BOOK AND GAME REVIEWS
WRITING TIPS AND ARTICLES
AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
A Man at the Apex of His Career
Interview with Jason Sizemore
5 Minutes with BookSparks PR
Paving the Way in Book Publicity
Get Over Yourself: What My Students Taught Me By Alysha Kaye
My name is Kristi and I’m a Helicopter Mom By Kristi Belcamino
Interview with Bernadette Pajer
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Reviews Inside!
By David Marshall
OCTOBER 2014 COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL ROBISON
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Modern Literature
Everything I Never Told You By Celeste Ng Penguin Press, $26.95, 304 pages, Format: Hard ««««.5 Celeste Ng’s novel is about a Chinese-American family in the truest sense of the words; James Lee is a Chinese-American professor married to an Anglo woman. Although born in the U.S., “(James) had never felt he belonged here....” James has consistently experienced discrimination as a minority resident of Ohio - an experience his wife Marilyn has largely been exempted from, and his sense of bitterness has been building up. Matters come to a head when his fifteen-year-old daughter Lydia goes missing, and is eventually found dead.
“EVERYTHING IS ALL TOO FAMILIAR WITH THIS KIND OF FORGETTING. FROM LLOYD ACADEMY TO HARVARD TO MIDDLEWOOD, HE HAS FELT IT EVERY DAY - THAT SHORT-LIVED LULL, THEN THE SHARP EDGE TO THE RIBS THAT REMINDED YOU THAT YOU DIDN’T BELONG.”
Modern Literature
The loss of Lydia threatens to destroy the Lees’ marriage as Lydia was the favorite of their three children, a daughter in whom their hopes for a perfect future had been placed. This family novel is also a mystery as the circumstances of Lydia’s death are largely unknown. Marilyn Lee makes it her mission to “figure out what happened... She will find out who is responsible. She will find out what went wrong.” Ng’s thought-provoking tale informs us that a sudden tragedy can either destroy individuals or give them the chance to start anew. And this unique, engaging novel reminds us that “the great American melting pot” operates haphazardly and imperfectly. Reviewed by Joseph Arellano
Mambo in Chinatown By Jean Kwok Riverhead, $27.95, 384 pages, Format: Hard
««« Charlie Wong gets everything wrong. She doesn’t have a head for numbers and can’t read well, so high school was a bust. She doesn’t have the manual dexterity to act as her noodle-making father’s assistant, and she gets confused easily when answering phones. At a loss, she works as a dishwasher and helps to raise her younger sister. Then her sister Lisa discovers an ad for a receptionist in a dance studio; Charlie’s a terrible receptionist, but, as the daughter of a ballerina, she loves dance. Soon the studio’s owners discover her hidden talent, and Charlie finds herself immersed in the world of professional dancing. Charlie finds it difficult, however, to balance her father’s beliefs with her life as a dancer. It’s difficult to mambo in Chinatown. Charlie’s struggles with her cultural identity as Chinese woman born in America and with the ethical dilemma of falling in love with a client were predictable and played out as expected. It’s Charlie’s complicated relationship with her ailing sister that makes the story interesting and Charlie an endearing character. Lisa’s illness allowed the author to draw the reader’s attention to the differences between eastern and western medicine and raise questions about the authenticity of some Chinese practices. An astute reader won’t be surprised by the plot but will enjoy the watching the events unfold. Reviewed by Tammy McCartney
Modern Literature
FEATURED REVIEW
The Opening Sky By Joan Thomas McClelland & Stewart, $29.95, 368 pages, Format: Hard ««««« Reviewed by Hubert O’Hearn
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“SO SHE JUST SAT AS THOUGH SHE WERE PART OF THE ADULT CONVERSATION, TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE MEANING OF THIS SCENE SHE HAD FOUND HERSELF IN, WHICH WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY EVIDENT.”
