Category Archives: Fiction

After Dinner Conversations — a review

November 11, 2020 Mike 5 Comments

After Dinner Conversations

After Dinner Conversations is “a website of short stories designed to encourage ethical and moral conversations with friends, family, and social groups.” When I read that the featured stories aimed to “create an accessible example of an abstract ethical or philosophical idea,” I was immediately reminded of the novel Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder.

Except that After Dinner Conversations (ADC) succeeds much better.

Sophie’s World is an enjoyable and challenging tale that explores the nature of reality. In the story, the protagonist must master philosophical concepts to regain control of her life, which has been taken over and altered by a philosopher.

What I like about ADC is that the philosophy is more deeply embedded in the story. While Sophie’s World throws huge chunks of philosophical exposition at the reader, the stories in ADC craft philosophical problems into plot points.

In Tyler W. Kurt’s “The Shadow of the Thing,” for example, Dakota, the POV character, visits her friends Maeve and Jason, who’ve asked her to join them for the evening. Maeve intends to take a drug that allows one to see the “true world” that’s “layered on top of the world that you see around you.” Later, while waiting for the drug to kick in, Dakota and Maeve sit back and watch the shadows on the wall.

The allusion to Plato’s Cave signals the story’s theme of looking – and seeing – beyond appearances. I thought it amusing that the author foreshadowed (!) the theme at the beginning of the story, when we learn that Maeve and Jason, both unconventional personalities, live in an ordinary tract home in the suburbs. Not exactly the place one would expect to find a wingsuit-diving programmer or a travel blogger who’s visited over 70 countries.

ADC says its goal is to feature stories that spark discussion, and this story clearly succeeds. Jason has already had his eyes opened by the mysterious drug. But the experience seems to have permanently depressed him. Does seeing underlying reality sap one’s enthusiasm? Are our illusions our surest comfort in a bleak world? If so, why would Maeve (and perhaps Dakota) want to follow his example?

And that’s just off the top of my head. Many more fascinating issues lurk beneath the surface here.

I’ll close with a little speculation about the characters’ names. Maeve is an alternate spelling of Queen Medb of Irish mythology, whose name means “she who intoxicates.” In Greek mythology, Jason was married to the sorceress Medea, who ultimately destroy each other. Does this suggest how the Maeve and Jason in “The Shadow of the Thing” end up?

As I said, the possibilities for generating discussion abound.

Fiction, Science

Where science and story meet

August 10, 2019 Mike 10 Comments

The spirit of C. P. Snow lives on. Robert A. Burton, a neurologist and novelist, shares his insights into just how closely science and literature dovetail in the human psyche:

Science is in the business of making up stories called hypotheses and testing them, then trying its best to make up better ones. Thought-experiments can be compared to storytelling exercises using well-known characters. What would Sherlock Holmes do if he found a body suspended in a tree with a note strapped to its ankle? What would a light ray being bounced between two mirrors look like to an observer sitting on a train? Once done with their story, scientists go to the lab to test it; writers call editors to see if they will buy it.

Of course. Both disciplines aim to shed light on some aspect of reality. And when we make connections between events that deepen our understanding of related events, we feel that sweet twinge of discovery, whether in the role of author or reader. In fact, science now informs us that when we successfully recognize patterns, we get a dopamine reward. And we really, really like our dopamine, so much, in fact, that we tend to cling to reassuring stories long after science has superseded them with better, more robust stories. As Dr. Burton explains:

People and science are like bread and butter. We are hardwired to need stories; science has storytelling buried deep in its nature. But there is also a problem. We can get our dopamine reward, and walk away with a story in hand, before science has finished testing it. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the brain, hungry for its pattern-matching dopamine reward, overlooks contradictory or conflicting information whenever possible.

After all, what is religion other than the insightful blending of science and literature? As science uncovers more truths about ourselves and the universe, the storyteller’s job is to imagine new stories that make sense of new information, turning mere data into insight and wisdom.

Ambrose Bierce, Fiction, Writing

Best fiction and writing blogs

September 12, 2018 Mike 24 Comments

The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary legend. Compiled by Ambrose Bierce.

P. S. Hoffman – 13 Smart Shortcuts to Write Brilliant Characters
Dina Al-Mahdi – Be your own muse
Raimey Gallant – Negative space, as important to author marketing as it is to writing
M. L. Davis – Writers: Don’t Edit Away Your Voice
Cath Humphris – Is there anything new in the writer’s tool kit?
l. t. garvin – Writing book blurbs
kakymc – On Writing Dangerously
Sierra Ayonnie – What makes a good short story?

Fiction, Writing

Best fiction and writing blogs

June 26, 2018 Mike 14 Comments

The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary pioneer. Compiled by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

K. M. Weiland – Writing as the Art of Thinking Clearly: 6 Steps
Hamilton Perez – How to Give Up Writing and Other Bad Habits
Tamara Drazic – Outlining
D. Wallace Peach – My Bossy Muse
Nicola Alter – Knocking People Out: Easier in Fiction Than In Real Life
Didi Oviatt – The Why #amwriting
Jacqui Murray – Series or Not a Series–How do You know?
J. C. Wolfe – 3 Pieces of Advice No Writer Should Ever Forget

… and a special bonus!

Adam Rowe – Science Fiction And Fantasy Book Sales Have Doubled Since 2010

Fiction, Manly Wade Wellman

Best fiction and writing blogs

June 16, 2018 Mike 4 Comments

The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary legend. Compiled by manly.

Caroline Furlong – Dealing with villains
Charlie De Luca – Editing tips that really work!
Andrew M. Friday – Harmon’s Plot Embryo
Fantac Cisse – The Ultimate Factory for Inspiration and Creativity
thesagaofaelelorad – Swords: The Most Overused Trope in Fantasy
Sierra Ayonnie – The Essential Elements of a Good Story
Kakymc – Writing What You Don’t Know
Jean Cogdell – How to write a good one-sentence pitch

Fiction, History

Born in a Treacherous Time

June 11, 2018 Mike 12 Comments

I can’t wait to get my hands on Jacqui Murray’s latest hit, Born in a Treacherous Time, now available at Amazon. Here’s a short summary:

Born in the harsh world of East Africa 1.8 million years ago, where hunger, death, and predation are a normal part of daily life, Lucy and her band of early humans struggle to survive. It is a time in history when they are relentlessly annihilated by predators, nature, their own people, and the next iteration of man. To make it worse, Lucy’s band hates her. She is their leader’s new mate and they don’t understand her odd actions, don’t like her strange looks, and don’t trust her past. To survive, she cobbles together an unusual alliance with an orphaned child, a beleaguered protodog who’s lost his pack, and a man who was supposed to be dead.

And here’s what Kirkus Reviews has to say: “Murray weaves a taut, compelling narrative, building her story on timeless human concerns of survival, acceptance, and fear of the unknown.”

It’s a great idea: an historical novel about Lucy, everyone’s great-to-the-Nth-power grandmother. I loved Twenty-Four Days, and plan to bump this to the top of my reading pile.

Fiction, Writing

Best Fiction and Writing Blogs

April 5, 2018 Mike 8 Comments

The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary swashbuckler. Inspired by jack.

Jean M. Cogdell – Write like a professional – get the chapters right
Sarah A. Hoyt – Writing About Death
James Harrington – Character Creation
Brenda Davis Harsham – Top Ten Blogging Rules
D. E. Haggerty – How to get the writing done despite distractions
Cristian Mihai – Building a personal brand as an artist
M. L. S. Weech – Why some covers just don’t look right
Nic Schuck – Getting testimonials

Fiction

Blog Tour – Gallows Hill: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book 2

March 30, 2018 Mike 1 Comment

Jennie Fitzkee interviews Charles French about his latest thriller, Gallows Hill.

A Teacher's Reflections

I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Charles French, a distinguished educator and author. His new book, Gallows Hill, is a thriller and the second in his exciting series. The first book, Maledicus, is a riveting page-turner deep into history and speculative fiction, that follows paranormal investigating by three main characters. Frankly, that barely scratches the surface of mystery and darkness. Without further ado, let’s meet the author:

I know you are partial to classical literature, particularly Shakespeare. And, you teach English Literature courses at Muhlenberg College. How has that influenced you and your writing?

I have loved Shakespeare most of my life. I was first entranced by his work as a high school student, when I saw a traveling professional production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was amazed not only by the language but also by the physicality of the play and the images of…

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