Last year, I had the honor of judging the fiction section of the Indiana University Southeast Writing Contest. It was a wonderful experience reading such talented writers, and I was doubly honored this year when those students invited me to campus to read from Hagridden and give a talk on fiction writing. But then theContinue reading “IU Southeast Writing Contest Winners, 2014”
Author Archives: Samuel Snoek-Brown
Buy Hagridden and support military families
I have two dedications in my Civil War novel, Hagridden: the first is to my wife, the second is to “every civilian who ever lived through a war or is living through one now.” In public appearances, I tend to tell people that my novel is about the people that war leaves behind. Both of which areContinue reading “Buy Hagridden and support military families”
Our own worst nightmares: wrestling with violence in (my) fiction
One Tuesday this past June, I was planning to run a few errands, do a little grading, and then settle in for a long afternoon of proofreading my Civil War novel, Hagridden. At the time, it was still a couple months from publication, and I was going through the last edits in the proof copy.Continue reading “Our own worst nightmares: wrestling with violence in (my) fiction”
Book shopping for the holidays: the 2014 edition!
Earlier today, I spotted the NY Times list of “100 Notable Books of 2014,” which a friend referred to as her shopping list this holiday season. And I thought that was a great idea, so I went to check out the list. And there are a lot of fascinating-looking books on the list, many of which I’mContinue reading “Book shopping for the holidays: the 2014 edition!”
Positive words
So, as promised, I ran the exercise by my basic writing class. In my research class, I took a different track and explained that while the Ferguson situation isn’t exactly within the purview of our class, and they really ought to be addressing this in a sociology class or a criminology class, we are in aContinue reading “Positive words”
I don’t know what else to do but write
I have so much to say on the Ferguson situation right now. I almost typed “the Mike Brown situation,” and we shouldn’t forget how this started. We shouldn’t forget who lost his life, or his family, or his friends. I then almost typed “the grand jury decision,” but this is so much bigger than themContinue reading “I don’t know what else to do but write”
Reading at Salon Skid Row
Earlier this week, I joined a group of fun writers and poets at a bar in downtown Portland for a little drinking, a little laughter, and a lot of literature, because we were all reading as part of the Salon Skid Row series. Hosted by Josh Lubin at The Corner Bar, the series is oldContinue reading “Reading at Salon Skid Row”
NaNo(Re)WriMo: the first big rewrite
Well, I’ve done it at last. A while ago, I mentioned that I was feeling revolutionary, that I wanted to throw away everything I’ve written on this novel and start again, that I wanted to make such drastic and dramatic changes to the book as to change the narrative structure, the POV, the purpose. I triedContinue reading “NaNo(Re)WriMo: the first big rewrite”
NaNo(Re)WriMo: the next several days
Last week was a busy one — I got sick, put out Jersey Devil Press, finished judging the flash fiction for the creative writing contest at Indiana University Southeast, raked leaves, did a lot of reading — so re-starting my current novel proved slower going than I’d hoped. Then, at the end of last week, I attended a literaryContinue reading “NaNo(Re)WriMo: the next several days”
The Hagridden character quiz!
You guys! This is TOO COOL! Shenice, a staff member at Columbus Press, has gone onto the quiz site PlayBuzz and made a character quiz for Hagridden! You know the drill: Which house from Harry Potter do you belong in? Which of the Avengers are you? What Game of Thrones woman are you? (Gryffindor, Thor, and Daenerys Targaryen,Continue reading “The Hagridden character quiz!”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 