Yes, that is The Opening Sky in a nutshell and I must thank Joan Thomas on behalf of reviewers everywhere for providing a perfect sentence for we who are about to discuss this, her third novel. Mind you, Thomas herself is the dean of Canadian book reviewers, so she knows a thing or three about what we want and need. And yes, this is a novel about people trying to figure out the meaning of the scenes they find themselves in or, for that matter, scenes they were in eight or more years before the present action. As I was reading The Opening Sky, I kept reflecting back on Robert Redford’s 1980 film Ordinary People. Both have as their central characters suburban families living in that white bread doughy existence somewhere between middle and upper class. You know the sort I mean – there is enough money available for a roomy house subjected to occasional re-decoration, yet its dwellers always worry they don’t have quite enough money. They’re the sort that call beef stew, Beef bourguignon and smoke a joint on the porch late at night when the kids are asleep; or not asleep, if the kids are old enough to understand that mom and dad have a right to a little happy escapism. In both Redford’s movie and
e h t s ’ t a h W Book Buzz all about? BookBuzz.email was created by GoLocalApps in conjunction with the San Francisco Book Review. Using the hundreds of books reviewed by them, we find the FIVE each week that we think you should read. You probably won’t read all five, but one should strike your fancy. Expect a mix of book suggestions—fiction and non-fiction, science, technology, current events, humor, how-to, best-selling authors and self-publishers, along with two sentences telling you why you should read THIS book, THIS week. Five books that’ll make you SMARTER, FUNNIER, MORE INFORMED, and maybe more ANNOYING.
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An interview with
Bernadette Pajer author of The Edison Effect Interviewed by David Marshall David Marshall: First we need to introduce your rather unique blend of history, mystery and science, or do you think these three components should come in a different ranking order? Bernadette Pajer: If I were to rank them in terms of how I approach writing the stories, I’d put mystery first. Everything else serves the plot. But if I were to include a fourth component, character development would head the list. Professor Bradshaw, with his dour, plodding ways, his engineering mind and tender soul, his obsessions and fears, inspires me to sit down and move him forward through his life. His reactions to the puzzle presented him determines the course of the investigations. Those reactions are both intellectual and emotional. In the case of the latest book,THE EDISON EFFECT, Bradshaw’s intelligence is at times blurred by his emotions. My first drafts are mostly character development and mystery-weaving. I research historical and scientific detail before, during, and after that first draft, as needed, changing and developing the plot as I go along. It can be a messy process, but magic, too, as my fictional world and real history begin to mingle. As a reader, I enjoy fast-paced stories that pull me in and allow me to be actively engaged in the story. As a writer, I try to create that space for readers by not overwriting. I choose historical and scientific detail carefully from mountains of research, providing only what is needed for the reader to understand, to see, to feel, to be immersed. If a detail doesn’t serve the plot, no matter how interesting, I don’t include it. You won’t find page-long descriptions of scenery or buildings in my books, unless there are vital clues and character emotion woven in. My writing style tends to be minimalist, but I continually work at finding the right balance of detail. Author C.C. Humphreys once said, “Words are energy, compressed by the author, released by the reader.” I find it very liberating as a writer that I don’t have to do it all. I can trust that readers will bring intelligence, curiosity, experience, and emotions to the page--if I find the words to trigger them. DM: You have picked a time in American history when great (and sometimes terrible things) were happening. Did you pick this era because it was rich in high-profile incidents? BP: Well, not intentionally. After the release of A SPARK OF DEATH, I was asked that question often. Why this era? Initially, I explained that Professor Bradshaw simply came to me, fully formed, as characters sometimes do. A gift from my muse. It was a true answer, in part. I didn’t sit down and create Bradshaw and his world. He was there when I needed him. I did have to inves-
Popular Fiction
One Plus One: A Novel By Jojo Moyes Pamela Dorman Books, $27.95, 384 pages, Format: Hard
