tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87378244662626176012012-02-07T08:51:22.241-06:00Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-84665474787486492582012-02-07T08:43:00.001-06:002012-02-07T08:51:22.251-06:00

I have a new series available on Amazon. The first book, Wolf Spencer, is FREE. This is a Western series in the tradition of the old west. If you like frontier stories set in the post-Civil War era; this is the book for you. When John Spencer returns to town after three years of living with the Cheyenne, he does not expect much of a welcome, but it doesn’t matter that much, because he doesn’t

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-76596110197506078952012-02-04T09:11:00.003-06:002012-02-04T09:12:43.077-06:00

. I’m glad I live in an area where there are four distinct seasons. Each year as autumn approaches, I wish my camera had the capability of capturing the full riot of colors from the surrounding hillsides and forest. There is always some sadness as the year winds down. You can see it in the meadows and hillsides as summer slowly fades away and geese honk their way southward. Winter brings a

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-71827483553981477372012-01-13T09:49:00.000-06:002012-01-13T09:49:35.947-06:00

. Almost everyone has had a desire to write a book, but when faced with the challenging task of sitting for hours at a keyboard, some of the enthusiasm fades away. One ‘expert’ said that writing is an obsession, a frightful madness, something to be avoided at all cost. He left out how much fun it is. Any writer will tell you that meeting avid readers is a close second to the actual writing

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-12837153412982845742012-01-04T09:16:00.000-06:002012-01-04T09:16:58.672-06:00

When I was growing up, we moved from the city into the countryside, away from all of the amenities and conveniences a city has to offer. But most important, we moved away from bookstores and a public library. The schools I attended had few books, and the ones they had were acquired with an awareness that they had to meet the reading needs of children from the first grade through high school. Even

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-7523058958611284572011-12-26T19:24:00.001-06:002011-12-26T19:29:19.817-06:00

. Anyone can write a short story, but writing a good one is infinitely harder than anyone without writing experience can imagine. Most short stories have little substance, no plot, and their only saving grace is the fact that they don’t engage the reader for very long. But occasionally a good one comes along, crafted from bits and pieces of reality that make the reader wonder if the story is real

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-45060569450233444612011-12-21T16:23:00.002-06:002011-12-21T16:27:55.792-06:00

. Fredom of speech allows humorist to go all the way to the firewall to express themselves. But many countries don’t allow nearly as much freedom as the United States, and you don’t have to go to third world countries to find this type of oppression. There are some who think using the word ‘oppression’ is not a good way to express the feelings of those who think we go to far - dangerously far -

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-25620576906594976862011-12-09T10:38:00.000-06:002011-12-09T10:38:57.430-06:00

It has always astonished me that there are some people who never read. I have always been immersed in literature, and I feel lucky that I enjoy reading books from every genre. If there was room enough on an automobile vanity plate, mine would say, ‘There’s nothing like a book!’ I have several reasons for writing, but the most important is the desire to give pleasure to the people who enjoy

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-36502565784383620622011-12-06T09:03:00.002-06:002011-12-06T09:08:12.144-06:00

. Randall would never have thought of this if it hadn’t been for the key. It was one of those little things no one could explain— a stroke of luck, kismet, providence, or maybe it was just the season. His grandmother had always believed in good luck. She thought if you waited long enough, it would turn in your favor and you would be suddenly and unexpectedly rewarded. Not that it ever happened

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-63838963915221162412011-12-04T13:43:00.001-06:002011-12-04T13:47:04.857-06:00

Avid readers are always searching for series books that have fast action, intriguing characters, and a plot that pulls you in. In George Wier’s first novel in a 21 book series he accomplishes all of this and then some. Bill Travis, the protagonist of the story, is a guy who fixes things, which is not uncommon in this type of mystery story. Wier seems to be one step ahead of the well known

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-63003116739128478282011-12-02T09:54:00.001-06:002011-12-02T09:55:28.188-06:00

There is nothing as exciting to an author as the release of a new novel to the reading public. The ANTAEUS FACTOR is a suspense novel about cyber terrorism. In the past three decades, scientific developments have advanced exponentially, and some of it in frightening ways. It no longer takes the might of a superpower to radically change the course of history. A few dedicated fanatics can bring

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-29475752208754282362011-11-29T10:44:00.001-06:002011-11-29T10:48:21.903-06:00

Most of the readers I know are constantly searching for new authors, especially those who know how to entertain us with a good book. C.J. Lyons is a pediatric ER doctor now writing full time. I discovered her books a couple of years ago and was delighted to find someone who knew what they were writing about and had the ability to craft a gripping story. Number one New York Times bestselling

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-50668300676773869362011-11-17T09:00:00.001-06:002011-11-17T09:02:37.903-06:00

Regardless of the type of novel I am writing, the emphasis is always on the human relationships between the characters. Murder mysteries, spy novels, and all the rest would not be worth my time if the reader was not emotionally impacted by the relationships. One of the best police procedural novels I am aware of involves the murder of a street person that seemed not to have a past. No one knew

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-47210392759845416302011-11-10T10:22:00.000-06:002011-11-10T10:22:26.086-06:00

W. Somerset Maugham said, “There are three rules to writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” I think fellow author Jack Bludis came close to discovering the first rule when he said, “I think a writer must like what the writer likes before he can please anyone else.” Most authors spend a lot of time trying to analyze books that sell well, attempting to discover that tiny

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-53906582897770176872011-11-09T19:07:00.000-06:002011-11-09T19:07:32.964-06:00

I love all things Chinese, their culture, their lyrical language, and especially the wonderful people who run our local Chinese restaurants. I was somewhat surprised when I ran across a video of a group of senior citizens performing their version of Lady Gaga’s musical hit, Bad Romance. They have changed the words of the song, but they seem to be having as much fun as I had in listening to it.

