Pure Delight One of the most delightful literary characters to appear in the last decade is the cheeky Bartimaeus–a five-thousand-year-old djinni (“genie”) who plays the lead role in Jonathan Stroud’s trilogy The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, and Ptolemy’s Gate. In Stroud’s world, magicians have no magic in themselves, but they do have the
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David Farland has been a big influence on me. It was his workshop back in the 90’s that actually made me think I could write professionally and led directly to my first publication as a Writers of the Future winner. Later Dave gave me comments on my first novel which helped me write a second, much better
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The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell After reading Made to Stick, I decided to read the book that inspired it—The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. I’d read Blink and Outliers by the same author and found both fascinating. I’m happy to report The Tipping Point is just
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They stole his kidney . . . A friend of a friend of mine is a frequent business traveler. To keep his identity safe, I’ll call him Bill. Bill was recently in Atlantic City for an important meeting with some new clients. Afterward, he went to a local bar to kill some time before his
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Donald Rumsfeld I just finished Known and Unknown, a fat memoir by Donald Rumsfeld, and enjoyed every page. Rumsfeld served as the Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush. But Rumsfeld’s service didn’t start there. He was a Navy pilot, an assistant to a congressman during the Eisenhower days, and, in the early 60’s, a
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