The Review Club Forum Malenkov - Welcome!!

Malenkov - glad you made it to the Review Club.

For the rest of you, please let me introduce you to a fierce reviewer. I'm not kidding! He's helped me tremendously with my work. If I recall correctly, he's English and now living in Germany. You're gonna love his reviews. My only regret is that I have to share him now. ::cry:: ::tongue::

Thanks for that warm welcome Belle, and thank you all for inviting me, I'm honoured.

Yes, the rumours true, I'm a Brit living in Germany, Frankfurt, addicted to strong black coffee, gallons of it, and chocolate croissants.

I feel my review strengths are basic story craft, and I'm weak on grammar, spelling and syntax. I try to be honest, constructive and open minded and I'll appreciate a nod in the right direction when I go astray.

I'll do my best to live up to your standards and expectations and give you value on the reviews.

Malenkov

Welcome Malenkov, Glad to have you aboard. In look forward to working with you. I hope that you enjoy our group. Let me know if you have any questions, or just want to talk.

Gabe

P.S. Strong, Dark, Coffee? You already have a gold star in my book!

Malenkov:

Welcome. I look forward to reading, and reviewing your work. Thanks for joining us. How long have you writing? And what genre/style do you tend to write in?

Julie

Welcome! I've read some of your reviews of Belle's work and am very impressed. I actually bookmarked your profile with an intention of reading some of your work, though the Review Club here has kept me too busy to branch out. Now, it seems, I will get the opportunity.

Welcome. I'm glad you decided to join us and hope you enjoy.

-cc

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How long have I been writing? I've been (re)writing about a year and a bit now: I enrolled last year on a Short Story course - which I'm still doing. But I fiddled with free writing before that. I wrote my first story in junior school and then wrote thrillers and spy stories which I pestered my friends to read. As an undergrad in economics some of my assignments had a flavour of fiction to them. I failed my postgrad dissertation and Phd because I was too busy reading Dostoevsky and other books. Where I currently work, I get asked now and again to write or edit documents, presentations, ideas, little articles - so I had a little finger dipped somewhere in the writing game all along I suppose along.

My genre? The short answer is: I don�t know because I�m still grasping and exploring. But influences come from reading which, like it or not, will creep at some point into our work. We write a composite of what we have read. As a young man, I was drawn to the myth stuff with geo-politics and a bit of everything thrown in (Dune, Lord of The Rings, Narnia) and political stuff (Orwell: Animal Farm, 1984). More recently the dramatised visions and ideas of Dostoevsky, Huxley, Callenbach, Camus, Herbert, Kafka, Bradbury.

Then, largely because all the writing anthologies crammed them in, I read some of the basic literary gang: including Chekov, Hemmingway, Twain, Hawthorn, Carver, Baldwin. I had to drag myself, yawning sometimes, through that Norton Chekov collection, but his economy with description and character is something I wish I could get in my pieces (who doesn�t). Hawthorn I admire for his flourishing purple prose - it really ignites the page - and his powerful ideas which animate his characters and masterful plots. Hemmingway I like for his brutal subtlety and his ice-bergs swimming in his dialog, character and action. I badly imitate him now and again. I intend to flush all that �classical� literary stuff out though with a good dose of Vonnegut and Martin Amis at some point.

My Style? Haven�t found it yet. But if the writing fairy granted me one wish: I'd wish to write like T.C. Boyle - for his versatility, savage ironic wit. I�d also like to borrow the Voice of Palahniuk now and again - as in Fight Club - and the sheer inventive vision of Frank Herbert who can take an idea and make a universe out of it. But then I�m sure that would cover more than one wish and the fairy would get pretty angry at my cockiness..

Hope that wasn�t a bit too much but at least you know a little about me�

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thank you for the interest. Though I must say that the work I have posted in the cafe is mostly sketches and incomplete pieces so far. But that gives me an incentive to pull my finger out and crank out those stories sitting in my notebooks...

I suppose better late than never :) Welcome to the Review Club. I definitely look forward to giving your stuff a go. And Yay for Bradbury. Farienheit 451 is still my favorite dystopia. What's your take on Heinlein?

Cameron

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I haven't read him yet but I heard along with Clarke and Asimov he's one of the big three in the hard science genre. I ordered "Revolt in 2100 & Methuselah's Children" by Heinlein about 3 days ago so I'll now when I get around to reading it. After LeGuin's Dispossed...And Asimov's collection of short stories....

I read in WIKI "The major themes of his work were social and include individualism and libertarianism" themes that defintitely appeal to me so I better add his Troopers and Strangers to my reading list. Fast.

Phew - I'll never get through all those books.

Theres a bunch of Russian brothers I hear are totally brilliant in the Social Science Fiction, the Strugatsky brothers, have you read them?

Nope I hadn't heard of them yet. Honestly on Heinlien Tunnel in the Sky and Starship Troopers are great. I still haven't gotten around to reading Stranger in a Strange Land (which considering that that is his classic is pretty bad). But for the most part I'm a fan of what I've read.

For the most part, I read fantasy and mystery with some lit fic thrown in on the side. Although I am making my way through a British fantasy novel called Colours in the Steel. Which is pretty good, except he gets a bit caught up in his research.

Welcome to the Club. Have a seat next to the bar and I'll order another round of beer, next time the waitress comes 'round. Look forward to sharing work and each of our passions for the written word. Cheers! Rob