Joe Beernink
Author of NOWHERE WILD, NOWHERE HOME
Monthly Archives: April 2011
Dreadnought is the second book in the Clockwork Century Series by Cherie Priest, following the, um, groundbreaking hit, Boneshaker. (Sorry, had to do that). While Dreadnought shares the same universe and time period as Boneshaker, and there are peripheral tie ins between the stories, this is not purely a sequel. The main characters are different and where Boneshaker took place exclusively in the Pacific Northwest around Seattle, Dreadnought starts from Richmond, Virginia… Read More
I got stuck this last week. Stuck deep in the mud of telling and not showing in my work in progress. For a writer, the sin of telling the reader something, instead of showing the reader through the eyes of your character or their reactions is the equivalent to breaking four of the ten commandments. You hear about this in every writers course and session, and read about it in every book… Read More
If you’ve read this blog since the beginning, you already know I’m a big John Scalzi fan. I’ve reviewed his science fiction books, mentioned his blog, and submitted short stories to his contests. But I’ll point the finger straight at my wife for getting this book and suggesting that I read it. Frankly, I somehow missed that this one existed until she found it. I guess I’m not the fan I thought… Read More
In my last blog entry, I wrote at length about what I love about books, but I think to understand why I love them, you need to know how I came to love them and the role they played in my early life. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t read. I don’t remember learning to read, and I have no idea if I read at an extremely early age or… Read More
As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I recently read Beth Revis’ book Across the Universe on my wife’s Kindle. It was the first book I’ve ever read in electronic format (if you exclude the books I’ve written on a computer). I’ve resisted the idea of e-books for quite a while because I grew up with paperbacks, and to me, the experience of reading a book is so much more than… Read More
I mentioned Beth Revis’ book Across the Universe in a previous blog entry as a book my wife told me I needed to read. She had bought it on her Kindle, and since we generally don’t buy the same book twice, I decided that I would steal my wife’s Kindle for a couple of days and read this book. I have never read a book on a Kindle before, so this was… Read More
You would think that being stuck at home recovery from surgery would offer me plenty of time to write. Heck, I even thought that. I thought I would get writing done in the morning, work my cushy day job from the comfort of my home office, then flip the switch and write some more, and presto, two thousand words a day and a novel in six weeks. I might even write two…. Read More
I’m rereading Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone this week, and since I’ve read it before, I’m not going to do a full review of it. I have, however, been thinking of how it changed the literary landscape. I’ve talked it over with my wife, and several co-workers, and while that sample size isn’t going to compete with Nielsen, I think I’ve got a pretty interesting idea. My thesis is that the… Read More
Today, I am proud to announce that I am now client of literary agent Sally Harding and The Cooke Agency. I’ve been sitting on this news for quite a while, but deals like this take time to get done, and get done right. To all those I have kept this news from over the past few weeks, and to those I have outright not told the truth to when they asked “How’s… Read More
Sometimes a book is perfect. It might just be that the book hits you when you were just really in the mood to read. Or maybe the topic is something dear to your heart. Or maybe you just really like the style. Or maybe it’s all of the above. Garth Stein’s wonderful The Art of Racing in the Rain hit that sweet spot for me over the weekend, and I read it… Read More
Joe Beernink 