Author: Jeff Garvin
Author of SYMPTOMS OF BEING HUMAN and THE LIGHTNESS OF HANDS. Cohost of THE HERO'S JOURNEY podcast. Rock musician, D&D geek, aspiring revolutionary.
WRITING TO MUSIC
by Jonathan Yañez
No matter how many schools I go to, book signings I attend, or speeches I deliver, I can always count on one question to be asked. “Do you listen to music while you write? And if so, what do you listen to?” Everyone wants to know if writers have a secret...
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Overlook by Melanic Mimewerks [deviantART]
THE SHINING
I first read Stephen King’s The Shining when I was eleven years old. As you might expect, I suffered from recurring nightmares for six weeks afterward. In addition, I swore off Mr. King’s books until 2011, when I picked up On Writing—and...
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CANDY COATING
I’m a rocker at heart–one glance at my hair (and tattoos, and clothes, okay I get your point) will tell you that. I cut my teeth on Nirvana, R.E.M., and Guns ‘N Roses. But I do loves me some good pop music, especially anything with a quirky vocal or an alt or indie...
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Billy Joel’s “An Innocent Man”
Music and stories are more than entertainment to me. I’ve read books that seemed to express my deepest self better than my own words ever could. I’ve heard songs that somehow captured years of my life perfectly in under four minutes. In this series, which...
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Sometimes a great book sneaks up on you, humbly disguised as a merely good book. Here’s an example from the movies: I liked The Sixth Sense quite a lot, right from the start–but [SPOILER ALERT] when it turned out that Bruce Willis’s character had been dead the whole time–I loved it instantly....
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Firecracker by David Iserson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can’t remember the last time I read a novel in a single day–but this morning, after calling in sick to work, I sat down to read Firecracker, and it got me through the whole day. It’s funny, fast, and satisfying. And,...
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