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-59922971172935813502011-11-04T09:01:00.001-05:002011-11-04T09:55:50.408-05:00

There are bad ideas and then there are BAD ideas. The video linked to the title of this article is one of those ideas that I hope never catches on, but you never know. Microsoft is developing a computer control system that doesn’t require a monitor or keyboard. A projector contained in a device attached to your shoulder transmits a keyboard on any surface and you can use this image as a

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-59469134926712512242011-10-31T08:36:00.003-05:002011-10-31T08:39:25.829-05:00

I have a junk drawer where I keep-- well, junk. I was prowling through it yesterday and picked up a watch I discarded more than ten years ago. It was a cheap sports watch and I discarded it when the face became scratched and the band stretched and broken. When I looked at the display I was astonished to see the watch was still working, and was only a few minutes off the correct time. It would

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-2769935036997420142011-10-21T10:25:00.003-05:002011-11-16T18:34:27.933-06:00

. Any writer wanting to create an earth-shattering piece of literature would do well to examine the real world and what leaves the average person breathless. Consider this: When you enter a crowded room, who do you notice first? Is it the wimps; the girl with the lank hair, or is your eye drawn to the person who radiates attitude and confidence? If she happens to be standing next to the most

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-3679392086695183282011-10-18T11:04:00.000-05:002011-10-18T11:04:43.981-05:00

There have been some interesting and informative articles written about Steve Jobs since his untimely death. Jobs was a genius who contributed to the advancement of electronics in countless ways. In all of these recent articles, I have noticed that no one mentions something that so many of us enjoyed during the early ‘80s. Most of us who bought our first computers during that era longed for

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-75185147837607552202011-09-28T09:51:00.001-05:002011-09-28T09:52:58.639-05:00

I have always been a fan of Andy Rooney, and I am saddened that he is leaving 60 Minutes after 30 years on CBS. There were over 1000 appearances where he spoke on a variety of subjects, all of them worth contemplating. Rooney’s main appeal is the fact that he was a curmudgeon at times, often saying the things the rest of us would like to say if we had the opportunity and the guts to do so. He

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-33154134245086358642011-09-23T09:31:00.002-05:002011-09-23T09:31:28.505-05:00

When I first ran across the name, Lisbeth Salander, on a blog, I wrongfully assumed it was the name of a romance writer. The woman who wrote the article gushed on about Lisbeth, although she was rather vague about what made her like her so much. Then my daughter gave me a thick novel by a Norwegian author named Stieg Larsson. Six hundred plus pages seemed rather excessive for a suspense novel,

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-70577890562128083672011-09-16T08:51:00.001-05:002011-09-16T08:53:08.522-05:00

Whenever a presidential election rolls around, the news media desperately searches for sound bytes that will capture the essence of each candidate as effectively as a Polaroid shot will capture a grandchild on Christmas morning. Many of these defining moments come during political debates where accusations are hurled right and left. Most of the really good points concern the candidate’s

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-8645186005425286492011-09-09T18:52:00.001-05:002011-09-09T18:54:53.123-05:00

Rock ‘N Roll music has always been popular in America because it speaks a language, and has a rhythm that appeals to every age group. During the 50s, many parents frowned when some of the more lively songs burst from the radio, but they were often caught tapping their foot in accompaniment with the music. In recent years, Rock has taken many different avenues -- crossing over into Country, Pop,

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-91580101133602595192011-09-07T10:21:00.001-05:002011-09-07T10:22:28.116-05:00

Those of you who read my post are aware of my feelings about our furry friends. Many times they are almost human. There is a video on YouTube that I think is hilarious. This clip no doubt had a little help from the fertile imagination of the creator, but those of us who live with dogs have seen some very interesting things. You’re going to love this. Click on the title to see the video. /

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-36788926568712059352011-09-01T15:41:00.004-05:002011-09-01T15:45:38.314-05:00

When I visited Randy Rawls website, I immediately saw two things that made me want to know more about this author and what he is trying to say through his books. Rawls has had an interesting and varied existence, which puts him far ahead of so many other writers. To put it simply: A writer must know something through his personal experiences. Research - to which Rawls is no stranger - can get

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-7943690655012560682011-08-25T20:08:00.001-05:002011-08-25T20:10:03.295-05:00

I have had a long running argument with non-pet owners about the intelligence and awareness of our canine friends. One of my college professors believed that all animals did not have the ability to think and said their intelligence consisted of only being able to move toward comfort (food, heat on a cold day, etc) or away from discomfort. Here is one more item of evidence to support my claim that

