Those who discover love in the crucible of testing see through its facade. Genuine love is real. It has a will and finds a way. It is strong and good. I was moved by these expressions of love from a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan (see War, by Sebastian Junger). Observe the weight behind these words: […]
Category: books
When writing for young men
Society can give its young men almost any job and they’ll figure how to do it. They’ll suffer for it and die for it and watch their friends die for it, but in the end, it will get done. That only means that society should be careful about what it asks for.* When writing or publishing […]
The feel of a book
When an author makes you feel, she has you. I remember reading a manuscript, enjoying the characters, and wondering where the story would lead. Then, in the middle of a conversation, one of them cocked his head. Something wasn’t right. A noise that shouldn’t be there. I felt a chill. Suddenly, those wonderful characters — high […]
The geography of fiction
Novels are tricky. Is upbeat artificial? Is dystopian faithless? Are plot line and characterization exclusive? Robert D. Kaplan’s new book, The Revenge of Geography, hints at the link between realistic characters and complex scenarios: Geography is common sense, but it is not fate. Individual choice operates within a certain geographical and historical context, which affects decisions […]
Shaking up the book business
Here’s a timely slice of publishing history from Michael Korda’s book, Making the List: [Before World War Two] the mass-market paperback business was still in its infancy. The war decade to come would change that. Pocket Books had been founded in the thirties, to sell books at twenty-five cents a copy. These paperbacks were distributed by […]
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