Author Archives: John Walters

Book Review: The Paris Review Interviews Volume IV Edited by Philip Gourevitch

I had so much fun reading the book-length interview with Robert Silverberg, Traveler of Worlds, which Fairview Press published recently, that I thought I might enjoy reading more author interviews.  What I really wanted was more interviews with science fiction … Continue reading

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Book Review: Traveler of Worlds: Conversations With Robert Silverberg by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Robert Silverberg was one of the most important writers of science fiction in the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the so-called new wave, when a number of innovators attempted to eschew the genre’s pulp origins and create more literary … Continue reading

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Book Review: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

I would not have thought that a historical novel could work in first person, but Mantel pulls it off.  This book is beautifully written.  Apart from the compelling story, it is wonderful to discover passage after passage, on nearly every … Continue reading

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Book Review: A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway

I must have read this book decades ago as a young writer.  Certain parts have the ring of familiarity, especially Hemingway’s descriptions of writing in cafes with a notebook and pencil. It’s a sparse book: a collection of vignettes about … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Best American Short Stories 2016 Edited by Junot Diaz

In these days of economic austerity I often peruse the new book shelves of the local library rather than book stores for reading material.  On one of those forays I came across this volume.  It’s a hardcover; I didn’t know … Continue reading

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Book Review: Wolf: The Lives of Jack London by James L. Haley

Reading about the life of Jack London had an enormous effect on me when I was a young writer.  Inevitably when I read a new biography of London I compare it with the book that introduced me to him, Jack … Continue reading

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When the Threat of Violence Rears Its Ugly Head

Perhaps I have become too complacent.  We live in a fairly safe area.  It’s normally fine to walk the streets either during the day or at night; there are rarely questionable characters lurking about.  Walking is important to me.  I … Continue reading

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What Star Trek Means to Me

I recently started re-watching the original Star Trek series on Netflix.  You know, the one with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock and Bones the doctor, not to mention Scottie, Uhura, Sulu, and the rest of the crew. It’s been decades … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection Edited by Gardner Dozois

This is a huge doorstopper of a book: almost 700 pages, more than 300,000 words of the editor’s selections of the best short science fiction published in 2015.  Unlike other best of the year editors, Dozois sticks strictly to science … Continue reading

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Book Review: How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers by Richard Cohen

The title of this book, although catchy, is misleading.  Personally, I wouldn’t want to write like Tolstoy anyway.  I am perfectly content to write like John Walters.  Anyway, the author makes no attempt to teach writing or techniques of writing.  … Continue reading

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