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-63635352786581943442011-07-09T09:48:00.000-05:002011-07-09T09:48:06.624-05:00

The marriage of William and Kate is one of the most interesting events to come along in a long while. The royal family was long overdue for a fresh breath of air in the person of Kate. There was a lot of hope when William and Harry grew up and demonstrated that they were not stamped from the same mold as the rest of that stodgy bunch. Harry seems to view the world with a sense of amusement,

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-39141223051481931292011-07-06T21:11:00.000-05:002011-07-06T21:11:34.558-05:00

Several high profile cases in recent years have rocked the nation, making court watchers wonder if our judicial system is broken or perhaps in need of a major revision. Two cases in particular, the Scott Peterson case and the recent trial of Casey Anthony, have striking similarities despite the difference in the outcome. Peterson, you remember, had a missing wife, and a situation that

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-69158040640975693292011-06-30T08:30:00.000-05:002011-06-30T08:30:56.254-05:00

There are so many things to celebrate on the 4th of July that I hardly know where to start. All across the country, there will be marching bands, fireworks, and long speeches to remind us of the sacrifice our forefathers made. Television will probably schedule some patriotic films like Pearl Harbor, or perhaps one of those mega productions about the American Revolution. Occasionally, some

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-11685981075570439162011-06-20T19:55:00.000-05:002011-06-20T19:55:27.937-05:00

I have met many interesting people in my lifetime, but I think Bill Haast was near the top of the list. Haast ran the Miami Serpentarium where he housed many thousands of deadly snakes. He was a showman who knew how to manage his audience as skillfully as any snake charmer from India. Haast would remove a snake from its container and place in on the floor in the courtyard. The crowd would shrink

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-12583285795227461772011-06-19T09:24:00.003-05:002011-06-20T10:58:02.743-05:00

. . . according to what my mother told me when I was growing up. After googling the problem on the Internet, I discovered that she was correct. Scientific studies have suggested that kissing was first introduced as a means to spread germs and build up human immunity to dangerous bacteria before the onset of pregnancy. Saliva contains a healthy amount of immunoglobulin which binds with bacteria

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-10045782929347487482011-06-07T09:28:00.000-05:002011-06-07T09:28:56.126-05:00

In an ideal setting, your teenage years should be the best time of your life. Few responsibilities and your whole future in front of you, with ample support to fix the things that are important. Texting, tweeting, emails, and long conversations on a cell phone keep teens connected in ways that were never possible before. The life of a young person is totally wrapped up in communication with

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-79332285677294149272011-06-03T10:21:00.001-05:002011-06-03T10:25:16.948-05:00

Whenever we have a financial crisis in this country - which is becoming increasingly frequent - the Wall Street financial experts appear on news programs and dispense their wisdom concerning what we should do about it. If the crisis is serious, the news will switch to congress and we will see a powerhouse of politicians who chair the various finance and banking committees. They gather behind

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-41678197838230303572011-05-30T17:21:00.000-05:002011-05-30T17:21:21.634-05:00

One of the curses of becoming an adult is the fact that foolishness no longer makes sense to us. The latest nonsensical thing to enter my awareness happened when I was standing in line today at the supermarket. A young mother was holding an infant that appeared to be about four or five months old. Another woman asked the mother what she had named the baby. “Rehtaeh,” the mother replied. “Oh!”

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-14896004689924525242011-05-24T14:54:00.000-05:002011-05-24T14:54:53.662-05:00

There are many things in the world that ought to be kept under wraps and not discussed at all. Novelists often think that they need to go to great lengths, ad nauseum, and give each detail of a romantic scene. Then there are the ‘tell all’ books that crop up after some well-know person dies or leaves office. I can survive without knowing what he/she ate for breakfast before they jumped from the

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-82136169709908845252011-05-20T18:15:00.000-05:002011-05-20T18:15:58.948-05:00

A friend of mine is a rather successful recreational gambler. I asked him about the secret of his success. He said, "If you are going to gamble, you need to cheat just enough to give yourself an edge." So that is what I am going to do here. I intended to post this early this morning, but I knew I might unleash an argument. I decided to wait late enough in the afternoon that most of you would

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-65246940699634623592011-05-19T09:25:00.001-05:002011-05-19T09:26:39.237-05:00

The Tennessee State Assembly released a report yesterday created by The Center of Community Services at Vanderbilt University, in association with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that I find shocking. It was featured on the evening news, but I have no idea if the report was nationwide. I would assume that other states have released similar reports about their own areas. I find this report

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-18204464800710880752011-05-17T10:29:00.000-05:002011-05-17T10:29:31.710-05:00

You probably saw the story on the morning news about the woman that was evicted from the Amtrak for talking too loud on a cell phone. After ten straight hours of this, the passengers objected. The train stopped and the police held the passenger until a family member could arrive and pick her up. I am still laughing over the story, for I have had similar experiences. I bet you have too. There

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-34439903328304964402011-05-14T10:39:00.000-05:002011-05-14T10:39:30.286-05:00

