Tag Archives: Fiction

Train dreams

Posted on August 31, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

“On the Train” by Gene Wolfe When I look out the window, the earth seems to have become liquid, rushing to flow over a falls that is always just behind the last car. Wherever that may be. The telephone poles … Continue reading →

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The line between the magical and the real disappears in a story

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

“Consider Scheherazade, whose name meant “city-born” and who was without a doubt a big-city girl, crafty, wisecracking, by turns sentimental and cynical, as contemporary a metropolitan narrator as one could wish to meet. Scheherazade, who snared the prince in her … Continue reading →

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On Writing

Posted on June 30, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

Stephen King is one of the most successful authors of all time, and among other honors won the National Book Award in 2003. His memoir / writing manual, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, offers a wonderful look inside his … Continue reading →

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Vampire Novels

Posted on June 28, 2026 by Brian D. Butler
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Oh the Horror

Posted on June 14, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

Subcutanean is a coming-of-age horror novel that Aaron Reed published in 2020, which tells of a college senior who discovered a secret basement beneath his house. The wild thing is that every copy of the novel is slightly different. Reed wrote … Continue reading →

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The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator

Posted on February 28, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

Jonathan Franzen’s “10 rules for novelists”: The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator. Fiction that isn’t an author’s personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn’t worth writing for anything but money. Never use the … Continue reading →

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And the 2025 lists begin

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The staff of the New York Times Book Review choose the year’s top fiction and nonfiction titles. “The envelope, please: After a full year spent reading hundreds of books and meeting regularly to bicker — er, converse — about their … Continue reading →

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The First Day

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“On an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother, she takes my hand and we set off down New Jersey Avenue to begin my very first day of school.” –“The First Day” from Lost … Continue reading →

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Summer Reading List

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Former President Obama has released his annual summer reading list. On Instagram, he wrote, “Reading has always been an important part of my journey, which is why I couldn’t be more excited that we’ll have a new branch of the … Continue reading →

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why fiction fascinates us so

Posted on August 18, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Our perceptual relationship with the world works because we trust prior stories. We could not fully perceive a tree if we did not know (because others have told us) that it is the product of a long growth process and … Continue reading →

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