Tag Archives: Twain

Torn in Twain

Posted on November 14, 2021 by Gene Stewart

Sam Clemens wrote well but lost interest in many of his stories before finishing them. “A Ghost’s Story” is a good example. This led to strong openings, silly middles, and tacked-on endings. When interest stayed strong throughout, he produced masterpieces.  … Continue reading →

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Hemingway’s Body Armor

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Gene Stewart

There was no excuse to offer and he offered none for the way he acted at times, the things he said or wrote. Hemingway summed it up once. “When I write I’m an artist. When I’m done writing I’m a … Continue reading →

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Panning Gold From Life

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Gene Stewart

As a reader, I have known that good writing is really all that matters. Even when I was a kid. As a writer, I know that market category forces us into a Procrustean deal with the devil. Warping our work … Continue reading →

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The Book of Joby by Mark Ferrari

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Gene Stewart

…Have you read all the Potters? Have you read The Innkeeper’s Song by Peter S. Beagle; Prince Ombra by Roderick MacLeish; Mainspring by Jay Lake; Needful Things by Stephen King; The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain? All those and many others ring in one’s head while reading The Book of Joby, which parallels them all in ways Joseph Campbell would have recognized in his thesis of the Hero With A Thousand Faces. There is a groundswell of modern storytelling bearing a new appraisal of ancient myth, and The Book of Joby epitomizes this manifestation of old-into-new. And yet The Book of Joby remains Ferrari’s own original work… Continue reading →

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