I read a wide variety of books, but the ones on the suspense and mystery shelves are the ones that draw me irresistibly. I do, however, have a problem with many of the stories I find there. For lack of a better term, I will say that they have no 'heart.' The heroes in so many of them are homeless, unloved, uncaring-- they commit crimes with impunity, then dance away to live another day. I was

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-53101485344468320152011-05-09T14:59:00.000-05:002011-05-09T14:59:44.544-05:00

There are countless ways to handle the grief of losing a loved one. Some of us write poetry to read at the funeral service. Others deliver a eulogy telling what the person meant to them in life. Colleges and universities benefit from memorial donations in the name of a deceased friend or relative. There are also elaborate tombstones, shrines, and personal tributes that take many forms. I was

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-51192540486414801542011-05-04T14:26:00.001-05:002011-05-04T14:30:12.298-05:00

. When I was growing up, I had a lot of trouble trying to understand ‘why bad things happen to good people.’ A Jewish Rabbi named Harold Kushner wrote a fascinating book on the subject, although I do not agree with all of his reasoning. Rather than trying to argue with Kushner’s logic, I try to focus on the fact that bad things are going to happen, but the extent of the damage depends on us. We

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-57348380187136491202011-05-03T13:05:00.000-05:002011-05-03T13:05:58.980-05:00

In case you haven’t kept up with the news recently, a twenty-year-old nursing student from the small town of Darden, Tennessee was kidnapped from the carport of her home at approximately 7:30 a.m. on April 13th when she was leaving for school. Her mother and father had already left for the day and Holly was alone in their rural home except for her twenty-five-year-old brother who was reported to

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-87723155543572490932011-05-02T09:59:00.001-05:002011-05-02T10:01:02.809-05:00

Whenever Mother's Day approaches, we tend to remember those things our mother's said to us. I bet you have your own list of favorite quotesand it probably contained most of thses. Don’t run with scissors. Keep your hands to yourself. If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze like that. Don’t make me come in there. If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can’t

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-1742304332068217092011-04-30T10:45:00.002-05:002011-04-30T10:45:48.668-05:00

When I was in college, I had a biology teacher who was thoroughly convinced that animals could not think. We had an ongoing argument that caused us to consume astonishing amounts of coffee in the university inn while we presented our latest arguments. He said that non-human mammals reacted by moving toward food, or away from pain. The things that made it seem as if they were thinking were

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-20950728774707270962011-04-23T10:09:00.000-05:002011-04-23T10:09:13.667-05:00

What Easter Means to the World While I am a Christian, I do not normally use this website to try to force my beliefs on the people who read my articles, but this is an especially sad time for people all across the world. We have had natural disasters that have affected millions of people. There has been famine, war, lost jobs, and a runaway economy that will not become better next year, or

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-32311554521884319032011-04-22T10:08:00.002-05:002011-04-22T10:11:06.216-05:00

As technology continues to advance, most Americans are becoming increasingly concerned over their privacy. Banks and financial institutions send out notices concerning the amount of information they are sharing with other organizations. The wording on these notices attempts to soothe us into accepting their claim that they would do nothing to invade our privacy, when in fact they are releasing

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-49249773422072944202011-04-21T09:38:00.004-05:002011-04-21T09:45:15.023-05:00

The news media always wants us to think that we are on the brink of some disaster of the other. I am especially bothered by some of the guys on CNN and on Fox news who are permanently out of breath, gasping from one disaster to another. We are told that bad things are getting worse, and the worse is yet to come.I was especially delighted when I ran across a video made sometime last year showing

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-8387501057315868442011-04-19T20:47:00.002-05:002011-04-19T20:50:37.086-05:00

It has always been astonishing to me that there are so many incorrect things that are commonly believed that are actually false. Writers should check and double check their sources of information and try to be accurate, because many people are going to read what you write and some of them will believe it. In the sixteenth century Thomas Cardinal Woolsey gave some very good advice. He said: “Be

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-67135174564108397492011-04-17T12:55:00.003-05:002011-04-17T13:01:03.006-05:00

Several years ago, a feral cat took up residence in a shed at the back of our lot. There was no way you could get close to the beast. We would sometimes get a glimpse of her, usually nothing more than a fleeting shadow in the underbrush. We would put out food for the cat but it was seldom touched. There were too many small rodents among the brush and honeysuckle vines for canned cat food to offer

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-79237219775212054722011-04-16T14:47:00.003-05:002011-04-16T14:53:03.809-05:00

No one can deny that Americans have a love relationship with British Royal Family, which should not be the case considering the fact that we fought two wars to be rid of them. American children read countless stories containing a prince or princess, and these stories are among the most exciting things we read as a child. What would our life have been if we had not had a sword like Lancelot’s to

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-27827278118234573922011-04-14T19:45:00.002-05:002011-04-14T19:49:43.874-05:00

Kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder are becoming commonplace in America to the extent that people are becoming numb to the pain and suffering of the ones involved. A little more than 24 hours ago, a 20-year-old woman was abducted from her home in a peaceful rural community in Tennessee. As I read through the news stories on the Internet, I am appalled that there are so many people who are

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-59979652452736353542011-04-11T19:58:00.004-05:002011-04-11T20:00:26.550-05:00

