Renaissance Writer: Gordon A. Long

REVIEW

“Taking Wing” by Clemency Crow

by renaissanceadmin • August 18, 2019 • 0 Comments

“Taking Wing” is of the “Alice in Wonderland” sub-genre that takes a modern child/teenager out of her everyday life and drops her into a fantasy world where she is transformed into someone who can make a difference in a big way. In this story, the modern world plays very little part, and we get…

“Before the Ruins” by James Hohenbary

by renaissanceadmin • August 12, 2019 • 0 Comments

There are a couple of creative and interesting ideas in the conception of this story. First, it takes the “Game of Thrones” style of political conflict and places it in the society of Southwest American natives in the pre-Columbian era. The same political maneuvering, the same making and breaking of alliances, the same concerns about…

“Through Stranger Eyes” by Chris Sarantopoulos

by renaissanceadmin • August 5, 2019 • 0 Comments

It seems a shame to give only three stars to a book that has had so much creativity and work put into it, but there you are. Sometimes things just don’t hang together. Strengths misused become liabilities. The whole is not equal to the sum of its parts. This is the point where beta readers,…

“Ramone’s Long Sleep” by Mickey Kulp

by renaissanceadmin • July 22, 2019 • 1 Comment

I don’t usually review children’s books, but I have edited one series, and I spend a lot of time reading to my grandchildren, so that gives me an idea what a good Kids’ Lit book looks like. And here’s the first piece of advice that I would like to put out there for everyone who…

“Kill Code” by Clive Fleury

by renaissanceadmin • July 14, 2019 • 0 Comments

Kill Code is a dystopian action tale, full of conflicts at several different levels. It even has a bit to say about the reality of reality. As opposed to virtual reality, of course. But authors have to be careful with VR scenes, because they make it too easy for the author to manipulate the conflict.…

“Long Daze at Long Binh” by Steve Donovan and Fred Borchardt

by renaissanceadmin • July 8, 2019 • 0 Comments

This book is not your usual memoir, either in form or in substance. Instead of a narrative, the writing mimics the dynamics of two guys sitting around trading tales. One starts a story, the other picks it up, then the first takes it back and so on. A kind of narrative ping-pong. It works relatively…

“NeXt” by Lance Manion

by renaissanceadmin • July 1, 2019 • 0 Comments

The concept of the “fourth wall” comes from the theatre, where an actor breaks out of the play and speaks directly to the audience, severing their emotional connection to the story. Lance Manion, by his own proud admission, is a “bubble breaker from way back.” He glories in stepping out of his behind-the-scenes role as…

“Grey Skies” by William Becker

by renaissanceadmin • June 23, 2019 • 0 Comments

I have nothing against surrealism. A surrealist work is like a puzzle that presents us with tantalizing hints of meaning, toys with our perception of it, dangling full understanding out of reach, and then leaves us with powerful images that keep reappearing in our minds, forcing us to reconsider what we have read. It makes…

“The Second Life of Eddie Coyne” by Louis K. Lowy

by renaissanceadmin • June 16, 2019 • 0 Comments

This book is one of those “what if” fantasies that uses the possibility of a something-after-death to explore the development of a character. Eddie Coyne is a man with a gambling problem whose life is spiralling out of control when a fatal accident dumps him into limbo or purgatory or whatever you want to call…

“We Call it Monster” by Lachlan Walter

by renaissanceadmin • June 9, 2019 • 0 Comments

“Monster” is not really a novel and not really a book of short stories, but something in between. It is a set of events that take place as the world (specifically Australia) gradually slips into chaos due to the attack of monstrous creatures from inside the planet, which destroy human society and fight each other…

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