There are seven stories in the world. It’s a well used maxim and not necessarily true. (Kipling, for example, claimed there were sixty-nine stories in the world). But the truth remains that various plots have been invented and reinvented since the beginning of the press. Some have been re-imagined so […]
Everyone has an opinion. Especially writers. We’ve been around enough writers to know that we all have a different approach when it comes to getting a story out. Some like to start at the end, ‘having dessert’ before the main course, (writing your ending before you begin). Some outline. Some […]
Fiction is an amazing tool of escapism. With it, we dive into worlds that exist only in the writer’s mind, breathing air that is clouded by zombie-forming gas or stars that fall from the sky and walk among us. Today we’re discussing those beloved settings that have inspired us, nurtured […]
The Firefox Book, by Elliot Wigginton (editor) Perfect for #throwbackthursday, this compendium of customs and rural living practices was published in 1972, and was in its time hugely influential. The local tradition and lore documented in The Foxfire Book comes firsthand from longtime residents of Southern Appalachia. At the height […]
Some authors love to pull whammies on us. Sometimes, there’s nothing better than an evil plot twist, because, well, who doesn’t love a good surprise? They make us think, have us scrambling back through the pages trying to see how we missed the foreshadowing that led us to the endings […]
This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff (Grove Press, 1989) There is no doubt, that as a staple of the nonfiction genre, the memoir continues to boom. The “official” boom is said to have occurred between 1990 and 2010, launched almost single-handedly by the publication of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s […]
We are proud to present our very first in a new feature on LitStack. In the LitStack Rec segment we will recommend to you readers some of our favorite books…books we believe are just too amazing to pass up. Sharon and Lauren have two great and unexpected recommendations for you […]
I remember when I first received my first Harlequin book. I was 13 years old. I don’t remember anything about the book other than it’s olive green cover, but what I do remember is the reason why my mother gave me the book and the feeling has stayed with me […]
September 11, 2001, I was an undergraduate taking my daily 45 minute drive to my university, listening to the radio, laughing at the morning DJs. Then, quite suddenly, our nation was attacked. By the time I made it to my first class of the day, (ironically, American History), our small […]
There’s nothing quite like the first read. Whether it’s a newborn entry into Hogwarts or the initial fright of a truly scary horror or even the first pass of a novel that makes us think and makes us cry, the first read of a great book leaves an impact. This […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.