««««« Life is hardly a bowl of cherries for single mom Jess. Her husband has been gone for two years, ostensibly too depressed to be useful, and she’s working two jobs to take care of her daughter and her husband’s son. Then after some bad decisions on her part, she — and her kids and big slobbery dog — end up on a drive to a faraway city with a man whose house she cleans. Ed is a computer geek whose company has done well enough to be bought out. But a stupid decision gets him on the hook for insider trading. When he gets the chance to help Jess get her bright daughter to a math competition that could help pay for her to attend a private school, he thinks maybe he can redeem himself. It’s a premise that seems guaranteed to have an unlikely pair fall in love. Luckily, Jojo Moyes is writing this book, and though it’s true
SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW
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Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition Reviewed by James Rasmussen
Player’s Handbook
By Wizards RPG Team Wizards of the Coast, $49.95 Format: Hard
«««««
It’s back! And better than ever. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons has arrived. Time to find your d20 and get your geek on. There are a lot of roleplaying games out there. I’ve experienced quite a few: Pathfinder, World of Darkness, GURPS, Rifts, Exalted, Parsec, Aces & Eights… the list goes on. Out of all of them, though, Dungeons and Dragons is a name of power, one that does more than simply differentiate one set of rules from another. It may not be your favorite game. I’m not even sure it’s mine – every ruleset has something that distinguishes it. But whatever your preference, D&D is the game that best exemplifies the entire culture of gaming. It has gone from a grossly misunderstood pastime to a force that has permeated popular culture. For me, and, I suspect, for many others, D&D is the place where my imagination was unchained. I came to this most noble pastime in the midst of 3rd edition, on a dark and stormy eve (yes, I’m embellishing – it’s part of the idiom) when a group of kids got bored with playing video games, opened a magical tome called the Player’s Handbook, and fell through it into a new world… or, less fantastically, stayed up all night making characters, throwing dice, and slaying goblins on paper. We were creating entire worlds, crafting a shared story - more than just playing through the scripted events of a video game or passively absorbing a movie. It may have been a fantasy world, drawn out on graph paper, but the stories and the camaraderie that emerged from it were real. I never looked back.
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Children’s
Pete the Cat and the New Guy By James Dean, Kimberly Dean HarperCollins, $17.99, 40 pages, Format: Hard
«««« Pete and his friends are rocking out when the gang spots a moving truck across the street. Excited, Pete skateboards by the house in hopes that he’ll get a chance to meet a new friend. Sure enough, Gus the Platypus emerges, eager to make new friends and to try new games. But Gus isn’t good at any of the things he tries. He can’t climb trees; he can’t jump; and he certainly can’t juggle. Disheartened, Gus decides there’s no fun for a platypus in Pete’s neighborhood. Pete is wishing there was something he could do with Gus when he hears a groovy sound. Gus can play the drums! Pete and his friends form a band and cruise into the end pages on the Gus Bus.
Paths to Wonderland By G.A. Morgan
Author of The Fog of Forgetting The autumn I turned twelve, I read Frank Herbert’s Dune and became obsessed with other worlds, specifically Arrakis, which is the planet depicted in Herbert’s work. I dreamt of it; I drew still suits and chanted the Bene Gesserit litany against fear whenever I was anxious—”I have no fear, for fear is the little death that kills me over and over. Without fear, I die but once.” The book was dense to read at an age publishers now call “middle reader” but I didn’t care. I never wanted it to end. I had learned my letters early from a primer my mother bought me in Jamaica on one of the few vacations my family took before my parents divorced. I remember little of that time, but I do remember that primer: each page contained lists of three letter words spelled out in one-letter graphs, like a crossword puzzle that only worked horizontally, I lay on the beach while my parents argued in the background, staring at the boxed-in letters and wondering why they were supposed to be interesting. Then, one afternoon, in a shift that felt as natural as the sun coming out of a cloud, the letters escaped from their separate boxes and formed words: Dog, Fog, Log, Hog. From that moment, the world that I had known to be one of colorful, disconnected impressions transformed into a more ordered system of information. A stop sign was no longer a redand-white balloon festooning the street, but a directive. The poster in the bodega window featuring a be-sweatered woman on a mountaintop was not telling the story of a princess, but advertising Kool cigarettes. Adults around me celebrated my entry into this world, but all I remember is feeling a huge sense of loss. I missed my old world where the external environment merged with my imagination to become something fantastical—and singular to me. I tried to unlearn how to read— to stop my brain from making sense of words, and put the letters back in their boxes. They stubbornly refused to go. And then there was school. In time, I turned to reading fantastical stories and fairy tales by other people: Frank Baum’s Oz series, The Narnia Chronicles, P.T. Travers’ work, and then, later, the work of Madeleine L’Engle, Tolkien, and Philip Pullman. I had a Carlos Castenada phase and
