Friday at last

It has been an interesting week. Really. Sometime soon I expect to have a pond by my house. The neighbor had the slew in between our houses surveyed about three years ago and this week I saw the heavy equipment to move some dirt around. Now I am hearing the distinct rumble of a diesel engine and the back-up signal from big trucks just outside of my house. I believe if they are moving dirt I will be getting the boy and some lawnchairs out and go watch when it gets a little warmer,and the boy wakes up. In a couple of years I expect to be able to walk 50 yards and go fishing. I knew we bought this house for a reason.

I have just finished Tom Piccirilli's book The Coldest Mile last night. This is a continuation of Edgar nominated book The Cold Spot, and it was every bit as good, although I was a bit miffed at the cliffhanger ending. Guess I will have to buy another book from him when it comes out.

Today I am going to start on K.C.'s book Jack of All Trades (for which I received a very cool bookmark and stickers for yesterday). I have heard good things about it so far and I can't wait to get to it.

Also in the post yesterday I received my contributer copy of Night to Dawn with my story Coffin Nails in it. It is actually a very good layout and the artwork was very nice and nasty. I am considering getting a subscription for the next year to read Natalie and B.T.'s stories which come out in it next year, spring and fall respectively. You can look it up on lulu as well. It is issue #16. (they have electronic issues for sale as well.)

enough pimping, time to get back to work, my current WIP is standing at 7K since last week and I think I can add another 1K to it today. I am going more for time involved in the project and so far I have managed to put about 45 minutes every time I sit down to it. I haven't worked on it every day and I know I won't get anything done on it this weekend.

Have a good weekend, it is a long one here in the states and I have nothing pressing going on with the house for once. ah- relaxation.

Little book review

I can't believe I finished another book (reading that is, not writing). Tom Piccirilli's book The Cold Spot was, seriously a' can't put it down' type of book. If you like crime novels, then you should read it. I am a huge fan of the genre myself. If you don't like crime novels, read it anyway.

I am not going to say much of the plot but it reads like an action movie and I think I have figured out why.

This entire book reads like a short story. I think this is quite possibly the first novel I have read that does so, at least in my memory. There is not a wasted paragraph, phrase, or word in the whole book. Any single part, if taken out of it, would have yielded a lesser story. It is no wonder that this book is up for an Edgar this year. I am curious to see how Christina Faust's story, that is also nominated for an Edgar, holds up.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. I am planning on it.

My take on:

Just After Sunset by Stephen King. I have to say, after finishing this book last night, I am torn. It is either his best book ever, or one of his worst. I will tell you why. The style of writing in this book is a far cry from his early short story collections such as Night Shift. It is, stylistically, different than his last collection of short stories, Everything's Eventual. If you are looking for the King of old you will be disappointed. If you are willing to go into this with an open mind you might be pleasantly surprised.

He is willing to admit that he hadn't thought much of the short story in a while, until he was asked to edit the Best Of series Short Fiction. He did and spent the next year reading a great deal of short stories, mostly from literary journals. He went one to describe how he had never thought of his early works to be 'literature' in any form, but a paycheck if they sold (and sometimes they didn't sell) He took this collection as a personal challenge and there are several very memorable stories in this collection.

After reading it I was struck that he wrote this because he wanted to, not because he had to. Not unlike when Eric Clapton put out a blues album after much success in pop music. He said he did it because he had made his money and he was going to do what he wanted to. If the fans wanted to follow him, that was great, and if they didn't that was their choice.

Now I am on to read Tom Piccirilli's Edgar nominated book, The Cold Spot, which after reading the opening chapter (opening paragraph actually) I am excited to read.

In other news, I am still working on Chapter 10. I came to a spot that needed more thought than forcing myself to type at a keyboard did justice to so I took a break after 750 words yesterday. I hope to finish 10 today and get a wet edge on 11, if my children allow me. Still no word on the editor front this week. Must just be a slow week for them. I think a lot of people are having this problem.

Have a great Thursday.