Renaissance Writer: Gordon A. Long

REVIEW

“A Time of Love and Tartan” by Alexander McCall Smith

by renaissanceadmin • January 20, 2019 • 0 Comments

People-watching is a fascinating pastime. It seems rather boring because most of one’s subjects do not inspire great interest. It’s sort of like buying lottery tickets: a mug’s game, as everyone knows. However, we are kept entranced by the possibility that any one of our humdrum attempts could suddenly turn out to be a winner.…

“I Am With You Always” by Kresten Forsman

by renaissanceadmin • January 13, 2019 • 0 Comments

This book is a Horror novella, about 30 K words, set in modern-day Eastern Europe. The trick in a horror story is to set up a completely normal life, and then gradually slip in hints and feelings that turn the normalcy into terror. This book follows that pattern very successfully, starting out with three women…

“Serenade” by Heather McKenzie

by renaissanceadmin • January 7, 2019 • 0 Comments

Every teenage romance should have a side story to keep it interesting — a hobby or sport or activity that gives the tale that added kick. A 24-hour Death Race through the Rockies in Banff National Park ranks up there at the top. Add to this an overprotected young heiress under the control of her…

“The Puppet Master” by Ronald S. Barak

by renaissanceadmin • December 30, 2018 • 1 Comment

This is a story about the political situation in Washington, the same old story of politicians with alternate objectives to their positions protecting those positions no matter what. Likewise all the civil servants down the line to the police detective, who is expected to solve a complicated serial murder case, while at the same time…

“Long Live Phoenixes” by Jasmine Farrell

by renaissanceadmin • December 26, 2018 • 0 Comments

“Phoenixes” is the poetry of a young woman breaking free from the cocoon of her youth, rejecting while respecting the wisdom and desires of her family and background in favour of her independence. Her poems reveal glimpses of her past: sometimes gently, other times with less gentility, leading us to wonder whether there was a…

“The Eden Chip” by Scott Cramer

by renaissanceadmin • December 16, 2018 • 0 Comments

This novel starts with an active, tense opening chapter using a literary device I am seeing too often lately but I won’t reveal it and spoil your fun. The action continues throughout the book, with a complicated plot that moves from shifting alliances and complex politics all the way to questioning reality. Cramer has a…

“Drake Peters Book 1: One Minute to Midnight” by Kingsley Benjamin

by renaissanceadmin • December 9, 2018 • 0 Comments

This book is a “British Public School Gone Magical” story in the Harry Potter tradition. It involves a gifted young man who is given the chance to study at a top-secret elite school for special students. The main conflicts in the book have to do with surviving the challenges of his first year there, while…

“Assassins Of Riaz” by Michael Drakich

by renaissanceadmin • December 3, 2018 • 0 Comments

“Assassins” is Action Fantasy with a hefty dose of politics thrown in. It takes place in the independent trading city of Limos, Riaz, ruled by five merchant princes and kept in order by a rather mercenary magical Assassins Guild. To this city come representatives of several nearby kingdoms with the intent of holding a conference…

“I Exist. Therefore I Am” by Shirani Rajapakse

by renaissanceadmin • November 25, 2018 • 1 Comment

This is a book of short stories chronicling the unremitting horror of being a woman in India. It is poetic, descriptive, and unrelenting in its portrayal of what life is like for the unlucky woman who is poor, unable to produce sons or widowed. Each separate story outlines one possible scenario where a happy person…

“Rotten Magic” by Jeffrey Bardwell

by renaissanceadmin • November 18, 2018 • 0 Comments

Okay, how to put this. “Rotten Magic” is not a novel. According to the title of the Introduction, it is “Notes from the Artificer’s Guild.” A much more apt description. It is more like a series of short stories with chapters interspersed between each other. Likewise, the writing style comes at you just a bit…

Page 1 of 24

1 2 3 … 24 »

Reviews, Editing, Writing Hints