Young Adult Roundup Young Adult is one of the hottest and ever-popular genres in fiction. With no sign of slowing down, the amazing titles keep coming. Here is our latest roundup of the best YA novels hot off the presses. A Blind Spot for Boys by Justina Chen Sixteen-year-old Shana Wilde is officially on a Boy Moratorium. After constantly dating Mr. Wrong she has decided to ban boys, but will she break her band for Quattro, the cute lacrosse player? After sparks fly between the two, Shana decides to give Quattro a chance, until she finds out the devastating news that her dad is going blind. Determined to make the most of the time her father has left to see, Shan and her family take a trip to Peru, but will that complicate things with Quattro?
Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer If life were fair, Jam Gallahue would still be at home in New Jersey with her sweet British boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield. She certainly wouldn’t be at The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in rural Vermont, signed up for an exclusive, supposedly life-changing class called Special Topics in English that focuses—only and entirely—on the works of Sylvia Plath. When a journal-writing assignment leads Jam into a mysterious other world she and her classmates call Belzhar, she discovers a realm where the untainted past is restored, and she can feel Reeve’s arms around her once again. But, as the pages of her journal begin to fill up, Jam must to confront hidden truths and ultimately decide what she’s willing to sacrifice to reclaim her loss.
Cooking, Food & Wine
Sweet: Our Best Cupcakes, Cookies, Candy, and More By Editors of Food Network Magazine Clarkson Potter, $25.00, 336 pages, Format: Trade
««««« From tried and true classic recipes like Boston Cream Pie to unique flavor combinations like the daring Peanut Butter Bacon Cookie, the folks at Food Network have filled Sweet with all manner of indulgent ideas for both baking and food decorating. It features kitchen creations as simple as often-overlooked options for chocolate-dipped delicacies to more challenging feats such as decorating a cake to look like a pot of cheery flowers. Though seasoned bakers and chefs might not find much to be challenged with, there are definitely some unique ways to put a twist on old favorites presented here, such as the Salted Caramel-Orange Upside-Down Cake, the Pumpkin Chocolate Chiffon Pie, or even a homemade version of every kid’s favorite fruit-filled toaster pastry. Best of all,
this book is filled with hundreds of gorgeous photographs of the finished products, and sometimes even includes pictures of the full step-by-step process. With the uncomplicated ingredients lists and easy-to-follow, concise instructions, this book makes delicious treats achievable by even the most inexperienced cooks and would make a perfect wedding gift bundled with a cupcake pan and a few fun cookie cutters. Reviewed by Becky Vosburg
150 Best Dips and Salsas: Plus Recipes for Chips, Flatbreads and More By Judith Finlayson, Jordan Wagman Robert Rose, $19.95, 192 pages, Format: Trade
Cooking, Food & Wine
««««« If you think chips and dip mean only potato chips or salsa, think again! In this fun, inventive book, the authors show how creative your dipping appetizers can really be. Recipes include both dips and spreads, and are divided into sections that include: Vegetable; Dairy; Fish, Seafood, and Meat; Savory Salsas; Fruit Salsas; Bean Dips; and Desserts. The final section gives recipes for dippers: Chips, Crostini, Flatbreads, etc. There are too many interesting recipes to mention them all, but each is very clearly explained, with easy-to-follow directions and unusual steps or tools highlighted in bold. Each recipe has a short introduction, which includes suggested serving pairings (crudités, chips, or other dippers), and most include helpful tips for making the most excellent dip possible, for example how to toast your own spices or which variety of herb to use. These dips are simple, but may be time-consuming; many require lots of chopping and have several ingredients, some of which take a while to prepare (caramelizing onions, for example); however, the result will be fabulous and well worth the effort. Most dips are not pictured, but there is an extensive and helpful index. This book will wonderfully elevate this social appetizer! Reviewed by Gretchen Wagner
