Close Readings

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…
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…
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…
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…
Challenger Deep, a young adult novel by Neal Shusterman, tackles the complex reality of being a schizophrenic (or schizoaffective – it is not made…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
[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…
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…