Review Tales
Trusted Reviews and Author Features Since 2016
Autistic Fantasy – A New Literary Genre by Cameron Straughan
Autistic Fantasy? What’s that? Is that a thing? I didn’t know it existed! Well, that’s because I just invented it. Allow me to explain.
Awhile back, I read a journal article entitled “Diagnosing Fantastic Autism: Kafka, Borges, Robbe-Grillet” (Olsen, 1986). It was extremely interesting. I did not know what “fantastic autism” was, even though I’ve been a longtime Kafka fan. Turns out I’d been doing it since 1989, with no prior knowledge. I guess the practice came before the theory. I feel like an isolated tribe who gets a surprise visit from a scholarly anthropologist. He observes them, and names their customs, only for them to shrug their shoulders and say: “Really, is that what it is called? We’ve been doing it forever.”
How to Heal by Jessi Beyer (Book Review #717)
Take it on the chin by Stephen A. Kennedy
I learned one of my most valuable lesson in writing back in my college years. I was taking a screenwriting class where every student had to write ten pages of their script per week. Then, we would take turns reading what we’d written that week in class, and everyone would give feedback. The professor had a couple rules, but the one that stuck with me was this: If you are the one receiving feedback, you are not allowed to talk. At all. This was one of the most difficult things to do, but it has helped me tremendously, in writing and in life.
Read More3 Tips on Targeting the Right Audience For Your Book by Jeyran Main
3 Tips on Targeting the Right Audience For Your Book by Jeyran Main
The first thing you should think of when deciding to sell your book is how often people think about needing the book you have written? How often do they think about their own problems?
Read MoreLearn to Love by Thomas Jordan (Book Review #716)
“Editing: A Professional’s Job” by Alexander Watson
“Editing: A Professional’s Job”
My editor, John Baskin, and I sit in the dining room of the General Denver Hotel, Wilmington, Ohio, at one-ish in the afternoon; he orders chicken noodle soup with a side of broccoli, an iced tea with a splash of cranberry juice; I, fish and chips with a Diet Coke—all of which are rituals of what will become quasi-monthly meetings. A manuscript, mine, representing five years’ work, off and on, sits to his right, opened to page one. The margins are a regimen of ordered notes.
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