By now, many of you have read the reports released yesterday by the government under the Freedom of Information Act. These reports document UFO sightings since 1947, which is the date the federal government began to document these events. There are other reports that date back to the beginning of recorded history. One of the earliest by a reliable witness was from a Chinese official named Shen

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-6144417849861862322011-04-07T17:44:00.001-05:002011-04-07T17:46:24.015-05:00

If you failed to see Oprah today, you missed one of the most fascinating stories to come along in a long time. Oprah’s guest was Susan LeFevre, who was sentenced to 10-20 years for a minor drug offense when she was 19 years old. LeFever had been promised probation, but instead started serving her sentence in a Michigan prison. She managed to escape by going over a fence, made her way to

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-85080502639814265322011-04-07T09:35:00.001-05:002011-04-07T09:37:40.656-05:00

I just finished an excellent book about the lives of three young women during the WWII era. The book raised an issue with which writers of historical fiction have to wrestle. The issue involves dialogue and the presentation of details that will make the story believable. James A. Michener discussed this once in a magazine interview after several history writers borrowed some ‘facts’ from Michener

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-27062630650236704352011-03-28T08:31:00.001-05:002011-03-28T08:33:12.402-05:00

I usually keep up with the authors of books I enjoy, but somehow I missed the death announcement of mystery writer William G. Tapply. Tapply was the author of more than 40 mystery novels. The ones I read and loved the most featured attorney Brady Coyne. Coyne was a fictional character who loved life and was able to take the difficulties and disappointments of life in stride. It doesn’t get much

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-11407043142404927262011-03-24T09:39:00.003-05:002011-03-25T08:54:19.285-05:00

A friend of mine who has sold short stories to several major magazines decided to ‘move up’ to writing longer fiction. I thought her plot was rather good, but she found herself bogged down in all of the endless details that go into creating a longer work of fiction.“I thought I left all of the stress behind me when I quit my job,” she complained. “Considering my past experience, this was

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-89110788797335751252011-03-16T11:59:00.005-05:002011-03-16T14:16:02.287-05:00

I try to read books from many different genres because I don’t want to limit my reading pleasure to just one type of literature. A year or so ago, fellow writer Joyce Scarbrough got tired of my criticism of romance literature and challenged me to read one of her books. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed her YA novel once I propped my motorcycle boots on the coffee and started to

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-26164841540851964892011-03-15T09:15:00.002-05:002011-03-15T09:24:56.559-05:00

In the past few weeks I have read books by three different bestselling authors that were good in all the usual ways a book is good, yet some indefinable something was wrong with each of them. I couldn’t put my finger on the problem at first, and then I realized what it was. In one of the books written by a California writer, the main character ‘blew out air’ at frequent intervals, which was the

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-87464999372245068972011-03-13T17:12:00.006-05:002011-03-13T17:18:18.757-05:00

When the first computers became available for home use, I rushed out and purchased one, excited over the many things I would be able to do with it. A typewriter’s usefulness was limited, most of it confined to just placing words on a blank sheet of paper. Revisions were a nightmare. A computer was a lot more exciting than a typewriter, for they had spellcheckers, a thesaurus, plus a number of

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-84700879829159621952011-02-28T09:50:00.002-06:002011-02-28T10:00:16.181-06:00

‘Life is messy, clean it up,’ is a well-known sound byte from a product advertisement on television. Unfortunately, real life is more complicated, with enough twist and turns to make the most stalwart among us dizzy. In Joyce Scarbrough’s novel, Symmetry, she has written a winner focusing on the complexity of life and the many facets of human relationships.Jessica and Lee Cassady’s life becomes

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-7744751114076057812011-02-16T09:13:00.001-06:002011-02-16T09:15:37.688-06:00

There is no thrill on earth like the one a writer experiences when a book is completed. Living with characters we have created, and like immensely, is a great pleasure. The anticipation of turning them loose in the world to make additional friends is a heady experience. But I am the first to admit that there is a downside to this. Louis L’amour once said that he could sit in the busiest

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-23617256675903938832011-01-25T14:58:00.005-06:002011-01-25T15:06:32.420-06:00

Romance novels are about . . . well, romance. But love can take many forms, and many of them span a wide rang from agony to ecstasy. While many writers depart from stories that involve romance between two young adults, there are countless elements available to them that make the story come alive to the reader. The most important element, in my humble opinion, is the characters. It is not easy to

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-45203870557625318562011-01-19T14:21:00.002-06:002011-01-19T14:23:35.435-06:00

When J.R. Rowling wrote the first book in the Harry Potter series, many writers poured over her novel trying to discover the secrets of the author’s success. They soon discovered several elements that captivated both the young and the mature reader as they turned quickly through the pages. For a book to be a runaway success among the fertile young minds of today, it must deal with the many and

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-25516773672993528512011-01-15T18:35:00.001-06:002011-01-15T18:36:53.520-06:00

People who think that science has all of the answers might want to look at a paper published in1873 by a scientists Named Robert Spalding. Spalding was one of many early researchers who attempted to prove theories about nature that were already known by any farm boy. In Spalding’s paper titled ‘Instinct’ he made the following conclusion: ‘A baby chick’s instinct to follow a mother hen originates

