Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About sabian30

CBR 7
CBR 8
CBR 9
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant

Sixty something retired banking software analyst in Little Rock, Arkansas who writes science fiction and fantasy short stories. Has four great kids (one the editor of Cannonball Fodder) and one awesome grandson.

sabian30's Reviews:

Surprisingly Approachable Writing Information

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

by Leave a Comment

In many self-help writing books and seminars, The Writer’s Journey appears again and again as a reference. After reading many dry and analytical structure books, I was pleasantly surprised at how readable this book was. It has a very conversational and relatable style, and I didn’t feel as if I was reading a class lecture or being talked down to. It discusses the various structures and explains how to fulfill each of the twelve steps of the writing “journey.” It includes familiar stages such as […]

Not the Holy Grail of Writing

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

by Leave a Comment

Many of the DIY writing books I’ve been consuming over the last couple years mention Joseph Campbell’s extensive mythology analyses (written in 1949!), The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and credit him with inspiring them. George Lucas says Star Wars is a result of having read Campbell’s seminal work. I went into this book with the wrong expectations and was immediately disappointed. His 416-page work has little to do with writing. Although it labels all the familiar (and unfamiliar) legends from around the world, the […]

Space Fiction, Not Science Fiction

Alien Dimensions #22 by Neil A. Hogan, Editor

by Leave a Comment

When I write for an anthology, I frequently receive a contributor’s copy. I enjoy reading the stories by other writers, and Alien Dimensions #22 is no exception. In “The Voiceless City” by Elana Gomel, a spaceship commanded by an AI selects a crew for a first contact mission. The unusual crew is composed of a half-dozen experts, but all of them have issues: antisocial disorder, linguistic delay, autism, and similar neurological and psychological challenges. When the ship returns from its mission, the AI and several […]

Penpals Across the Timestream

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

by 3 Comments

This is an interesting book told in epistolary (letter) form. It won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella (!). Two agents, Red and Blue, working for different time-traveling agencies, start off as adversaries as they travel up and down multiple timelines to defeat each other’s organizations to prevent them from coming into existence. They are immortal and capable of being any creature they wish to be, mostly killers. Sparring with one another across strands of time, they develop a respect and familiarity with […]

If It Quacks Like a Duck

Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

by 1 Comment

I heard “Save the Cat” mentioned at various workshops and lectures, and I finally broke down and got a copy. The title refers to it being okay to have a bad guy be the protagonist if he saves a cat in the first act. It was originally written for playwriting and breaks down the three acts into separate scenes and categorizes what should take place in each scene. It’s much too analytical and removes much of the joy of writing for me. For example, the […]

Oldies But Goodies

Futures to Infinity by Sam Moskowitz, Editor

by Leave a Comment

On my bookshelf, I have a very battered paperback copy of Futures to Infinity. Written in 1970, I’ve had to tape the cover on, and the pages have gotten pretty brown over the fifty years since it was published. But like comfort food, we have comfort books, and this is one of mine. This book is a collection of short stories by the Greats: Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, and others. The fun thing about this collection, aside from being some of the lesser-known works of the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo