Has anybody ever read a science fiction mystery? I must admit I love when authors combine genres in their books. Dean Koontz is one of the masters of genre combining and twisting in his works. The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is the first novel I've read...
Book Review 46: The Husband by Dean Koontz
by MHill | Oct 19, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews
"I would have love to read that book with you, babe." My wife made that comment after a recent conversation about books. I told her I had read Stephen King's Bag of Bones recently and her interest in that book surprised me. She was more of the movie watcher than...
Book Review 45: All God’s Children & Blue Suede Shoes by Ken Myers
by MHill | Oct 6, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Nonfiction
What is pop culture? That's the one question I've always wanted to get a definitive answer to in all of my adult life. Well, I believe I have found a book that attempts to give me that answer. All God's Children & Blue Suede Shoes by Ken Myers explores the...
Book Review 44: Gray Matters by Brett McCracken
by MHill | Sep 13, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Nonfiction
"Christians have a hard time with nuance, gray areas are not out strong suit." "Discernment is a tricky business, much more complicated than a checklist or matrix of black-and-white criteria. And it begins on the inside, with an awareness that while discernment is a...
Wisdom of Kammbia 3.30: The Importance of the Writer-Reader Relationship
by MHill | Aug 26, 2013 | Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing and Publishing Resources
I believe this quote should make writers realize the importance of the writer-reader relationship and that we don't disrespect that connection. "What disrespect we writers have for the people who read our work. Our readers don’t expect perfection every time we publish...
Book Review 43: The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith AKA JK Rowling
by MHill | Aug 23, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews
I had made it a personal policy to not read and review for this blog the hottest or most publicized novel of the year. However, I did almost break my policy last year with Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. But, I decided against it. Well, my resistance has finally dropped...
Wisdom of Kammbia 3.29: How Do I Write A Novel?
by MHill | Aug 18, 2013 | Writing and Publishing Resources
This is the best writing advice I've ever read how to write a novel: "So how do you write a novel? Simply do the best you can every day during the writing, finish the book, fix the mistakes a trusted first reader finds, and mail the thing or publish the thing...
Book Review 42: A Mind To Murder by P.D. James
by MHill | Aug 11, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Adam Dalgliesh Novels, Book Reviews
P.D. James has been given the unofficial title, Queen of Crime, and after reading A Mind to Murder showed why she has earned this moniker. A Mind to Murder began with the murder of Enid Bolam, the administrative head at the Steen Psychiatric Clinic in London. She had...
Book Review 41: Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
by MHill | Jul 27, 2013 | 2013 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom From Kammbia Novella Review
Middle Passage is the story of Rutherford Calhoun, a free black man, living in 1830's New Orleans. Rutherford is a thief, hustler, and womanizer who has lived a nomadic, vagabond life and somehow stayed out being sold into slavery. Well, there's a prim and devout...
Penguin Random House Merger Helps Author Solutions Exploit Writers
by MHill | Jul 27, 2013 | Uncategorized
This is an insightful article on how traditional publishers are making money of the self-publishing business and tricks they will use to get gullible authors published. A good warning to aspiring authors who choose the self-publishing route.