Author Archives: Samuel Snoek-Brown

A follow-up about Virginia Quarterly

Back in August, I wrote a post about the tragic suicide of Kevin Morrissey; in that post, I commented on one aspect of the narrative unfolding at the time, namely, the dangers of workplace bullying and the need for our vigilance in fighting it. That post has received a lot of traffic since, partly fromContinue reading “A follow-up about Virginia Quarterly”

Banned Books Week

This week is Banned Books Week, which I whole-heartedly support. Why? Mostly because of its founder, the late Judith Krug.  I met her once.  My wife worked with her.  She was phenomenal. I was a fan of Banned Books Week long before I met Judith Krug, but having met her, I am devoted to itContinue reading “Banned Books Week”

A Writer’s Notebook: Revision checklist

Today’s exercise is going to be short and relatively uncreative. I’m polishing up a story collection I recently finished, and while most of the stories are published, finished, or well on their way, one is still very much an ugly draft, so I’ve decided to go over that weakest story and do some broad revision.Continue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Revision checklist”

Photo blog 22

Many thanks to my old college friend, Erin Hostetler, who drove me out to Concord in the snow to see Walden, the graves of the Alcotts, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau, and this, the house in which Hawthorne lived and wrote.

In memoriam: Scott Simpkins

One of my former professors, a great but humble man named Scott Simpkins, died this morning, in his home in Denton. I don’t know any more about his death except that he’d been in poor health for some time, and that he will be dearly, dearly missed. One of the great joys of academic lifeContinue reading “In memoriam: Scott Simpkins”

A Writer’s Notebook: “Uninvited Guests”

Like my early Writer’s Notebook entry “1,000 words,” this exercise requires I post a picture. This picture, though, comes with a title and a caption, which I’ve included with the pic at the right (for the full citation, see the end of the story). Children’s lit fans might recognize the title of this post and/orContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: “Uninvited Guests””

“The United States of Texas”

I’ve written a lot about Texas, both in my fiction and in this blog (most notably in my blog post on Texas regionalism), partly because Texas is so diverse it leaves room for a lot of literary exploration.  But many people outside Texas–and probably many people in Texas, as well–might not realize that Texas isContinue reading ““The United States of Texas””