Tag Archives: novels

Hope For All Of Us

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

The Bookseller has reported that Silence Under a Stone, by the 81-year-old Irish writer Norma MacMaster, has been shortlisted for the Society of Authors’ Awards. What is noteworthy is that it is also Norma’s debut novel. The book, which the Independent … Continue reading →

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The Wordless Novel

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Created by artist Lynd Ward, God’s Man is the first American wordless novel. Published in 1929 by Jonathon Cape and Harrison Smith in New York, the book is an example of the wordless novel, a narrative genre made of only … Continue reading →

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Still Alarming

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

I first discovered the science fiction novels by Ray Bradbury when I was 10 or 11 years old. In retrospect I’m certain that many of the themes of his books went way over my head. But when I read Fahrenheit 451 I … Continue reading →

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Why Vonnegut Matters

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Like many Kurt Vonnegut fans I became a devoted reader during my early adolescence. If memory serves, the first of his novels that I read was Sirens of Titan, but it could have just as well been Cat’s Cradle. Of course they weren’t teaching … Continue reading →

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Pierre; or, The Ambiguities

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

To be perfectly honest, I have always been ambivalent about Herman Melville. When I read Moby-Dick in high school, I found it to be an uneven slog. However, his iconic short story Bartleby the Scrivener provided me with a role model for life. The … Continue reading →

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When You Walk Through A Storm

Posted on July 15, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

“And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will … Continue reading →

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The Modern Novelist

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Brian D. Butler

Tom Gauld  

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The Good Kind of Hangover

Posted on May 27, 2018 by Brian D. Butler
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Dance Macabre

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

 La portentosa vida de la muerte (The Prodigious Life of Death) by Joaquín Bolaños, is a late 18th century Mexican novel that stars Death as a female protagonist ( la muerte in Spanish is a feminine noun).  The story begins in the Garden … Continue reading →

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It was a dark and stormy night

Posted on August 8, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Each year, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest receives hundreds of entrants all competing to craft the worst opening sentence for an imaginary novel. The annual event celebrates English author and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who once penned the infamous line “It was … Continue reading →

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