Current Events & Politics Survivors of Slavery: Modern-Day Slave Narratives By Laura T. Murphy Columbia University Press, $30.00, 344 pages, Format: Trade
«««« You might be surprised to discover that slavery still exists today. Nearly 30 million people live in some kind of slavery, from debt bondage to forced labor, from chattel slavery (similar to the form of slavery that used to be legal in America, although not very common today) to forced sex work. Despite the fact that every country in the world has laws against slavery, officials often turn a blind eye, while everyday citizens have no idea what is going on. One of the best ways to aid the abolitionist movement is to publicize the stories of those who have lived or are still living within slavery. To that end, Laura T. Murphy, director of the Modern Slavery Research Project at Loyola University, presents Survivors of Slavery, a collection of narratives. Some of these stories were written by the victims themselves, while others are interviews. All of them document an issue that just won’t go away, one that needs to be eradicated for good. Don’t come to this book looking for a voyeuristic description of the day-to-day life of a slave. Instead, what you will find here are stories thick with emotion: desperation that got the victim into a bad situation, despair at being forced to work, determination to live free, hope for a brighter future. This book is a message that everyone needs to hear. Reviewed by Holly Scudero
Reference
Perfect Bound: How to Navigate the Book Publishing Process Like a Pro By Katherine Pickett Hop On Publishing LLC, $12.99, 240 pages, Format: Trade
««««« The world of book publishing has changed a great deal in a past few years. There are greater opportunities for people to publish than have ever been available. Katherine Pickett spent much of her career in the industry as an editor and publishing educator. Now, she has written a book that can educate all those people who dream of having their books in print and in the hands of readers.
“TODAY IT IS EASIER THAN EVER TO CREATE AN E-BOOK. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS UPLOAD YOUR FILE TO AN E-BOOK COMPANY’S WEBSITE, LET SOME MAGICAL CONVERSION TAKE PLACE, AND VIOLA, YOU HAVE AN E-BOOK.”
Get Over Yourself:
What My Students Taught Me By Alysha Kaye “Miss, get back to me when you’re Dr. Seuss famous.” That was one of the first reactions I received when I told my 100 7th grade students that I was publishing a novel. The main piece of congratulations I got from my squirrelly middle schoolers was: “Will you share the money with us?!” Ha. As per usual, my hooligans who I spend all day with keep me in check. They will never allow me to take myself too seriously and thank goodness for that. No one likes that pretentious-never-smiling writer who goes around constantly sighing about how their agent and editor just “don’t see eye to eye.” Oh please. I make a living telling kids to capitalize and spit out their gum. I write on the side. I get two sad paychecks a month, break up two fights a year, and hand out maybe two stickers a day. I write on the side. In case you don’t have a clear enough picture of my glamorous life yet, this was the simultaneous response of almost every class when I began with “I have some great news...”: “YOU’RE PREGNANT?!?!” That, as you can imagine, made the news of my novel seem quite arbitrary. Oh, our teacher isn’t having a baby out of wedlock? Well then we don’t really care. Yeah. I’m not going to lie, as a self-published author, it’s easy to get caught up in Twitter followers, Facebook likes, Wordpress reblogs, Goodreads ratings, and Amazon reviews. It’s even easier to get lost in the black hole of “refreshing” the Kindle and CreateSpace sales pages. That’s what I have my darling pre-teens for. They may irk me with their constant struggle of “Is a lot really two words, Miss?” but they definitely, DEFINITELY teach me to get over myself. You can’t be a cliché snobby writer AND break up spit ball invasions. You can’t be a cliché snobby writer AND secretly bribe a student with chocolate before school to kill a classroom cockroach. You can’t be a cliché snobby writer AND calmly tell a student to stop making “sexual noises” during the state standardized
Books About Books What We See When We Read By Peter Mendelsund Vintage Books, $16.95, 448 pages, Format: Trade
««««« With so many books being turned into movies, I think we all have had moments where what we see in the movie doesn’t match up with what we pictured when we read. But what exactly do we see when we read? How do we take all the little details from the text and turn them into a specific image? How detailed are these images that we conjure up in our minds? Do we really picture the action of a story like a movie playing, or is that just how we remember the experience? Peter Mendelsund considers these questions and many more in What We See When We Read.