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-17927640993359459022011-01-08T13:50:00.002-06:002011-01-08T13:54:17.208-06:00

When I read the first book by the mother/daughter team of Alexandra and Svetlana Kovalkova McKenna, I was hooked. This beautifully written story has all of the magical elements expected in a pre-teen fairy-tale. Readers will be captivated from the first page as the story of Isabel and Rashkai unfolds. There is the proper amount of challenge and solution, allowing the story to teach life’s lessons

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-80972830560614057372010-12-11T10:33:00.002-06:002010-12-11T10:38:36.246-06:00

I knew I would eventually see it, but it was still a surprise when I stopped at an intersection and looked into the car facing me. There were four passengers and all of them had their cell phones pressed to their ears. There was a time when getting together was just that. Your friends had your attention, conversation ensued to some degree or the other, and you experienced what is called

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-23728283448400156202010-11-06T17:00:00.003-05:002010-11-06T17:02:51.603-05:00

Every time we change our clocks, articles appear on the news telling us how wonderful this practice is and how it improves the quality of our lives. Reports quote energy savings, boost to the economy, and how candy sales are up due to children being able to participate in Halloween activities. If there was a daylight savings Scrooge, I would probably be it. I have clocks everywhere, and two

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-58114810044166331882010-10-25T08:31:00.002-05:002010-10-25T08:39:41.647-05:00

It goes without saying that one of the greatest thrills of writing is being published. One of my stories, Bear Essentials, will be appearing in an anthology called Dreamspell Nightmares, published by L&LDreamspell, a Texas publishing company. If you like scare stories, you are going to love this book. Visit their site at:http:www.lldreamspell.com/Anthologies.htm

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-87860540957596802232010-10-13T12:45:00.006-05:002010-10-13T12:54:10.322-05:00

Publishers Weekly has published the results of a new Harris Poll that concluded that mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels have edged out the chic-lit and romance novels by a large margin.Reader preference is divided disproportionately among crime, mystery, and thriller novels (48%), science fiction (26%), ‘literature’ (24%), romance (21%), graphic novels (11%), chick-lit (8%), with western

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-20978047661544338902010-10-11T15:46:00.009-05:002010-10-11T16:08:11.673-05:00

I was pleased when Susan Whitfield invited me to her blog for an interview. Susan is not only a talented novelist, she is knowledgeable about the craft of writing, and has created a site that is entertaining, inspirational, and informative. Click on the title above to read her interview concerning my two most recent novels. While you are there, take the time to look around for some other

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-43276266738840483022010-10-04T09:30:00.004-05:002010-10-04T13:04:43.487-05:00

I read a lot of mystery and suspense novels. Authors ruin many of them for failing to develop their antagonist in a manner that makes their downfall gratifying to the reader. Sometimes we don’t even know the name of the murdered. When we do, it turns out to be some throwaway character that hasn’t touched us in a meaningful way. We turn the last page, stretch and yawn and feel vaguely dissatisfied

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-82588914996974054602010-09-28T08:59:00.002-05:002010-09-28T09:05:37.243-05:00

I have a large stack of yet to be read books that friends have passed along to me. All of them are good, but if I spent all of my waking hours reading, I would never catch up, nor would I get any writing done.When a family member passed along a copy of The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, I was delighted until I picked the book up and weighed it in my hand. I like books that end around 300

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-70568423501634985772010-09-26T19:24:00.003-05:002010-09-26T19:30:36.967-05:00

Several years ago we received twelve inches of snow and a freezing rain on top of that. A friend had given me a puzzle called, Who Owns the Zebra. I spent the entire afternoon trying to solve the puzzle and finally did after using up most of a notepad. While this blog is usually devoted to subjects that touch on the writing process, it is good to occasionally spend a little time doing nothing, or

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-12407163492616094842010-09-16T11:59:00.001-05:002010-09-16T12:01:49.684-05:00

It cannot be said often enough that plot is a verb. If a novel is to convey a story worth telling, it must move forward in a conflicted manner until it reaches a logical and satisfying conclusion. It is sometimes astonishing how little ‘action’ there is in literary fiction, even though the author might keep a firm grip on our throat all the way to a gut-wrenching conclusion. The most effective

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-6159501227422693402010-08-21T10:58:00.003-05:002010-08-21T11:01:20.537-05:00

One of the most time-consuming tasks in the writing process is research. Writers are advised to ‘write what you know,’ which is excellent advice, but even writing about those things with which we are familiar doesn’t free us from having to check each fact multiple times. Suppose, for example, that you grew up on a farm in Arkansas during the 1970s, and you want to recapture that era in a

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-90401121697919517982010-07-10T10:09:00.000-05:002010-07-10T10:10:14.203-05:00

New Book Trailer on YouTubeI really enjoy fooling around with graphics. One of the first things readers ask is what your book is about. It is a challenge to try to discover new ways to explain this. I have a new book trailer on YouTube. I hope you will take a minute to view Abraham’s Bones.

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-32531849641047040482010-06-26T08:37:00.003-05:002010-06-26T08:40:18.130-05:00

There is an old adage from a bygone era that admonishes us to ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth.’ For those who are too young to know the meaning of this expression, it was the horse and buggy equivalent of a Carfax. There are a lot of free ‘horses’ and assorted software out there on the Internet, but you’re likely to get more than you bargain for if you download them. Recently, I downloaded

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-63477856015951109202010-06-23T10:09:00.002-05:002010-06-23T10:11:34.137-05:00

I’m a laid-back guy. I usually don’t want people to know that, because in another life, I took part in all kinds of active and dangerous sports. Too much knowledge hurts the image I’m trying to carry over into my post-retirement years. Last night before going to bed, I put the finishing touches on a 270 page manuscript. My sigh of contentment when I finished would have melted the heart of the

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-68201278496480120432010-06-02T18:53:00.005-05:002010-06-28T10:43:02.234-05:00

The world is full of negative people. Some of you wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t pointed it out to you. I can let most negativity pass by without allowing any of my feathers to lift, but sometimes it really bothers me, especially when I encounter it on writer’s forums. One forum, where I am the resident lurker, has many ‘experts’ who seem to know everything on every subject, and they are

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-55980518507279703932010-05-27T08:22:00.001-05:002010-05-27T08:24:58.127-05:00

A glance at the cover of James R. Knight’s history of the Battle of Franklin, was enough to make me aware of what I would find inside. Having grown up in the South where I was immersed in the culture and history of the region, I have always enjoyed books about the Civil War written by knowledgeable writers. Knight’s careful research of the events surrounding one of the most decisive battles of

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-65673323184922045022010-05-16T08:41:00.009-05:002010-05-16T09:36:54.341-05:00

The making of a book trailer. It’s not as easy as you think -- or is it?I turned off a busy street into the narrow entrance of a shopping center, then came to an abrupt halt, staring at the grill of an SUV. The parking spaces running at the wrong angle should have given the driver a hint, as should the arrow pointing into the wrong direction. I couldn’t back into the busy street, and after a lot

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-14590998743873250562010-04-18T09:42:00.002-05:002010-04-18T09:44:49.207-05:00

When the Soviet Union fell, there were many suspense and thriller writers who were crestfallen because they believed they would have nothing to write about. The Soviets were the perfect villains for the writers of fiction. They were powerful and seemed recklessly determined to dominate the world. The way their government officials dressed, and their military uniforms, had the visual effects

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-29564465215525250162010-04-06T09:30:00.001-05:002010-04-06T09:32:31.874-05:00

In a recent email, a young writer asked if anyone had ever created a literary mess, plot wise, that could not be straightened out. “I have written almost two hundred thousand words,” she wailed. “Where do I go from here?”I think a lot of us have known that feeling. We became too involved in our story, and like a dog with a broken leash, we can’t find a place to stop. How do we bring order into

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-82163171163780723222010-03-08T09:40:00.008-06:002010-03-08T09:59:44.503-06:00

A surprising number of readers have never tried an Ebook. Even if you don’t have a Kindle reader, you can enjoy the growing number of books available in this new medium. During the week of March 7th through the 13th you can obtain two of my Ebooks from Smashwords at half price. Innocent is a full length suspense novel, and Stories for a Quiet Evening is a collection of short stories. Innocent is

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-66804893208199866252010-03-07T10:29:00.002-06:002010-03-07T10:31:23.648-06:00

The human brain is somewhat like a garbage dump. Not a very flattering analogy, perhaps, but I like that description because it accurately reflects our experiences and our perception of the world. Whenever siblings gather during the holiday seasons and discuss their childhood experiences, the stories often diverge in ways that defy logic. “Oh, yes you did,” and “Oh, no I did not!” becomes part of

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-54478092016899115322010-02-11T09:20:00.006-06:002010-02-11T09:36:19.479-06:00

I was a little surprised when I wrote an article about a seventeen-year-old student from Canada named Julia Dales who wanted to win the beatboxing championship. I loved the video on YouTube because it was offbeat and was one of the amusing things teens have been doing since the first family left the garden of Eden. I have been amazed that the short article, published on May 30th of 2009, is still

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-56316931572154973232010-01-06T19:17:00.005-06:002010-01-06T19:22:46.317-06:00

Sniper LocaterIf you write spy fiction, your hero won’t be complete without the latest gadgets to battle his country’s enemies. There are a lot of things out there that most of us never heard of, and a surprising amount of it is on the market. One of the newest offerings is a small device developed for military applications. This electronic sniper locater is called Ears Gunshot Localization

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-30775377544756384042010-01-06T09:41:00.003-06:002010-01-06T09:44:31.257-06:00

Fine tuning your fiction. An friend of mine who runs a small and successful business has told me there are three secrets of success. You must have the right location before you can succeed. I did not stop to think of the ways location could play an important part in literature until I entered a short story contest. The contest promised a short critique on each story, which seemed to be more than

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-84252627253348580792010-01-02T09:58:00.001-06:002010-01-02T10:00:16.505-06:00

