I don't know how other writers are. I've only been myself, and so I can only know how I approach a page. It's rarely the same way twice, whether it is fiction or non-fiction. It is usually some spark in me pushing an idea out there, whether it is fiction or non-fiction. The first draft is usually an unholy mess centered around one seriously vivid scene. And that scene may contain the seed of the story, a whole character, it may just be a point of ignition or the climax, or might end up happening off the page, after all is said and done. Usually there's enough oomph left from that spark to get through the first scene to boost me to the next stage, and the next. (It helps me to have a list of beats through to the end, just so I know where I'm going next, even if it changes.) Maybe this is not a good way to write, or the right way, but it usually works for me, at least in the sense of getting through a draft. So when I came across this book, Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers there's a big part of me that balked. There should not be a code. Writing is art. It's not paint by numbers. Statistics have nothing to do with it. Art is art. It creates itself. By definition, art defies definition. So what's the nerve of this guy James Hall thinking he's got some kind of geiger counter that can turn the art of a best-seller into a code.

For me, even the book's title is, by itself, throwing down the gauntlet. Makes me want to put my fists up and get into some kind of aggressive posture to duke it out, because he can't tell me what works. But then...I started thinking. When you join a group of writers who know what they're doing, whether it is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or Romance Writers of America or Horror Writers Association, they all tell you read every hot book you can in your specific genre. You do this to learn what works for your target audience and target publisher. Chapter length. Conventions. Voice. All the details that work. Learn the mechanics. Then you come from your reading with a set of tools fully fledged, and can approach your own stories with an eye to how they can be successfully presented. You understand the box--the form-the container that will house your story. It's good advice. It's also the thought process behind what Jack Hall did when putting together his Hit Lit book, but he's asking bigger questions. His research doesn't confine itself to genre; he looks at bestsellers just as most writers look at genre. To see what makes it tick.

And here's the thing--as soon as I picked up the book, I was hooked. The gloves went down, and I was more than ready to read. This isn't a list of do's and don'ts by the annoying guy in the back of the conference who keeps asking the panel of your romance-writing peers when they are going to write "real books." You can tell, as James Hall takes us through his journey into books, that he loves the written word. He lures his reader in through the context of his life, his own reader/writer journey from when he was a boy in a 50's library "frightened out of my skin that I would be spotted by my friends in such a place" to the moment he shared a conspiratorial look with a librarian, "that floats into my mind whenever I am feeling isolated from the human race." He knows firsthand that weird communion of book lovers. James Hall gets it: that books grant you membership into the club of readers who understand that inside each book is a universe.

James Hall condenses his answer into twelve features which he discusses in twelve chapters. He suggests a list of bestsellers to read, and even though they're all books I have read before, I found myself stopping what I was doing at the time to read them again, so I could nod, and agree with the points he makes, as he generalizes across the field. To get the most out of this book, you should do the same. This is the book of someone who gets it, and he gets it from multiple points of view. He gets what is so great about books from being a reader. He gets it as a writer, and he gets it as a teacher of writers. If you're like me, this will be one of those books you have trouble finishing, because you keep going back and re-reading certain parts, and you don't really want it to be over. In fact, I just picked it up as I was writing this review, and I think I'm going to give Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers another read...

This Mother reads comic books. No not Richie Rich© or Casper© (used to as a kid though). No these days, this Mom is more into Witchblade. It takes a real story and real art to keep this lady happy.

To say the graphics are superb in Witchblade like saying the restaurant French Laundry, on the West Coast with a two year waiting list for reservations has good food. The art work zips you through the story like a good cinematographer in a movie. Then as every fan of comics and good movie making knows, you go back again and re-watch or re-gaze to find those loving details that can only be found with careful attention.

