Joe Beernink
Author of NOWHERE WILD, NOWHERE HOME
Monthly Archives: August 2011
On the list of the top five books that have been on my Reading List the longest, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby was number one. The next one wasn’t even close. My wife, Lisa, gave this one to me to read after she was done with it, and I brought it on a trip we took to Palm Springs. This trip took place back in February of 2004. This was before we… Read More
Tom Kowalski died today. I didn’t know the man. Not personally, anyway. But news of his death this morning stunned me and I had to fight back tears while sitting in front of my work computer. Tom was the Detroit Lions beat writer for Booth Newspapers and MLive.com. During the football season, and during the never-ending football off-season, Tom covered the Lions like no one else. He was the elder statesman in… Read More
I should just cut this review short, and tell you to drop everything you are doing, and go out and buy The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, right now. Seriously. Put down your coffee, go to you favorite bricks-and-mortar book retailer or on-line e-reader supplier, and get this book. Quite simply, this is one of the best Young Adult books I have ever read. I’m not the… Read More
I have always loved science fiction books that cover outer space firsts. First colony on Mars. First colony on another planet. First alien encounter. First alien war. A while ago I read Marsbound by Joe Haldeman. It must have been at least a year and a bit ago, since I couldn’t find a review of it on my site, and my OCD no longer lets me read a book without reviewing it,… Read More
I first met Nathan Everett at the 2009 PNWA Convention, at the same time I met Jason Black. Nathan and Jason were in the process of getting their publishing company, Long Tale Press off the ground, and I was a new author trying to figure out this whole writing business. I can remember a few conversations Nathan, Jason and I had by the windows outside the main ballroom at the Sea-Tac Hilton…. Read More
I’m right here. No, really. I am. I haven’t really gone anywhere. I’ve been here the whole time. I just couldn’t write. Why is that? Well… I’ve been working on a pro-bono software development project for the PNWA, prototyping a system to eliminate those long lineups at the PNWA conference for Agent / Editor and Pitch doctor sign ups. Work on it has gone pretty well, and I’ll be documenting the project… Read More
Normally, I won’t get too political on this blog. I do have opinions, but I can’t see how airing them here is going to positively impact my career as a writer. There are writers who are very active in their political commentary on blogs, and that works for them because they are already doing quite well. They are willing to put up with all the tom-foolery that happens when an honest political… Read More
A little disclaimer before I get started here: I met Nancy Kress for the first time last weekend at the PNWA Conference, and moderated a session she gave called ‘Writing Successful Science Fiction and Fantasy’. I read this book as part of my prep for the conference. Nancy is a wonderful person to talk to, and gave a fantastic seminar. But I don’t think this fact changes my review at all. Kress… Read More
I first attended the PNWA Conference in 2009. When I walked into the foyer of the conference center, I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It was a wondrous place, filled with authors and agents (who made me even more nervous). Every mechanism for improving my craft was new to me. I sat in the sessions and soaked up every concept, and didn’t even wait… Read More
Just back from the PNWA Conference, and I’m exhausted. Hopefully I’ll have time to do a write-up this week. But for now, I’ll post a link to Karlene Petitt’s blog, where she has post a snapshot from early Friday morning, and does a nice little write-up. Enjoy! I’ll keep my eye out for other links and list some of those as I find them as well.
Joe Beernink 