WallaceJames

WallaceJames

I read, I write. Sometimes I can do both well, other times I can't.

And now, after a couple years away, I am throwing my hat back in the publishing ring. So, add to the above, publisher.

www.editions-ps.com
  • Seattle, WA, UnUnited States of America
  • member since Wednesday, October 11 2006

Reviews

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  • Pike Place Market: 100 Years: Celebrating America's Favorite Farmer's Market
    • Rated 0 stars

    My partner and I researched, wrote and designed this book. The publisher fucked it all up. We can't wait to see it.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Wednesday, October 25 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source
    • Rated 3 stars

    HOLY FUCKIN SHIT! MAN LANDS ON MOON!

    WallaceJames wrote this review Thursday, October 12 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
    • Rated 0 stars

    Having read 3 of his novels, I am especially excited to start this book of short fiction after reading the introduction in which Murakami discusses at length his process of bouncing between long and short form writing and how it influences his working style.

    I haven'tr read any of his short fiction so this will be a joy. More to report once I begin.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Thursday, October 12 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports
    • Rated 3 stars

    A well-written and incredibly notated and referenced piece of investigatory journalism. Including the focus of Bonds & Balco it also does a venerable job and providing historical context for the plague of drugs in all of professional and Olympic sports.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Thursday, October 12 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Blood Price
    • Rated 4 stars

    A definite improvement from Dark Places and an incredible page-turner with some great twists. I congratulate Evans on an original voice and style/subject matter in the suspense/mystery genre.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Wednesday, October 11 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Slavonic Dances of Josef Vidich
    • Rated 5 stars

    This book lead me to a valued friendship. I have it on my shelf at home to pick through as I am writing my current work for the reason that Butler has a knack for developing a purposefully blind to the reader geography that forces one to look deeper at what is being told rather than how.

    Most spectacular is Butler's folktales that continually are mistaken as authentic and display a genius all of their own outside the context of the fiction within a fiction device.

    Well-read lit types will recognize Butler's influences and how he makes their games and triumphs his own, as I hope to do counting him as one of mine.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Wednesday, October 11 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • Dark Places
    • Rated 3 stars

    My good friends loaned me this book to accompany their personal tale of meeting the author while they were trekking in Ecuador. It was a fun, quick read and I found it intriguing in that Evans seemed to have invented a new sub-genre for Mystery/Suspense, which is Tech-Geek as World Traveler/Unsuspecting Super Sleuth.

    Certain aspects of the writing style seemed as if Evans was trying too hard. He tends towards these exclamatory-virtually-underlined-twists-of-phrase that are typically based in pop-culture. Makes sense that the book feel contemporary given the genre twist, I doubt the story will hold up well to time, but they feel like cop-outs.

    It was candy enough to make me want to read his follow-up, The Blood Price, which is far superior to Dark Places in that it offers the reader some intriguing historical value in it's contemporary frame-work, but it does have some of the same problems.

    I congratulate Evans though for originality and some great plot-twists.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Wednesday, October 11 2006. ( reply | permalink )
  • A Small Death in Lisbon
    • Rated 4 stars

    I am a fan of the split novel/story framework. Some of my favorite books follow this, Master & Margarita, Slavonic Dances of Josef Viddich, among others. It can be effective when it's a less literal and more of an abstraction of linear format. In this case, two tales running towards one another, as I suppose is what is happening has me intrigued.

    My one criticism to this point is the modern tale has less play so far (i'm 175 pages in) than the WWII aspect and after being knee deep in Wolfram for many chapters I can tend to forget who is who.

    The tastiest bits have been Wilson's sensory descriptions of environment. The resonate in me and paint a compelling picture of both time and foreign culture. It also lends a cinematic aspect to certain scenes.

    And deserving a mention is the cover for this paperback edition. Far superior in design than the initial American Hardcover edition.

    WallaceJames wrote this review Wednesday, October 11 2006. ( reply | permalink )


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