Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About Ale

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I'm adjuncting in creative writing, and I'm in the midst of editing my first novel. Along with CBR, I have book reviews published with "The Literary Review," short essay with "Fiction Southeast" and a forthcoming publication with "The Book Smuggler's Den." CBR has definitely helped my writing skills since now I know what readers are looking for for in their works. So, thank you, CBR! Hopefully someday, we'll be able to review my novel on this blog. :)

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Teetering on the Edge of Fantastic

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

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While buying a copy of Kelly Link’s Get in Trouble, Amazon alerted me that I “might also like” Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove. I’ve never read Swamplandia (although I’m totally going to now), and I knew nothing of Russell and her work, but the title sounded awesome and I’m always looking for quality speculative short fiction. I was not disappointed. Russell’s fabulous and her collection is as varied and weird and wonderful as the title suggests. Her work runs the gambit from vampires subsisting on lemons in […]

Are We Human or Rabbit?

Watership Down by Richard Adams

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While my father’s bedtime stories to me were Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, my husband’s father read him Watership Down. It’s a book I’d never heard of before meeting him, and as it was a huge part of his childhood, I felt I should finally get around to it. In a word, this book is about rabbits. On a larger scale, this book is about a journey, not unlike the hobbits’ trek in Lord of the Rings. But if you’re looking at this book metaphorically […]

Clothing Westeros

Game of Thrones: Costumes - The Official Book Seasons 1 - 8 by Michele Clapton

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Because Faintingviolet loves me and totally feeds my addictions, I was gifted this amazing costume reference guide from the Game of Thrones series for Christmas. Written by costumer, Michele Clapton herself, the book is almost as long and comprehensive as GRRM’s series. Complete with full color professional photographs, closeups of the costumes, and some of Clapton’s original drawings, this book was an excellent study in both costuming and the intense process that goes into bringing the written word to screen. Clapton goes through each of […]

All the President’s Women

They Fought Like Demons by DeAnne Blanton & Lauren M. Cook

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I was never personally interested in the American Civil War until I joined a reenactment unit and started going out to events. Even then, I was fine with just talking about the home front and staying far, far away from the intricacies of the military and battle histories that so many of my male compatriots spent their time on. However, the more I learned in the hobby, the more I realized my disinterest in most things about the Civil War was because the focus was […]

The Most Comprehensive Writing Guide

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway

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  Teaching writing has introduced me to so many resources that would have been beyond helpful when I was bumbling around as a stupid twenty-something trying to figure out how to write. I guess it’s better late than never. My mentor introduced me to Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction, last semester, and good God, if only I had had this book ten years ago…. Broken down into comprehensive chapters on everything from point-of-view, setting, characterization, and revising, Burroway takes a no-holds barred approach to guiding young writers […]



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