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Close Readings

On Other Worlds than These
I have been blazing through the rest of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King these last couple of weeks. I took a long break after reading The…
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Alia Luria
Haiku and Thoughts (Veniss Underground / The War of Art)
My words flow freely Through time and space and sadness Like sand through fingers I don't exactly remember when I wrote this haiku. I do know that it's…
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Alia Luria
Confluence: Yarn, Knitting, and Barbara Kingsolver
Well, here we are. This is my first non-Close Reading blog post (not counting quotes and albums) in a really long time. Life has been a bit of a winding…
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Alia Luria
Exploiting Folklore as a Plot Tactic in Martin's Fevre Dream
Before I jump into it, just a brief note. As part of my MFA, I was required to read at least 50 books and write a craft analysis of twelve of these…
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Alia Luria
Externalizing the Internal in Shusterman's Challenger Deep
Challenger Deep, a young adult novel by Neal Shusterman, tackles the complex reality of being a schizophrenic (or schizoaffective – it is not made…
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Alia Luria
POV Shifts in Bardugo's Six of Crows
Six of Crows, a novel by Leigh Bardugo set in a world where certain talented people called Grisha are manipulated, persecuted or enslaved, is a young…
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Alia Luria
Action and Reflection in Cashore's Graceling
Graceling, the first novel of Kristin Cashore, is a young adult fantasy told from the point of view of eighteen year old Katsa, a Graceling. In the…
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Alia Luria
Narrative Voice in Pratchett's Maskerade
Maskerade, a novel by Terry Pratchett, is a humorous who-done-it in the fantasy world of Discworld. The novel follows Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax as…
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Alia Luria
Point of View Shifts and Pacing in Sanderson's Elantris
Elantris, the first novel of Brandon Sanderson, is an epic fantasy that employs multiple points of view in telling the story. The novel opens from the…
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Alia Luria
Exploring Memory in Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a short novel written by Neil Gaiman, is an almost fairytale-like story narrated from the perspective of a seven…
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Alia Luria
Setting the Scene in Scott Lynch’s “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane”
[NOTE: DESPITE THE RECENT NEWS ABOUT SCOTT LYNCH AND ELIZABETH BEAR, I'M LEAVING THIS POSTING UP FOR ITS EDUCATIONAL CONTENT. HOWEVER, PLEASE KNOW THAT…
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Alia Luria
Environment as a Character in Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation + National Indie Excellence Award 2015!
Well, the three deals I was working on at work finally closed this week, and my second module of my MFA wrapped up on Sunday, so I finally feel like I…
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Alia Luria
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