Literary Monster
Noshing on Quality Prose
My 2022 NaNoWriMo Project
It seems that November always arrives at the least convenient moment. I’m already behind schedule on one writing project, and I can feel National Novel Writing Month thundering toward me like a herd of caffeinated horses. That’s when I hear a voice screaming: I WANNA DO SOMETHING NEW! My old pal Reason …
Drowning in Cliches
Sometimes I watch the same television shows everyone else is watching, and I read the same books, and I watch those trailers Disney+ is pumping out by the dozen, and I can’t escape the feeling that every story feels the same. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying popular media. Often, I like it too. Yet at …
Leviathan Wakes
Leviathan Wakes is the first entry in The Expanse space opera series written by the two-man writing team known as James S.A. Corey. The series contains eight novels and several connected novellas. The television series covers (roughly) the first five novels,and benefits from an excellent cast that feels true to the …
Nobody Knows
I’ve been reading a bit about the Penguin Random House trial, and I’m oddly comforted by the fact that the “big publishers” don’t know which books will sell and which ones will flop. Welcome to the club, pal. ;) Yesterday I paid my editing bill for Hostile Takeover, and as I did so, I …
The Killing Floor
The Killing Floor is the first entry in the bestselling Jack Reacher thriller series. I recently gave it a go, curious to see what makes audiences love it. The first thing I noticed was the practicality of Child’s prose. He gets right down to business. I WAS ARRESTED IN ENO’S DINER. AT TWELVE O’CLOCK. I was …
The Last Wish
I first learned about The Last Wish by watching the Netflix television adaptation. At the time, I knew that The Witcher was a popular video game, although I’d never played it. When reading about the television show, I learned the games and television show were based on a popular series of fantasy novels by Polish …
Into a Rhythm
So how do I get back into a rhythm with my reading and writing? I know the answers because I’ve been here many times. All that’s left is to remember the path. Step one: don’t fret about the reasons you lost your rhythm. Chances are that life happened. Having a life is a wonderful side-effect of being …
The Point of Vanishing
The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude by Howard Axelrod is a memoir and a modern echo of Thoreau’s Walden. Because it took place in the nineties, a time I’m familiar with, I found it more accessible than its famous predecessor. It was interesting to see how an extended period of solitude …
On Quality
The real University, he said, has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. … …
On Authorial Voice
Good morning, blog buddies. It’s a Cozy Coffeehouse kind of morning. I’ve just finished reading Stephen King’s Billy Summers and it was a good read. I didn’t love it as much as I did The Outsider, and it got a bit “explainy” in the third act (crime novels are tough planes to land), …
What's a Literary Monster?
Hello and welcome to the Literary Monster. I set this blog up as a repository for what I’m learning about reading, writing, and storytelling.