I’ve been watching the war on the Ukrainian people unfold with equal parts horror and amazement. This is history unfolding before our very eyes. You guys, this is David and Goliath; it’s the Spartans and the Persians. The people of Ukraine, and President Zelinskyy in particular, have inspired millions with their refusal to back down… Read more »
Recently, I needed a break from the heaviness of the world, so I began revisiting the work of Nora Ephron. She is known for such hits as Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and You’ve Got Mail. And I love all of those movies. But I love them because of how she plays. As… Read more »
While writing Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family, the basic question was how to braid the stories of childhood, memory, and what came after for an immigrant family and in turn, what it meant to the reader. Is it a voyeuristic look at a country that’s foreign to the reader? Is it… Read more »
Hello, beautiful people on the internet! Welcome back to Worldly Wise where together we’re going to take the reins of your speculative fiction story and see it to the finishing line. Last time we took down the seven deadly sins that destroy the beauty of speculative fiction and tested out our newly gained skills with… Read more »
This month I surprised myself. I was originally planning on rereading a book for this column, then switched to rereading a different book, then finally settled on buying and reading Orwell’s 1984 in graphic novel format. I would say I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t read 1984 before now, but I was a bit… Read more »
For a while now, I’ve wanted to read some of the early masters of crime fiction. Starting with this column, I plan to feature several of those pioneers. I might intersperse columns on other topics as well. Today, I begin with Anna Katharine Green. Who Is Anna Katharine Green? Anna Katharine Green isn’t a household… Read more »
Hello, word nerds and other lovers of language! Hopefully, by now, you are fully into your new writing schedule or project that will carry you through 2022. If not, if you are perhaps still trying some ideas out, just tell everyone you’re going through your experimental period and have a blast! After all, authentic emotion… Read more »
I love reading. It is my main hobby. I am always on the lookout for new authors and books to enjoy. But, I also get recommendations from friends, magazines and the Internet that I ignore. Because of my ever-growing TBR list, I have more books to read than I could ever get to. Lately, I’ve… Read more »
When I was in college, I had the privilege of taking a course titled “Writing Back to Empire.” It was a study of postcolonial literature taught by the brilliant Professor Kathleen Renk, but the course title alone did more to describe that school of theory & criticism for our young minds than any other definition… Read more »
If you read my last post, you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about Maus today. The answer is simple. Shortly after I shared my last post, in which I listed twelve books that I’ve owned for a long time and vowed to read in 2022, a school board in Tennessee banned Maus, the graphic novel… Read more »
