F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction Author

Leisure

The Hunger Games – Book One (I Caved)

by

Cover of "The Hunger Games"
Cover of The Hunger Games

Okay, I’m not a book reviewer…nor am I one typical wont to jump upon whatever bandwagon is in vogue (and sometimes, perhaps more often than I care to admit, I intentionally do the opposite of what everyone else is doing)…and I really should be working on my own series idea I’ve begun, mow the lawn, or any of a number of other pressing things that also need to be done…but taking today off (the classic “one will get you four”; in the U.S. it’s Memorial Day weekend, so we get Monday off…so the smart employee uses one day of vacation to get 4 days off in row), I ended up reading the remainder of book one of The Hunger Games.

Dang, what a well-written book!

How did I come about this book?

Wifely intervention.

Constant, exuberant, wifely intervention. Especially when she (somehow) duct-taped me to a chair and placed the book in my lap, along with a contract and pen. I was to not only say I would read it (and do so NOW) but to sign a contract stating thus and so. Only then did the duct tape get cut.

Perhaps I exaggerate.

Suzanne Collins wrote a totally engrossing book, and in a way that didn’t focus nor glorify violence. There was nothing gratuitous about any of it. It was intelligently written and engrossing entertaining. In a way, highly parallel to much of our society. Nothing new, I’m sure, all told before in other, far better-written reviews. I just wanted to say that though I wasn’t initially all that keen in jumping on the “Hunger bandwagon”–not in the least–once I did (albeit dragged onto said bandwagon), I was consumed with the story. Wanting to know more about Katniss and Peeta and even Cato. The story reminded me of the old noir films of the 1940s, where most of the “nasty” was done off-screen. To me, allowing one’s imagination to run wild can pack more impact than any graphic representation.

Now, I still have yet to attack books two and three, but in book one, I was hooked from page one. I just wanted to add my praise to the clearly growing list of praises by other readers. If you got some time to kill, some space between books–or are reading a book that just ain’t grabbing you–give The Hunger Games a read.

I think you’ll…um (forgive me)…hunger for more….

Click here to read my Hunger Games Books Two and Three review.

The Grievers – Buy This Book!

by

The Grievers launches today.

Read my review—BUY THIS BOOK!

Look at its cover. Pull up a chair and pour yourself a tall, cool one. Soak it in. Frame it up on a wall. Make it your skin, your desktop, the background on all your electronics. Your tramp stamp.

Buy yourself a pair of clown gloves and a red balloon. In fact, buy yourself an anthropomorphic dollar sign suit and walk your neighborhood.

I don’t care how you do it, but get this book.

That’s all I really have to say.

Related articles

Recipe For Bestsellers…A-gain….

by

Enigma German
Enigma German (Photo credit: Whiskeygonebad)

Well, we’ve heard this time and again, and we’ll continue to hear it, but I really, really love this article, by Laura Miller.

Read this, all you serious writers out there. Read it and fancy these four words:

Enigma.

Word.

Of.

Mouth.

Related articles

Pikes Peak Writers Conference (PPWC) 2012

by

Agents, and editors, and publisher, oh my!

How was your weekend?

Great, well, lemme tell you a little about mine.

This past weekend I attended the PPWC 2012 conference, which was celebrating its 20th year. I’ve been to 17 of them. hadn’t been to the last two, but it was fun attending this year, and seeing friends I haven’t seen in two years. Putting faces to those I’ve only harrasses and taunted in blog posts, comments, and e-mails (like Betsy [wishing you all the best on your knee surgery today!], Mario, Bree, and Gusto Dave!).

But I nearly missed it.

You see, I thought it was the next week, and by “next week,” I mean April 27th – 29th.  Literally, I had my jacket on and was leaving the house, when something (I won’t go into what, but plenty of you out there know what that “what” is…) prompted me to check the PPWC website.

April 20 – 22.

What did I have on my calendar (I even took a picture and showed others this, just in case no one believed me)? What did I take off from my day job?

April 27th, etc.

Yeah.

Can you say “unprepared?”

Head not in the game?

Embarrassed (I had volunteer duties that, uh, got modified, because of this…)?

Needless to say, I said “sorry” a lot this past weekend.

I’ve never (fully, and of my own actions) blown anything out of the water so beautifully and completely as I had this weekend.

Man.

Anywho, I wasn’t alone! Apparently, others had too. At least three of us. Some friends (who periodically checked my sanity throughout the weekend–thank you!–and made sure I was on the right day and time for things, like pitches; many thanks to Laura and Janet and Margaret and Karen for keeping me sane–and for the PPWC staff for your concern and understanding in the matter, especially Chris Myers, who was my volunteer boss) brought a couple of us together to hang our collective heads in amused embarrassment and laugh at ourselves. As one of the people mentioned, just think if we had made flight and hotel reservations….

But, all things considered, it was great getting “back in the game,” as it were. Sometimes life gets so bizzy (case in point), we get so immersed in just living. But as writers, where we are always in our little caves, we do sometimes really need to get out into the “sunlight.”  Get out amongst our peeps. Our peers. Conferences are great places for that.

And you get to meet and pitch to editors, agents, and publishers. Get to know them on a personal basis. Yeah, they really are just like you and me. Get headaches, laugh, converse. Walk (not float inches above) the earth.

Surprise–they even put on their pants one leg at a time.

