Bob Mustin
Fiction, historical fiction

Bob Mustin's Blog

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Mar.23.2010

Every Thing Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr. Writer friend Dave Frauenfelder loaned me this one, a novel I wouldn’t have picked - by an author I’d never heard of (with the overabundance of writers out there, such is the state of reading these days). It has much to dismay me, along the lines of my...

Mar.18.2010

Typescript Redux

For those interested in seeing what editing critique comments and further editing does for the manuscript mentioned in my March 2nd post, visit Typescript Redux and see the "final" version of each chapter as they become available.Keep in mind that the perfect novel has never been written...

Mar.18.2010

"Seinfeld" and Postmodern Literature

Girl With Curious Hair, by David Foster Wallace Remember "Seinfeld"? The TV series that billed itself as a show about nothing? No? Then let me introduce you to its literary equivalent-and its author. Wallace, author of the acclaimed book, Infinite Jest, died little more than a year...

Mar.10.2010

An Exemplar of Literary Urges

The Man Who Died, by D.H. Lawrence I've posted before on the need for writers to gain a measure of life's seasoning in order to have something relevant to say. This is not to claim that younger writers don't have a perspective on life worth sharing - but it does imply that life experiences of the...

Mar.02.2010

What Goes Around....

Some fifteen years ago, I decided, after toying with poetry, short stories, and newspaper articles, to write a novel. I did, it was published, and my ego found reason to give me a swelled head as I began to see the book appear in bookstores. The novel, a mystery, A Reason To Tremble, was a mass...

Feb.28.2010

Toward A New Free Press

This week two book-related happenstances led my thoughts in the same direction. I sat down to read Orhan Pamuk’s newest book, The Museum Of Innocence, and pal Dave Roberts, movie soundman extraordinaire, offered up three of his books for me to read: Brotherhood of Warriors, Licensed to Kill, and...

Feb.24.2010

The Google Book Settlement

I'll make this post brief - a link to the e-news source, Wired, "Authors Guild: ‘To RIAA or Not to RIAA’," says it all, and I don't want to be too repetitive. Suffice it to say that some rather high octane writers have come out against the Google settlement, in particular the role the...

Feb.18.2010

Digital Is Comin’ At Us!

The future of books rests, it seems, with the new digital realm. Blog posts pop up everywhere lately, as do, ironically, a rising tide of newspaper articles on digital publishing. The latest addition to the digital reader marketplace appeared a week or so ago from Apple with its iPad. It...

Feb.11.2010

A Tale Of Two Translations

Hadji Murad, by Leo Tolstoy My writing pal, Miz Hawks, that's Lyn Hawks, if you don't already know her, recently posted on her blog, A Writer's Journey, concerning the need for writers to, as she put it, "make it fascinating." How do writers manage to do this? First, there's...

Feb.05.2010

Personality and Writing

On Writing Well, by William Zinsser – 30th Anniversary Edition I had one “go-by” book to help me when I started writing: Techniques of Fiction Writing: Measure and Madness, by Leon Surmelian. I gleaned what I could from it, took copious notes, performed various exercises with the information...

Jan.29.2010

A Fine Work Falls Only a Few Yards Short of Greatness

Serena, by Ron Rash I’d hoped this book would be the knockout American novel I’d been looking for—full of social content, great characters acting out a great story amid a magnificent scenic backdrop. Three out of four ain’t bad. The story is one of typical American enterprise,...

Jan.20.2010

Is It Time To Publish Digital?

This past week a creative writing teacher-friend of mine wrote me about a student of hers who had signed a book of his to a university press, only to discover that the mom-and-pop book stores were refusing to accept his book because of the deep discount the press was asking for. What gives? my...

Jan.13.2010

On Passing Literary Muster

Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout Elizabeth Strout has concocted in this book a series of thirteen short stories, eponymously connected to the title character. Let me begin by giving you something akin to the one page synopsis that agents and publishers ask from aspiring writers: Elizabeth...

Jan.07.2010

Irish History Through a Lens Darkly

The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry It surprised me on first hearing that personal testimony in court cases is no longer considered reliable. But once I’d read on the subject and put myself though comparable memory tests, I became a believer. Sebastian Barry, an Irish playwright and...

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Jan.02.2010

MFA, Critique, and the Ethics of Writing

A few writing friends of mine, probably frustrated by the lack of industry response to their capable writing, have decided of late to involve themselves in MFA programs - to up their skills, as well as their visibility in the writing profession. Recently, one of these friends, one who labors under...

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...

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