Seven books. Seven horcruxes. Seven Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. It’s an important and recurring theme in the series. I was tempted to rank the series #7 on my Top 100 Everything for that reason alone. (Plus, you know I love the number seven.) In that spirit, here is my Harry Potter story in…
Today, I’m excited to share an interview with author Jennifer Acres. Her debut novel, On the Way to Simple, hit virtual bookshelves today! I’ve known Jennifer for a few years, and she’s an awesome writer, and as generous and friendly a person as you’ll encounter. In our interview, she shares some of the background to her novel, her writing…
A Song of Ice and Fire is one of my favorite book series. I know this isn’t a particularly novel opinion; with the explosive popularity of HBO’s Game of Thrones, everyone and their aunts are giving George RR Martin’s epic saga a read and discovering how rich, complicated, and satisfying the series is. While my previous look…
Rebekah Shafer is an author who published her first book in October. I met her in a Camp NaNoWriMo group and have been keeping up with her promising career as an author since. Here’s an exclusive interview with her about her first novel, her background as a creative type, and her future projects. Dan: Hey,…
If you’ve been keeping up with the Top 100, it should be little surprise that I’m a fan of young adult fiction in all media. I’m a sucker for coming of age stories — particularly thoughtful, male-oriented (or otherwise non-girly) stories. I’ve decided my unending enjoyment with teen-focused stories is twofold: First, stories with teens…
That’s right, I’m back again, for a final FINAL chapter of “Ten Things Brian Likes.” I won’t stop beating this dead horse ’til it’s glue. In the first half of my honorable mentions, I acknowledged ten more topics about which I’m passionate. Now, to close out the series, I’m returning to the original ten “canonical” categories,…
The Wayside School trilogy of books is, as far as I’m concerned, a seminal masterpiece of comedy and kidlit. They operate on a surreal, childlike level of logic that still speaks to my brain today. More than that, the Wayside School books are honest portrayals of the confusion and paradoxes involved with being a child.…
It has a title that sounds like a pulpy radio serial from the 1930s. Its premise — two cousins team up to create a comic book centered around a superhero called The Escapist — hardly sounds special or deep. And yet, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is probably the finest novel I’ve ever…
This past April, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo, an online writing challenge to set and meet a monthly writing word count goal with the support and encouragement of some fellow “campers.” My group — or “cabin” — of writers included several fascinating people and talented writers I’m now happy to call my friends. One of my…
“I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.” – Dr. Mary Malone Well, this one snuck up on me. From September 2012 through September 2013, I…