For the full list of the faculty, click HERE, but we had the likes of Robert Crais and Jeffrey Deaver, Susan Wiggs, and Donald Maass as Keynote Speakers. I am a fan of Bob’s writing (the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery series)–in fact I grew up watching some of the show he’d screenplayed. Bob is truly such a cool guy, extremely personable and accessible. There is an energy about him that has him stand out head-and-shoulders above the rest. I remember meeting and talking with him in the very beginning, way back in 1993 (pardon me if I’m off a year, but I’ve been somewhat time warped this month, as many can attest to…), and every time since, I make it a point to talk with him. Like he said in his Keynote delivery, it’s like he’d grown up with the PPWC. Other samplings include Steve Saffel, of Titan books (another I always make a point of talking with), Lou Anders, of Pyr (that’s “Pie-er”) Books, Mario Acevedo, Kevin J. Anderson, Carol Berg, Mark Coker (Founder and CEO of Smashwords), and  Joe R. Lansdale–another really cool, down-to-earth guy.

And Jimmie Butler, the founder of all things Pikes Peak Writer. He founded the conference 20 years ago and was the driving force for many of its years, before stepping down (the job can be quite taxing, not to mention impact one’s writing life). I’d even attended his critique group for a period of time. It was great seeing and spending time catching up with Jimmie. He’s a great guy, and I hope many attendees had a chance to at least introduce themselves and thank him for all he’d wrought with this conference!

Of course there were others, but I eventually have to post this and return to the real world, so checking my watch, I do see it’s time to go.

And I think it’s Tuesday, no?

Related articles

Roaring Success Radio et Moi

by

Microphone used by the National Radio Foundati...
Microphone used by the National Radio Foundation of Greece. Ελληνικά: Μικρόφωνο που χρησιμοποιήθηκε από το el:Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ραδιοφωνίας. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hello, all–and I really hate to add another blog entry overshadowing Marc Schuster’s awesome work, The Grievers, but this fell right out of the proverbial sky and into my lap (thanks, Jan!!!).

This Wednesday, April 18th, at 10 – 11 a.m. Mountain Time, I will interviewed on Roaring Success Radio.

What do I have to offer?

Well, he really seemed to like my website, I then directed him to my two blog sites…so this could get real interesting, fast…but the show’s primary focus is on the performing arts, and writing is an art, so there you go….

I talked with the host this evening, Mr. Paul Neal Rohrer, and he informs me that his weekly listening audience is some 60K people.

That’s 60 thousand.

As in 60,000.

Audiences in Denver, L.A., NYC, London.

Gee, no pressure there. Charm up, pal.

Anywho, hope you can tune in!

I’ll reblog ya, Marc!  ;-]

The Grievers – By Marc Schuster

by

He had me at the cover.

I mean, isn’t it cool?

Black background…red balloon…white clown glove. What’s not to love?

And the title. The font of the title….

But, is the cover evocative of all kinds of quirky, impending highjinks…or merely a clever ruse to get one to buy his book?

The Grievers, penned by Marc Schuster (Permanent Press, May 2012) is about the loss of a sometime friend and how it affects one Charley Schwartz (who, despite what everyone seems to think, is not Jewish…), a conflicted, angst-ridden human dollar sign for an unnamed bank of somewhat regional repute, champion of correct-and-proper apostrophe use, who’s (checking…checking…) actually a sarcastically quick-of-wit doctoral student (not) working on his thesis, and who’s (still checking…) married to a wife in a constant state of quiet Freudian interior design demolition. To grow up or not grow up. Quit the job or not quit the job. Move forward…or continue allowing oneself to be inexorably run over by life’s daily and unrelenting–even dark–minutiae.

To be utterly blunt if not politically incorrect, this book had me laughing my ass off. I laughed so hard my eyes watered and several times had to temporarily suspend reading. My wife even pulled out the camera and recorded me in the throes of my literary hysterics.

Suicide–in and of itself–is no laughing matter, but it’s how the world responds to such Human Drama that can be the stuff of comedy–black or otherwise. Charley knew the deceased (Billy–his name’s Billy Chin). Well Kinda. They’d gone to prep school together, shared a dead cat in biology lab, as well as some twisted pop lyrics, as conveyed by another classmate…not to mention some shared looks at the deceased’s (Billy, his name’s–) stitched and razor-tracked forearm later in life. After the fact, Charley felt shame and remorse in not having been a better friend…in identifying nor taking action regarding his friend’s ultimate demise.

The Grievers was like watching a comedic train wreck. A miniature Theater of the Absurd. Mr. Schuster wove together the interestingly obtuse into a coherent and redemptive storyline that was a pure joy to read (and I don’t use the word “joy” much!). I enjoyed his words, their combination, their execution. The Grievers is controlled dysfunction. Keeping life safe and at arm’s length. Everything is a joke to Charley Schwartz until he embarks on his own form of revisionist history with the deceased (Billy Chin, dang it…). Yet, the book is not so much about all the individual events…the coming of age (at 28)…the seemingly utter bottom line of life (money)…friendship (or what friendship should be)…dissecting a cat named Fascia in biology class (and correctly identifying cat parts)…Marx Brothers, taking a flying leap, nor even  anthropomorphic dollar signs. It’s about what it is to be human. It’s about the gestalt effect of the whole…meshugaas…on individuals.

No. He’s not Jewish.

The Grievers is an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon! And–whether or not Mr. Schuster intended this–there’s also something altogether metaphysical about Charley’s daily entrapment within said anthropomorphic dollar sign, being constantly bowled over by the “traffic of life” onto a soggy and wet lawn (and is it “just” a soggy and wet lawn…or is it a metaphor for his own soggy and waterlogged life…), unable to pick himself up on his own. Always having to use others to get things done (not to mention verbally abusing them along the way…). You’d think he could stand on his own two feet…pull his own weight…somewhere…but that’d be asking too much. He’d rather make life difficult. Crack a joke or three. The whole thing’s rather stunted…passive/aggressive even…but it’s too much to ask Charley to grow a pair, because, well, he obviously has challenges in that department identifying the correct and proper body parts, as evidenced in prep-school biology lab.

Well…at least his heart’s in the right place.