The usual marketing exaggeration of sexual organs are shown here in plenty, so there is no disappointment in that department. Usually for me this is very offensive and off putting. However the work is done so tastefully, I found myself amused by it instead. Either I am simply older, or the artist is just that good in finding better ways to display the human body other than “lookie here” type of angles. In some places that sell this book, the artist Stjepan Sejic name comes before the author. In this case well justified—as you can see even I am speaking of him before Ron Marz.

Not to slight Ron Marz. He and Sejic are long time collaborators on this series of Witchblade of which Vol. 4 is the final of 150 works. His writing is the perfect compliment to the lush graphics. His writings fit the character of Sara, a cop with a secret, and her boyfriend. In this issue a fellow cop has found her out and is forcing her to chose between giving up the Witchblade and staying a Cop, or keeping Witchblade, but turning in her badge. There is a real story here and it is told with real conviction. You hold and read a fine movie here lovingly collaborated. This is a work of art you will want to go over repeatedly. Get the whole set.

Reviewed By Nancy Louise
© May 2012

Rita Brooks is a psychologist who has plenty of problems of her own. Her biggest issue is a failure to develop and maintain an intimate relationship with a man until now. She knows she’s found “the one,” even though he’s hundreds of miles away. There is the fact they’ve never met face to face. Maybe that’s what makes their relationship work. Only emails and calls are no longer enough. Rita is ready for the next step in Tina Wainscott’s romantic suspense novel, WHAT SHE DOESN'T KNOW.

Rita Brooks is a buttoned down type of gal. Her hometown of Boston suits her. How could she fall for a smooth talking Southern gentleman from New Orleans, but fall she did. Now, all she has to do is meet him, and just maybe, love will follow, then who knows. Suddenly, everything literally goes black when a car crash puts her in a coma. The last thing she sees before the impact is a feathered mask, a Mardi Gras one. While in the coma, a man tries to communicate with her giving her cryptic messages and horrific images. She tells no one. It is never good for people to wonder if the head doctor is crazy too. The accident, along with the blond man haunting her dreams, plus the fact her potential sweetie is ignoring her emails and calls adds up to one bad day. Then he walks through her door, a man wearing the face of the man in her dream, demanding answers and making accusations.

Christopher LaPorte was always the lesser son, the bad prince in all the family dramas. That’s why he stayed away from his family and New Orleans. He figured everyone liked it better that way. It worked for him to until his brother jumped from a balcony. Now he’s determined to find out what would cause his charismatic brother to hurl himself from the gallery of the family home. He believes Rita Brooks is at the bottom of it. The woman is definitely hiding something.

WHAT SHE DOESN'T KNOW moves fast creating a sense of urgency. Using the colorful backdrop of New Orleans during Mardi Gras develops the complexity of the story. The antagonist while interesting is at first mesmerizing, but tends to bog the story down near the end when info dumping pages of backstory about how he became so twisted. There are a few glitches in the story that shouldn’t bother most readers. The chemistry between Christopher and Rita works. They both grow through the novel providing a satisfying conclusion.

WHAT SHE DOESN'T KNOW is a novel worthy of mysterious New Orleans. This is an early novel of Miss Wainscott. It makes me want to investigate her newer works. I would recommend this book. It kept me riveted on the plane with two crying babies, and a snorer nearby.

I suppose just because I am a sucker for a great animal in real life, it is inevitable that I am a sucker for a great animal character in fiction. Some animal characters just lodge themselves in the memorable voice playlist to be remembered for eternity (like Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, for example, not the movie character whose rapture over Oats rendered my kids a decade of amusement.) I have found a dog character to join the lineup, one with such a charming (and literal) voice that he is unforgettable.

I am speaking of Chet, police dog trainee dropout, the canine half of the Little Detective Agency. Bernie Little is the human half of, as Chet puts it, the partnership of Chet's nose and Bernie's brain. Chet has such a perfectly genuine dog-voice that I know the author Spencer Quinn (a pseudonym of Peter Abrahams) himself must be an animal aficionado, or at least one who has a dog at his side, probably one not unlike Bernie's fictional canine sidekick. I could recommend this book solely on the charm and charisma of Chet, who narrates, and leave it at that, but I suppose I should give you more of an idea what to expect.