Tags: John Grisham, Ford County, short stories.There are many websites on the Internet where you can read short stories for free, and a lot of us take advantage of the opportunity. Some of these sites have a comment section where the readers can give their opinion. For any given story, the comments will run from snarky to the sublime—some of the comments are actually better than the stories. The

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-85554033384021724592009-12-20T09:26:00.002-06:002009-12-20T09:28:24.761-06:00

All writing, on some level or another, must make sense. Even if we are writing science fiction or fantasy, we must maintain a level of logic that doesn’t jar the mind too much, or the reader is likely to reject what we say. That is not to say that everything has to be proven in a scientific laboratory, but it must hold to the ‘rules’ that apply to the world we have created. One of my early

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-58117271337430751832009-12-16T08:42:00.002-06:002009-12-16T08:44:42.755-06:00

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?Obscenity, vulgarity, and bad taste — do we really need it in our literature? There is an astonishing amount of good literature available on the Internet, and a lot of it is free. I like to browse websites and blogs for some of the best of it. Recently, I found a well written story. The suspense and plotting was just about perfect, and I was anticipating a great

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-48214906312451635692009-11-28T19:58:00.002-06:002009-11-28T20:03:35.692-06:00

Writers need to write about interesting things. I hope you spend some of your time in research that might be useful in your next writing project. Writers should be inquisitive and this inquisitiveness should lead us to discover the unusual things around us. There are many books that are anything but interesting. Some of them contain well thought out plots that keep us turning the pages well into

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-67133699385010190562009-11-08T09:19:00.003-06:002009-11-08T09:25:16.411-06:00

I ran across an article a few days ago where the author was attempting to define literature and classify what he considered to be the best things ever written. I wasn’t surprised to see a large number of classic novels, a number of modern works from the New York Times Best Seller List, and some obscure novels like The Store. The Store never made any list, but did capture the Pulitzer Prize and

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-47767759582937626262009-10-22T08:28:00.005-05:002009-10-22T08:44:46.164-05:00

I read a wide variety of books, although my favorite type of literature is suspense. It is always a treat to pick up a book in another genre and find something stimulating and interesting. Sevetlana Kovalkova-McKenna is the author of several books for children. Her stories are the type of books you want to buy for your own kids. She studied Journalism and Broadcasting at Moscow State University

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-81530312109233158482009-10-15T08:51:00.001-05:002009-10-15T08:54:51.550-05:00

Tags: child abuse, crime, thriller, mystery.Statistical evidence reveals a shocking truth about America. Child abuse is at epidemic proportions and society seems unable, or unwilling, to do anything about it. Studies have suggested that one in four girls are sexually abused while they are growing up. Divorce, problems with our school systems, and absentee parents, makes the situation more

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-79930470033212390682009-10-12T09:20:00.002-05:002009-10-12T09:22:36.872-05:00

Tags: American history, Christopher Columbus, holidays.Whenever a holiday rolls around, we usually focus briefly on the person or event the holiday is supposed to commemorate. Holidays that celebrate the lives or accomplishments of individuals are especially interesting. Many of these historical figures are bigger than life and the known ‘facts’ often do not always fit reality. Shortly after his

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-31065038074474029982009-10-04T09:46:00.004-05:002009-10-05T05:31:01.388-05:00

You can always tell when a writer has reached best seller status by looking at the prominent way in which the author’s name is presented on the front cover of a novel. Dick Francis, Robert Crais, or Barbara Delinsky’s name will always appear in large letters that will almost crowd the rest of the graphics off the page. But what about the things we see inside the covers. While fonts, white space

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-92180906806115376522009-09-27T12:31:00.003-05:002009-09-27T12:46:43.017-05:00

It is always a thrill for an author when a new novel becomes available in the bookstores. This book is a change of pace for me because it involves a heinous crime. This book is not for the squeamish.A phone call in the early hours of the morning shatters the tranquility of Sheriff Daniel Barrett's household when he finds out that the father of his fourteen-year-old daughter's best friend has been

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-76892596037301665152009-09-20T08:45:00.002-05:002009-09-20T08:48:53.024-05:00

Tags: Librarian, books, reading, literature.When I was in grammar school we had a librarian who run everything with quiet efficiency. She did not seem to be overly aware of the different students, and even the ones of us who haunted the library were just so many nameless children. At the beginning of the year, when I reached the eighth grade, I learned that we had a new librarian. Her name,

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-61732533506933588322009-09-13T09:01:00.002-05:002009-09-13T09:05:02.539-05:00

I arrived rather late to an Internet discussion about children’s books and what attracts children to a certain type of story. There was a general agreement that the younger ones were attracted as much by the colorful pictures as they were by the story. It is my personal feeling that a book won’t hold the attention of the younger ones unless it involves both.I am one of those adults who is blessed

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737824466262617601.post-67187023751975950012009-09-06T13:48:00.003-05:002009-09-06T13:49:35.372-05:00

It would be difficult to find a story where fear did not play an active role in the plot. Fear comes in many different forms depending on the story. Even if your novel involves a hardboiled hero who can face any kind of danger without flinching, the absence of fear in his behavior is nothing more than another manifestation of the same emotion. We know the fear is there, deep down where it matters

Joe Prentisnoreply@blogger.com0