Long Time Expat In Japan
Book Review Armada By Ernest Cline I should start by saying I really enjoyed Ready Player One, Mr. Cline's previous and perhaps more famous novel. That was the reason I picked up Armada. So let me bottom line you here: If you liked Ready Player One, you'll like Armada too. If you didn't then you'll … Continue reading Book Review – Armada
My first short story is going to be published! "Volunteered" -- in which a volunteer lawman transports a murderer to the spaceport on a backwater planet. To get off planet, he will have to run the gauntlet-- has been accepted by Lawless Lands, a short story anthology from Fallstaff Publishing. It is one of twenty … Continue reading Lawless Lands
Book Review Best American Mystery Stories - 2015 Edited by James Patterson I'm in short story mode. Been that way for a year or so. I love to read novels, of course. The short story is arguably harder. You have only a few thousand words, while a novel ten times that. You have to be … Continue reading Book Review – Best American Mystery Stories – 2015
From my hotel to the Japan Writers Conference at Tokushima University last month. Shot on a DJI Osmo. The section through the trees is the best. The frame rate dropped to about one sixth of a second, which made it blur. I think that's the secret. https://vimeo.com/190069958
If you want to be a beta-reader, please send me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll share the rest of the story. — Margot was a spritely one hundred twenty five, or so she thought until she cupped her hands under her protruding belly, trying to hold up the weight that felt … Continue reading Story Excerpt – Clarity
I'm reading a memoir I didn't expect I'd be reading. I've decided my filters need some cleaning, so I have decided to go outside my comfort zone. Partly for research, partly for the discomfort. So I'm reading Fierce Attachments, A Memoire, by Vivian Gornick. I also just added two thousand words to my novel that … Continue reading On Art and Hard Work
I was away on a business trip for two weeks in November. OK, I was away for one week on business. The other week was all about gaming with friends. Nearly 16 hours of board gaming, everyday, for 5 days, only interrupted by breakfast at I-HoP or the local diner. Compound that with an early … Continue reading November Shodo
My mind is easily occupied. Porous borders just allowed twelve hours of TV on an international flight to invade and occupy the CPU cycles. I don't feel guilty, just a little angry. I've allowed it. I've let the occupiers through the gates. It might be time again for a screen boycott. I deleted a bunch … Continue reading Mind Occupiers
A very good friend of mine recently reviewed Death's End by Cixin Liu and translated by Ken Liu. In the review he writes: Some of the drawbacks may be cultural. It's clear that readers' expectations differ widely across the world. In English fiction, for example, there's the famous shibboleth "show, don't tell." This got me … Continue reading Chinese Literature, Armchair Commentary
Book Review: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson I became an Stephenson fanboy back in the 90s. Snowcrash and Diamond Age were nearly mind altering experiences. Interface, written collaboratively under a pseudonym, also really made me think. Cryptonomicon was awesome in its story as well as its length. But it was the beginning of an unfortunate trend, … Continue reading Book Review: Seveneves
B.S. Donovan 