The Dog Who Knew Too Much begins with Bernie being hooked by the president of the Great Western Private Eye Association to speak at a convention. We find out right away that Bernie is short of money, long on Hawaiian shirts and not the world's best speaker. We learn that Chet may be a bit of an unreliable narrator, as he hears "cut to the chase" and gets ready to run. And we learn that whatever the circumstances of his wallet, Bernie's not going to sell Chet, no matter what the offer is. Every aspect of characterization is rendered so cleverly that somehow we see Bernie through our human eyes even though we are looking through Chet's. And we like them both right away—a guy who must know he's a terrible speaker, desperate enough to accept five hundred dollars to humiliate himself before a convention of his peers, but who won't take ten thousand dollars for his dog; and the dog, whose literal voice has us on his side from his very first syllable.

The case begins with Bernie being hired to protect Anya from her ex husband; but then her son is kidnapped, and Bernie searches to searching for the missing boy. But things are not what they seem, and in true bait and switch fashion, the mystery deepens. For people like me who have not met this detective duo in earlier books, rest assured that you do not have to read all the predecessors in order to understand The Dog Who Knew Too Much. But, like me, once you have read this one, you're going to want to go out and find Dog On It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, and To Fetch a Thief which are books 1-3. There is even a blog for Chet.

Devoured the book, light fun, thoroughly entertaining, can't wait to read more. Call me a fan.

I have two children ages two and three and I try to read a book to them every night. The problem is sometimes time is short and you need just a little story to make it to bedtime. Up Dog is a board book that fits this bill nicely.

I took my laptop into my three year old daughter's room to read her Up Dog since we had an electronic version and she loved flipping between the pictures. She actually could read most of the words herself and since the word "up" is featured on every page even my two year old could figure that one out.

Beyond being enormously cute with illustrations of a dog that gets into mischief, Up Dog is a wonderful teacher of cause and effect. The dog gets dirty and then the dog gets cleaned up. The dog digs a hole; the hole gets filled with dirt. These types of lessons are sometimes hard to teach young children, but this little book does a great job and opens up the chance for discussion with your child about what might happen next.

A wonderful read all around.
 
Reviewed By Shawn Marie Mann
© May 2012

I really love books that have companion books. Hazel Hutchins has written two books very much alike, but one features a dog and one a cat. We are cat people at our house so Up Cat was right up our alley.

Up Cat is a board book that is cutely illustrated by Fanny with a kitty just going about its day doing what cats do. Our favorite picture is of the kitty fitting himself into a box that is just a bit too small.

I really like books that have few words in them for toddlers because it allows you the room to have a discussion with them about what is going on in the pictures. My three year old daughter and I talked about why cats like to drink milk; that cats nearly always land on the feet and why cats like to sleep in the sun.

Any book that prompts questions from children and offers a teaching opportunity is more than just words on a page and Up Cat is just such a book. Easy to read with words my three year old could read plus adorable pictures, well, it is just a great book. We also enjoyed Up Dog, also by Ms. Hutchins.
 
Reviewed By Shawn Marie Mann
© March 2012

I've recently returned to school, registering for college. I have seven books that are published but have decided to take a class on composition, where I've learned that I don't know how to write. My current assignment is to write a research paper. Lo and behold, I've come across this wonderful book.

The Research Virtuoso is a quick read and is easy to understand. The reearch techniques are simple to understand and if my mind was not ready to grasp the directions, the book includes some wonderful pages titled, "Grab and Go". These are forms to help guide the student in their research in the local library. There are helps for online searching as well.

I'm now confident that I'll do well in my composition class, with the aid of The Research Virtuoso and I'm sure it will be a help for any student doing any sort of research.

