Author Archive
Prose Like A River: The Rhythm of Landscape in Angela Palm’s Riverine
When I was growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I loved to picnic with family on the bank of Cove Creek and listen, while we smacked our lips from cherry cobbler, to the creek gulp itself. Hollows between rocks sloshed pell-mell down the current’s throat. Whirlpools gargled a
Real-Life Character Development, Or the Challenge Of David Rutschman’s Into Terrible Light
Beyond being engaging or complex characters, the emperors, donkeys, roosters, and everyday humans in David Rutschman’s Into Terrible Light charge readers to acknowledge the tender and fearful aspects of being the ruling animal.
A Lot of Sorrow, A Lot of Faith
I round a dark alcove in the Reykjavík Art Museum to find twenty or so people gathered in a space the size of a hip basement venue. Before them is a screen on which The National plays.
Why the Language of Awesomeness Fails Us
We trust the language of betrayal. If a teen writer wants to win a contest, let her turn not to the wonders of the world but to its horrors. Profundity is biased toward the grim, and injustice is not ageist.
Metaphor’s (Nearly) Infinite Wellspring
Birds are not alone in singing or in originating metaphors. There are other winged creatures that croon and hum and carry. We are among multitudes that raise a chorus to the elements, especially in August. Cicadas, yes, but also crickets, katydids, and grasshoppers.
Science and Literature: Coming Together for the All-American Solar Eclipse
During the “All-American Eclipse,” everyone in the US will see at least a partial eclipse, but the difference between a partial and a total eclipse, according to astronomer Jay Pasachoff, is like standing outside the opera house versus attending it.