A festival to celebrate

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Me, acting like an author

I haven't acted much like a writer lately. I mean, I've been doing the writing part, but not the communicating part. I think last year when I was preparing for my first book to come out, I was so overwhelmed with everything there was to I finally just gave up on getting it all done. Then a couple of weeks ago Donna Galanti,  another writer with Echelon, contacted me about doing a guest post for her blog, and I realized how much I'd been neglecting. My thanks to Donna for giving me a nudge. You can read my post and Donna's dynamic blog at http://blog.donnagalanti.com/wp/.

This past weekend I attended the South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia as an exhibitor at the Echelon Press booth, and voila, I felt like a writer again. It was kind of hard not to. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of folks there, all of them attending because they love to read or to write or to learn about it. So I talked about Snowstorm and why I wrote it. I told each person who stopped why they would like reading it. Lots of aspiring writers stopped in asking for advice or talking about their own love for words and books. The other authors in our booth were all passionate about their own work. So for two days I talked writing and writers and Echelon and reading and... How could I not get that renewed enthusiasm? For the past few weeks - since the end of the school year - I've been running from one state to another, visiting family and making other necessary trips, but today I find myself home alone in front of the computer. I'm blogging (as you can see), tweeting, facebooking, and in a little while, I will ignore the laundry and the vacuuming and I will write.

If you're a writer, try the SC Book Festival (http://www.scbookfestival.org/index.php?c=home) for a bit of inspiration. And if you're a reader, it's got everything. Next time I must go and hear the speakers like Mary Alice Wilson, Ron Rash,Richard Paul Evans, Pat Conroy, Therese Fowler and several others. There are writing classes, etc., etc. I gotta remember I can't just write, I have to get out there and have a little festival time! I hope you find some festival to celebrate too.

 

A Review: Servant to the Wolf

I love the way Sue Wentz writes.

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I first read her work on her blog and found the wording warm and heartfelt. When she published a romantic short story called  Cassidy Creek Bridge, her use of language seduced me as much as the story. Servant to the Wolf is a young adult novel, and something else Sue does well.

Servant to the Wolf is an intriguing title for a captivating story set in ancient Rome. The Wolf, or Lupus, is a former slave who takes pity on a young man discarded by his owner after a severe injury. Full of resentment, Marcus lands in a very different world, where he has more to learn than a new vocation. He yearns for  the pampered lifestyle provided by his former master, even as Lupus tries to teach him to value his new way of living. As Marcus struggles with Lupus, he also fights an internal battle to decide what kind of man he wants to become.

As I read Servant to the Wolf, I was finishing another novel. I realized Sue's book drew me in more than the murder mystery by a best-selling author. I think it is the memorable cast of characters. They stay with you long after the tale has ended.  Sue Wentz has built her characters to

Servant to the Wolf

have the depth of true humans and a range of qualities and flaws to match. She made me care about what happened to them.

Reading Servant to the Wolf was pure pleasure. The details of the ancient Roman setting were just enough to capture your interest, without turning the book into a history lesson. The plot itself is simple, yet compelling. It kept me turning the pages, or clicking the Kindle, to find out what happened next. Descriptions of the settings create the desired ambiance and are done quite subtly. Marcus embodies us all in his exploration of who and what he will value. His is a difficult coming of age, but minus the little slavery thing, we all make the same choices. Whether the reader is a young adult facing the barrage of media, parental advice, and peer pressure, or someone who has already been through the meat-grinder of his teenage years, he or she will find the story fun and insightful.

Everyone will enjoy Servant to the Wolf. It's just dog-gone good writing.

A Book Review: Flawless Ruins

by Kieryn Nicolas

In Flawless Ruins author Kieryn Nicolas transports the reader to a future in which wars are a thing of the past. Society now belongs to women, who enjoy the best education, a challenging career, a perfect male “Like” to shower them with love and admiration. In fact, Morgan, has such an ideal life in such a well-manicured society, she never questions how all of it is maintained. When she accidentally discovers the cost of maintaining her world, she can no longer take pleasure in it. The more she knows about the lies behind the pretty walls of her town, the more certain she becomes she should expose them.

On the other hand, Neil’s life is completely different. He and his friend, Han, inhabit a walled city with none of the luxuries found in the women’s towns. Boys have become the service staff in 2238, with little hope of escaping the forced labor of their female overseers. Glimpses of the comforts forbidden to them have made them bitter. Worse, boys seem to disappear when they reach adulthood.

When Morgan and Neil meet, their two worlds smash into each other and disrupt both their lives. Morgan feels compelled to learn more about Neil and the others and suffers disillusionment with her unblemished civilization. Neil struggles against a lifetime of abuse to put even the smallest trust in Morgan.   

Kieryn Nicolas, herself a teenager, designed an entirely new social order as the premise for Flawless Ruins. The details she imagined were well thought out and integrated smoothly into the story. Her greatest skill, however, is her ability to bring her characters to life on the page.  The reader readily understands their motivations and becomes emotionally involved with them. As Neil and Morgan race the clock to avoid a disaster, the tension builds beautifully and keeps the reader involved until the very end.

Although I am not a sci-fi aficionado, I truly enjoyed this book. Kieryn Nicolas is a very talented young writer, and I think readers of all ages will enjoy Flawless Ruins.