course of a week, I find myself thinking, “Man, I wish I’d have known that when I was ten.” I’m jotting down those tidbits that came to mind: 1. Always fill up your gas tank. It took my wife’s habit of creating peace of mind to drill this into my head, but…
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Why Nonfiction Writers Need Style Editors
Let’s face it: most nonfiction sucks. And let’s face it, this seldom comes from bad content. If you hope to publish in the nonfiction world, they keep a not-so-best-kept secret called “the book proposal.” I write proposals for nonfiction writers and the gist goes: “if you have a nonfiction book idea, never write the manuscript.…
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Why I, an Adult, Believe in Santa
As you prepare your Christmas lists, let me tell you a story… A long time ago in an oppressive empire far far away, there lived a Saint known to all as Nicolas. We know that Nicolas oversaw the diocese of Myra in Lycia (south-western Asia Minor) during the fourth century. Story goes that he rescued three…
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Rabid and Danse Macbre
Over break, I started Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus and I must say it’s one of the most brutal pieces of nonfiction to cross my desk. Wasik and Murphy headed up a research team for years, digging into the origins of the disease that took down Old Yeller. (Sorry to…
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Free Lance Friday & Discounts!
Freelance ain’t free [except when it is]. It’s that time again–time for you shy or procrastinating or wary people to send your stories, poems, articles, research papers, opening novel chapters, book proposals, etc. and I send them back to you, line-edited, critiqued or written free of charge. It’s only this Friday, and it’s first-come-first-serve. Two…
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Shadowfell by Juliet Mariller
I must be on a Fae kick or something because I started Midsummer Night’s Dream in the same week as Shadowfell, which comes out September 11th, 2012 for any interested parties. Maybe it had something to do with the current political situation and the over saturation of dystopian fiction, but I really liked this book. Sixteen-year-old Neryn…
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Long Island & Antiquing
We Schauberts like New York City. By “like New York City” I don’t mean we went there once as senior love birds in high school. Other than our home towns (Salem, St. Louis, Joplin, Dearborn), we’ve probably stayed in New York more than any other city. Last summer we had the privilege of staying on…
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Sitting at the feet of : a Medievalist
When he asked his Franciscan Father, “When did you become a Franciscan?” Alex Giltner’s Father answered, “When I was born.” Alex feels the same about medievalism—he can’t trace back the source. However, like most young boys, he drew close to stories and films of dragons and swords. Then at fourteen, he read The Lord of…
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Paradise Lost: Book One
Reading a Harvard Classic, journaling for an MIT open course, watching a Yale lecture. Buckle up, this is about to be the most literated fantastic point of ignorance yet. We’ll have a coffee shop version, an appetizer version and a full course meal for this puppy. Respond and dialog as soon as you want to jump…
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Fletching the Sandman’s Arrows
“What’s your name?” “Fletch.” “What’s your full name?” “Fletcher.” “What’s your first name?” “Irwin.” “What?” “Irwin Fletcher. People call me Fletch.” “Irwin Fletcher, I have a proposition to make to you. I will give you a thousand dollars for just listening to it. If you decide to reject the proposition, you take the thousand dollars,…
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“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”
Recent Work Miscellany The following articles by yours truly will come out next month, this month or next year at this time: “To Prevail or ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Flak’” in Hollywood and Vine (article, May/June 2012) “Poker in the Pokey” in Poker Pro (article, June 2012)* “Stamping the Name” in Encounter (article, May 2012)…