I had quite a visceral reaction to the article The Hour of our Death by Phillipe Aries (pages 40-48 of Death, Mourning, and Burial). I suppose its in the nature of reading the opinions of others, especially on a subject both as universal and dividing as death, that one will come across an opinion that one does not side with.

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson is comprised of five introductory pieces, the autobiography itself, and a concluding interview. Each of these framing pieces contributes to the style and shape of the narrative in their own way, providing a solid structure and foundation around which the world of Carson’s re-imagining of Stesichoros’s story fragments take place.

Don McKay uses metaphor as a method of conveying description, tone and emotion to his reader. In his collection Camber, McKay uses metaphor to convey his meaning to the reader via pop-culture reference, cultural illusion, and symbolic imagery.

In American Icon: Fitzgerald's The great Gatsby in critical and cultural context, Beuka attempts to trace the novel through its history as the titular "American Icon" and its acceptance into the canon as such, focussing heavily on its reception throughout its early print run from 1925 until its reception at time of publication.

"I’m thirty,” I said. “I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor." It is my favorite line from the novel, and could I have written 1000 words on that alone I would have.

Violence is pervasive in our media. It is glorified in almost all forms of popular culture entertainment, from television shows, movies, novels, and even in music. The rise of comic-book inspired cinema has seen violence portrayed even more in our film industry, adapting a medium in which fists, not words, solving problems are typically the order of the day.

Setting is an important and integral part of any piece of fiction. Setting can determine theme and tone. It can determine the mood of a populace and can instantly frame a story in a reader's mind.

The choice to bring a child into the world is a weighty one even under the best of circumstances, full of responsibility and repercussions.

When he spurns her one time too many her underlying vindictive nature bubbles to the surface. This bubbling over is the central plot of “Uglypuss”.

Paul has two men in his life who function as “enablers” for his illicit activities: Bassett the gardener, who acted as an illegal “booky” for the child, and Oscar, who appeared at several points to see the inherit danger in allowing his nephew to partake in such a lifestyle but allowed his greed to stop him from doing anything about it.

Historians have attempted to reclaim the lost sections of Beowulf ever since Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries and the destruction of their libraries and the fires that followed. Great leaps have been made in restoring the text through deductive reasoning and ultra-violet imagery, but still we have no ‘origin story’ for Beowulf… although I believe one to have been hinted at within the text.

In the end, Donald Ryan is a sad case of a man who succumbed to the pressures of duty and family and society, even when those pressures conflicted directly with his own wants and needs.

The way the teacher would make the students sing only the first syllables of the words to weed out those who were too stiff or shameful is interesting, and I imagine very effective. Capoeira seems like a disciple of life rather than a sport the more I read of it.

Theme Park is filled with many colourful things, some of which I found very interesting. Even though the text is divided itself into themes (land, machine, show, etc) it also features a loose chronology from the invention of the theme park into the present day incarnation(s). As such, we’re getting closer and closer into an era of theming and theme parks that I am personally familiar with. That said there were still some surprises.

Traumatic events make for fertile, lively short stories, and just such events are the premise behind “Stones,” by Timothy Findley, and “Boys and Girls,” by Alice Munro. Through these authors, we see how these events change the characters and ourselves.

I write a lot on this site about structure . It’s very much my jam. In specific, I employ and teach the mechanics of a modified version...

Let's talk about a flaw in basic writing structure opens up The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix to astonishing criticism.

It's modelled after romp 80s movies like The Last Starfighter and Tron, but who doesn't like a good romp every once and a while?

X-Factor #1 by Leah Williams shines as the star of this collection, with a firm grasp of all storytelling essentials.

So, I read a lot. 500 books a year, on average. I've made more an effort this year to read locally, and to read more current texts.