Reviewed by MargeAnna Conrad
(c) March 2012

My father worked in the film industy. He worked on locations with some wonderful actors back in the day. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and others were in the movies. What he didn't do very often was take pictures of the stars to bring home. He did take one of Mr. Eastwood in Joe Kidd but when I finally convinced him to give it to me, he couldn't find it. This gave me the inspiration to check out the story of a 16 year old paparazzo in Allison Rushby's Shooting Stars.

Jo wants to be a professional photographer and is only running around all over town at night trying to capture that perfect shot so she can finance her college career. She hates what she does and only got into the profession because her father is one of the best. But he's not even in the country. He in Japan chasing down the actors that have gone there to secretly do commercials. Left to herself, she chases celebs all night and tries to stay awake in school during the day.

Jo gets the opportunity to get out of the business in one job. It's so tempting because the pay will probably be enough to finance her college. All she has to do is go to a troubled teens retreat, take some exclusive shots of the hottest singer in town and get out without being caught. Simple, right? Until she finds out who he is. Ned Hartnett is the only celebrity that ever treated her nice. Now she's been hired to photograph his deepest secrets and splash them on the front page. How can she do it to him?

Jo moves through some soul searching moments, trying to convince herself she needs to do the job. She has no desire to damage this young man's reputation. How can she justify hurting him for money? How can she deal with the strange group she's thrown into at the retreat? How can she deal with her own issues that surface during the group and private sessions of therapy?

I really enjoyed reading about Jo and Ned and the other selection of characters in Shooting Stars. They were all realitic with true to life problems and in need of true to life solutions. Ms. Rushby did a wonderful job of bringing the life of the paparazzo to light in this sometimes touching story. I recommend it to the younger teen readers as well as us older folks.

Reviewed by MargeAnna Conrad
(c) May 2012

I am assuming that many of us don't pay much attention to type fonts. I'm old enough to remember choosing an IBM Selectric typewriter because there were multiple fonts available, welded into little balls that you could snap in, so if you wanted, you could dash your pages off in ten or twelve pitch Courier, Bookface or Artisan. On the early Apple which only had one font, finding Bert Kersey's "beagle bros" fonts library—a program would allow you to change the fonts on your printouts with the addition of some simple html-like commands—was a gift from the font gods. In an early job of mine, preparing negatives to make offset masters for an ABDick 360 Printing press involved hours of typesetting with the dry transfer letters, painstakingly manipulated with red gum, grid paper and exacto knives. The year I had of graphic design did not touch on fonts at all.

Simon Garfield's Just My Type picks up right where my graphic design classes should have. The book is not a dry history of type, but a popular history of fonts such as the much maligned "Comic Sans." (Everyone who uses/overuses/loves/hates Comic Sans should read Garlocks rendition of the tale of Vincent Connare, Microsoft and Microsoft Bob.) Garfield has written an interesting guide to fonts. It is both charming and fascinating, and full of tidbits which are "news" to us. Who knew, for example that authors of type become famous or infamous from their skill with type, just as Mozart is for his music, or Warhol, for his art?

Just My Type touches on the stories behind type, exploring everything before Gutenberg's first fonts, well past Steve Job's now famous introduction to calligraphy at Reed College. Whether you're interested in serifs and san serifs, the Guardian's April Fools Day Independence of San Serriffe Hoax, the creepy sexual experimentation of Eric Gill, the blink test, or IKEA's battle between Verdana and Futura, etc. there are dozens of stories here which are fascinating, and which you will probably recognize have brushed against your life without your realization. The book analyzes font examples from magazine covers, to advertisements, to television shows (like The Office) to album covers, and tells us why and how the fonts work, their purpose and how they affect us.

Just My Type is a rich, readable backstory behind type, a book which ought to be a must for any typographer's toolkit. And for non-typographers among us, after a little exploratory guided voyage touring in, through and about fonts let by Garfield's clever eye, we just might become a little more discerning, and certainly more informed and and certainly more entertained typophiles in our own right.

*San Seriffe