Full of half-baked religious and political allegories, bizarrely inappropriate handheld ‘shaky cam,’ not terribly impressive CGI, plot holes, weak characterization, blatant product placement and a climatic hour’s worth of overwrought, overblown, nonsensically cartoonish action, Zack Snyder and David Goyer’s Man of Steel lands in the summer 2013 moviegoing seasion with a clangorous and incoherent thud. […]
Now in the midst of Writing Retreat 2013 Redux, thanks to my benefactor we again find the Southern novelist secluded, sequestered, and in the midst of writing his most ambitious piece yet, DIXIANA. Here’s a report from the secure, undisclosed location designated as Hilltop North.
Pleased today to announce that I’ll be returning to teaching his September in the MTC Continuing Ed program, this time with two classes.
A breezy, charming, and affecting Manhattan for the millenial generation, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s Frances Ha offers a poignant 90 minute character study about an average suburban American woman living in New York who, long after she should’ve given up (or at least recognized where her true talent lies), continues to half-assedly follow her artistic dreams as a budding modern […]
When we left off with this autobiographical series of posts (three months ago—really?), I’d chronicled my various stages of influence and activity up to what we may consider the modern era of my creative efforts, that is, the period of the preceding twelve and a half years since I took the plunge and began treading […]
A crashing, offensive bore, Hyde Park on Hudson features a mostly charmless, flat Bill Murray perf as that most iconic of 20th century American presidents, FDR, as he hosts the king and queen of England (yes, the stuttering king—again) at a Hudson River retreat, i.e., the president’s mother’s house. The stakes? How the royals will […]
Novel #8, now underway for a month… and it’s exciting to report that June finds me sitting on a partial MS of just over 85,000 words, which is starting to feel somewhat like, well, halfway. Maybe.
Edgewater County, SC… where is it? Only in the mind. This post presents an overview of the mythological location of most of my fiction, a handy guide for those interested in my work, or who may simply be curious about the name of this blog.
UPDATE: I recently heard back from a beta-reader about this manuscript. When I asked if this piece resonated with him, here’s what he had to say: Your characters, as in your other works, portray varying experiences we all go through in the maturation process. Some pass the test. Others don’t. Thinking back on them, the characters continually […]
Another year, another Book Fest done. Chatted with many fellow writers including the esteemed Pat Conroy, mingled with more than a few interested supporters of the festival and curious readers, and even managed to buy a couple of books myself. Always a good time. \