“IT IS PRECISELY WHAT THE TEXT DOES NOT ELUCIDATE THAT BECOMES AN INVITATION TO OUR IMAGINATIONS. SO I ASK MYSELF: IS IT THAT WE IMAGINE THE MOST, OR THE MOST VIVIDLY, WHEN AN AUTHOR IS AT HIS MOST ELLIPTICAL OR WITHHOLDING? (IN MUSIC, NOTES AND CHORDS DEFINE IDEAS, BUT SO DO RESTS.)” Mendelsund explores the connection between text and imagery in a highly visual book—he plays with design not only in the many accompanying illustrations, but also in page layout and font style and size. Reading the book is an adventure through the musings of the author. I’m not sure that I agree with the universality of his conclusions, given that his career as art director of a major publishing house must make him more attuned to the visual nature of words than the average reader, but it was a fascinating look into the mind of one reader, nonetheless. Reviewed by Randy-Lynne Wach
My name is Kristi and I’m a
Helicopter Mom The first time my helicopter mom tendencies surfaced was when … oh let’s see … it must have been when the doctor walked into the exam room and said, “You’re pregnant.” Yeah, my kids never stood a chance. I’m the mom who cuts up grapes into itty-bitty pieces (grapes are a known choking hazard) and who will make her kids wear life jackets in the lake until they are drinking age. I also won’t let them out of my sight at a busy store. And by the way, confession time: I’m insanely jealous of parents who let their six-year-olds cruise around town on their bikes by themselves without bike helmets. Or the mothers who lose track of their kids at the Mall of America and could care less, and are, in fact, relieved to get a break from the whining. Insanely. Jealous. I could never be like that. In addition to a genetic predisposition to excessive worry and anxiety, I’m pretty sure I have PTSD from my years as a newspaper crime reporter. And yet, here I am, the mother of two little girls, and my first book is about a monster who kidnaps and kills little girls. What is wrong with me? Well, honestly, I think I had to write this book to purge this guy out of my head. For months, as a reporter in the Bay Area, I sat in a dimly lit room at the county jail and questioned this guy about kidnap and rape and murder. He told me horrible things. But the worst thing he told me — the one thing I can’t get out of my head — was that he was just one of many men who were exactly like him. That was the scariest thing he ever said. So, yes, I’m a helicopter mom. Because I know men like him are real. And yet, despite this, I know the statistics. I know the odds. If I were a gambler, I’d bet on the odds of my kids being completely safe on our city streets. Lenore Skenazy, the author of Free-Range Kids, says that statistics show that abductions are actually down from when I was a kid in the 1970s and that the odds of a child being kidnapped and killed is one in 1.5 million. But she also writes: 1. It’s lovely that abductions are down. But what if that 1 in 1.5 million is YOUR KID? 2. It’s lovely that abductions are down. But what if that 1 in 1.5 million is MY KID? That’s how everyone thinks — including me. I take some small relief in reading her book, knowing that even if I’m harming my kid by being a helicopter mom, at least I’m not the only freak of nature out there acting this way.
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