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Book Preview – Two Shades of Blue
For Detective Lieutenant Emma Tiernan, murder’s been her business for too long. Just as she’s looking forward to early retirement, she is assigned a disturbing new homicide – and an unwelcome new partner, stretching her boundaries to their limit. Beautiful rookie detective Sasha Garnier is as infuriating as she is impressive, and the combination wreaks […]
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Deconstructing Design: Joy in a World Where ‘Wild Things Will Roam’
I ran a poll several months ago to ask what scene(s), if any, readers might want to see deconstructed. One of the suggestions that caught my attention was a snippet that actually happens off screen and spans only two paragraphs, but serves as the height from which the story is dropped in the last quarter. The reason the reader suggested this scene is exactly aligned with the purpose that I hoped it would serve: “It’s such a nice moment before everything gets flipped on its head.”
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Write What You (Don’t) Know
I distinctly remember the word problems in my High School physics class asking me, “If Trent wants to push a box…” so that I might determine how much force he’d need to get the damn thing moving. Lo, and behold! It’s that same static energy that holds us down, holds us back, holds us in […]
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Book Review – Within These Walls
What a fun, sensory ride this was! “Within These Walls” was an audiobook listen for me, as I’m currently underwater with life and finding the time to sit down to read has been tough. Still, the rich narration only helped to enhance the vision Ania Ahlborn crafts throughout the novel. Lucas, a true crime writer […]
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Why Read “The Collapse” When the World is Collapsing?
There’s a reason why the Walking Dead, Supernatural, and pandemic films are so popular. It’s not just our morbid fascination that leads us to consume art that touches on our fears–there’s a real psychological benefit to it, too.
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Book Review – Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Rarely do I come across a work that screams, “YOU WILL LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT ME,” the way Freshwater shouted from the proverbial book stacks. It’s taken me awhile to get to this review, simply because I found the book so indescribably powerful. It’s fierce, ferocious, ethereal, gritty, and magical–all at once. Ada, a troubled Nigerian […]
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Book Review – I Want the Stars
Science Fiction has a way of (in)forming our future reality, and “I Want the Stars” is no exception. Here, Tom Purdom has conceptualized a world that in the 1960s would have seemed unimaginable except among the rebels, one where humanity has transcended war, monogamy, and stigma around mental health care. However, this brilliant utopia and […]
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Deconstructing Design: Ground Control
Welcome to my newest series in which I document what the hell I was thinking when I designed a thing, whether that be a book cover, a book trailer, or just a passage in something I’ve written. I’m a chronic overthinker, so you can rest assured that many thoughts went into the construction. So let’s […]
Illegibly K.M. West 