Category Archives: Uncategorized

In works by inexperienced authors suspense tends take one of two forms. The first kind of suspense, the good kind, raises questions like the following: What will happen to X when Y happens? How will Character X solve Problem Y? … Continue reading →

One of the hallmarks of good writing is its power to suggest. This is true not only for poetry and fiction, but for works of nonfiction, too, for essays and memoirs, even sometimes for journalism. Conclusive statements may or may … Continue reading →

The first part of this opening of a novel confronts us with a host of negations bound by tortured syntax. Briefly, it tells us what the narrator, an only child, will (or won’t: see below) inherit from her (Italian?) farmer … Continue reading →

While watching the evening news, a lawyer—Robert Leonard Singer, Esquire—learns of a woman found dead in her motel room, the apparent victim of a drug overdose. Authorities have yet to identify the victim, but Robert thinks he knows who she … Continue reading →