Bob Mustin's Blog
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Jun.15.2013
The Hemingway Patrols - Ernest Hemingway and His Hunt for U-Boats, by Terry Mort
The missus, ever on the lookout for book about Papa for me, found this one and surprised me with it. It shouldn’t surprise readers of my posts that Hemingway has influenced me as a writer. He lived a legendary...
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Jun.09.2013
I'm a person of habit. Some of them are good - they keep me writing every day, at more or less the same time. A structured existence allows me to do many things a spontaneous one might not. After all, we only have so many waking hours in a day, so many functional years to a life. Which is why my...
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Jun.09.2013
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
Imagine a heartwarming book narrated by a dog of a certain age. That’s the hook to this book: Enzo is something of a mutt and he tells the story of life with his human, Denny, a mechanic in an upscale auto shop, who aspires to...
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Jun.07.2013
When the alternate-universe high of writing a book and having it published wanes, you're left with the real world concerns of promotion and coping with reviews, whether they're good, blah, or bad. Maybe J.R. McLemore's approach to such things will help you navigate that emotional minefield....
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Jun.05.2013
Book appearances are coming for my writer's group (it's more than just a mutual interest in writing): the True North Writers and Publishers Cooperative. After our initial defining and organizing efforts, we decided to send up some trial balloons to see just what the pressure points...
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May.31.2013
Poets & Writers, May/June 2013
These days I’m more interested in learning/ discovering how to wedge a place for myself in the publishing game, but there was once a time when writerly chops were hardly developed. And P&W is as good a source as any for fostering...
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May.29.2013
The Atlantic, May 2013
If you’re a political and cultural junkie like me, then you surely know that the media delivers its insights on those phenomena in a multi-repetitive way. This issue of The Atlantic is an example of that, but you can’t really blame them...
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May.28.2013
Harper’s Magazine, May 2013
Harper’s Magazine is peopled by idealists. Whether that’s a good thing, of course, is an argument I won’t have here.
Jeff Madrick’s “The Age of Cruelty,” in true progressive fashion, portrays the Reagan Era (1974 to 2008), as the title...
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May.24.2013
Finally - another dream made real! The link below will take you to the first GridleyReview, a re-do of last week's post on W.J. Cash's THE MIND OF THE SOUTH.
Check it out at the link below, which will take you to my website. Let me know what you think.
GridleyReview
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May.24.2013
I've been spreading the news around, but in case I missed you, or you missed the news, I've recorded an audio book of my latest, Sam's Place: Stories. You can buy them one at a time or as a complete book HERE (I'm betting you'll be hooked after the first file), and...
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May.24.2013
Iron Horse Literary Review, Volume 15.1, Open Issue 2013
Okay, I’m prepared to repent. I’ve dissed IHLR more than once in this blog, and while earlier issues seemed worthy of such scorn, this issue and the one prior are worth admiration and praise. Such praise follows:...
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May.19.2013
There's nothing quite as fascinating - or as hopeful - as the re-creation of an old movie or, in this case a TV series. But you never experience a good reboot, it seems, or if you do, it's a man bites dog affair.
The missus and I went to see the '09 version of this reincarnated...
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May.18.2013
The Mind of the South, by W.J. Cash
This book was written some 75 years ago, and it’s amazing to me how closely Southern attitudes, the South's social structure, the personals and political cants of that time parallel those of the South today. It’s tempting to make an essay of this review...
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May.18.2013
As both a writer and a book critic, I can only say to critics: Criticize, but be nice.
The Telegraph
Visit my website here, and my FB Fan Page here for more on ideas and events that matter to me - and possibly to you. I'll soon be adding podcasts of selected book...
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May.17.2013
You wouldn't think of the Midwest as a hotbed of literary and creative writing - unless you've been to the Iowa Workshop, or are a fan of one of that area's fine stable of writers, such as Ron Hansen, one of my favorites. And I wouldn't have thought of literary tech...
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We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
”
—ERNEST HEMINGWAY, New York Journal-American, Jul. 11, 1961
About Bob
I've been a North Carolina Writers Network writer-in-residence at Peace College under Doris Betts' guiding hand. In the early '90s, I was the editor of a small literary journal,The Rural Sophisticate, based in Georgia. My work has appeared in The...
Connections
Causes Bob Mustin Supports
Native American culture. Education. Creative writing.
Bob’s Favorite Books
The Garden of Eden Waiting For The Barbarians War and Peace Saturday Our Lady Of The Forest Atticus