Whether it be a novel or a short story, the opening paragraph is often the deal breaker. If the first paragraph, and especially the first sentence, doesn’t grab the reader’s imagination, no matter how wonderful the rest of the story is, chances are that the reader won’t be there to…

A few weeks ago a friend passed me a copy of “Fire Angels”, a self-published novel by Joseph Richardson. Fire Angels is the story of David and Sara Cooper, and their son Noble, set in Walako, Florida during the period of 1915-1925. In this story Richardson attempts to weave a…

Very late last night I came dragging in after a number of delightful hours squeezed into spaces barely fit for human habitation, much less flight.  About the only good thing I can say for the experience is that Coke and peanuts are still complimentary and my car was still sitting…

No, this has nothing at all to do with the movie, which by the way I have never seen.  I just like the title.  And it is appropriate because that’s where I am tonight, Idaho.  I’m here on business and I must admit it is different from Florida.  They have…

He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision–he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: `The horror! The horror!’  (Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness, via Link) My wife will not read my books or stories.  She says they are too dark. …