“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the book and series of Game of Thrones. Yes, I am one of the 12 people that still cares about Game of Thrones and enjoys talking about it in spite of its dumpster fire ending. So today I was wanting to discuss my thoughts and feelings about one of… Continue reading Thoughts on “A Feast For Crows” By George R. R. Martin
Author's note: I have been wanting to write a bit more on the nature of critique and the relationship writers have with critics for some time now, but I have realized it will likely take more than one post in order to properly articulate all my feelings on the subject. As such, I will do… Continue reading Writers v. Beta Readers: Critique Series Part 1
For decades the easiest way to get across to the audience the protagonist was a poor-unfortunate soul was to make them an orphan; someone with no northern star to guide them through this perilous hell-scape we call existence. It was a method to make the main character sympathetic from the get-go, but it was also… Continue reading Babes in Tropeland: Not ANOTHER Alcoholic Dad, Please
SPOILERS FOR "BIRD BOX" and "MALORIE" READER DISCRETION ADVISED Amazon Summary: Twelve years after Malorie and her children rowed up the river to safety, a blindfold is still the only thing that stands between sanity and madness. One glimpse of the creatures that stalk the world will drive a person to unspeakable violence. There remains… Continue reading Thoughts on “Malorie” by Josh Malerman
Summary: A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters. Beach Read is not a book I would normally read. I typically favor thrillers, historical fictions, or some manner of creepy existential… Continue reading “Beach Read” by Emily Henry (Spoiler-Free Review)
Spoilers: I know this book is over a hundred years old, but, you know, whatever. I will admit I went into this novella not expecting much. Based on some of the spoiler-light commentary I read on this novella, I was expecting there to be a lot of pseudo-psychological mumbo-jumbo and pretentious navel-gazing. ....Buuuuuut the audiobook… Continue reading Thoughts on “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka
Summary from Amazon: You knew a teenager like Charlie Crabtree. A dark imagination, a sinister smile--always on the outside of the group. Some part of you suspected he might be capable of doing something awful. Twenty-five years ago, Crabtree did just that, committing a murder so shocking that it’s attracted that strange kind of infamy that… Continue reading Thoughts on “The Shadows” by Alex North
I like to think I have acquired a decent collection of words over the course of my life. Words are, after all, a writer's currency. Barring the ability to articulate a certain vision, words are arguably the most important tool in a writer's arsenal. Without them we are useless. However, ever so often, I find… Continue reading Writer Problems: Word Drought
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the novel. Reader discretion is advised. Amazon summary: Young Saffyre Maddox spent three years under the care of renowned child psychologist Roan Fours. When Dr. Fours decides their sessions should end, Saffyre feels abandoned. She begins looking for ways to connect with him, from waiting outside his office to… Continue reading Thoughts on “Invisible Girl” by Lisa Jewell
So....2020....that was...that was really something, huh guys? This year was perhaps one of the weirdest years of my life: A mixed bag of wonderful and awful things, come together like some sort of weird cosmic salad. Instead of talking about That Thing That Shall Not Be Named, I want to focus more on the positives.… Continue reading Books, Writing, and Blog Posts: 2020 in Review
The Crooked Pen 