BookReview Archives - Douglas W.T. Smith

Friday Reads

I finally finished the second installment for the View from the Mirror Quartet.

Pros and Cons to my book review for this book.

ASF Book Review

An amazing selection of Science Fiction stories from Australia in the 70’s. Each story displays the level of writing in a confined space.

‘All My Yesterdays’ by Damien Broderick is my favorite. It shows Broderick’s witty satire on the four themes of humanity, immortality, religion and psychiatry. Only 6 pages long but each sentence is shaped perfectly. Followed closely was ‘Final Flower’ by Stephen Cook. It focuses on a bizarre ‘trap flower’ which becomes a gateway into all his memories. The imagery in this short story is incredible. Each description paints a 3D image and pain for the character.
“Jenny had let him touch her lips and then had gone away forever. The more dirty soil he piled around her memory, the more it grew. Like a flower in a bog, it rose higher.”

John Baxter carefully selected each short story. He could have not chose a better compilation, each story is filled with character development, world building and a twisted plot lines.

DWTSmith #bookreview

Footprint

My brother asked me, “what do I want to accomplish with writing?” The first thing that popped into my head was to leave a footprint. Not an environmental footprint but one I can call my own, show my own individuality and show my passion.

I learned from University, to create your literary footprint you must read a

diverse range of books to find your own voice. So I did. I read: teeth-clenching mysteries, predictable thrillers, philosophical fiction, dystopian science-fiction and heptalogy fantasy series (I had to google that, it’s a 7-book series); after all the page-flicking, I have found a voice I am comfortable to call my own.

I still read a wide range now. I found my genre I want to write in and now I read a diverse range of Fantasy writers.

My blog will also contain book reviews of all the books I have read, reading or hoping to read. To showcase, that I might have a bit more of an idea with writing than people tend to think.

For now I’ll let you ponder, as a writer or reader, on what kind of voice

you have in the literary world.