A few weeks ago I told you about a book called “The Anonymous Source,” written by A.C. Fuller.
It’s a great read about a reporter who is covering a trial and keeps getting phone messages from an anonymous source. Now, Fuller has written a prequel to that story. This book, “The Cutline,” is a short novella and gives the reader an idea of how Alex stumbled into this life.
Amazon describes it as: “It’s the spring of 2000, and Alex Vane is living the dream. He’s brilliant, handsome, driven and he has just landed his first major reporting job: covering New York’s biggest trials for the city’s second-biggest daily newspaper, The New York Standard.”
This is an adventure all its own. I enjoyed it very much.
Another adventure I enjoyed was “Blue Water and Me,” written by Pendelton C. Wallace. It’s a true story about an 11-year-old boy and his father on a fishing boat.
The father is a great story teller and the father-son bonding is real. As we travel with them in this book, we are part of the ramming of a 30,000-ton Japanese freighter, stories about albacore fishing, political stories, and the out of season hurricane that they get caught in.
The story is told in such descriptive fashion that you can almost feel the water coming up in waves that want to swamp the boat.
Penn was born into a diverse family. His father is of Scottish heritage and his mother is Mexican, so he says “he grew up with a foot in two worlds and causing a struggle to find his place between these worlds.”
When he grew up, Penn became a software engineer but after the death of his wife, he decided he needed a change of life. So he says, “I bought an old sailboat and spent two and a half years restoring it; then sailed off for the clear blue waters of Baja.”
Now he lives “on his boat, the Victory, in San Diego, but home is wherever we drop anchor.”
Since this book came out, Penn has been very prolific. He wrote a political satire, “Christmas Inc.,” four years ago. It was No. 1 on the Amazon political satire best seller list.
And he has written five books in the Ted Higuera series. In Ted’s next adventure he will go up against ISIS when they launch a cyber-attack on the United States. Penn is also working on the third book in the Catina Flaherty Mysteries. In this book she’s hunting for a serial rapist and killer who preys on undocumented Asian women. In her next adventure she will encounter a serial killer on Bocas del Toro Island in Panama.
Penn is a good writer and story teller, and now that I’ve given you all these wonderful adventures to read by Fuller and Wallace, you should be able to make it through the rest of Winter into Spring.
Note: I got an email asking about the May 6 seminar I will be giving on memoir writing. The emailer wanted to know the details, so here they are: “Writing Your Memoirs,” will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 6 at Kitsap Publishing Company in Poulsbo. Cost is $25 and lunch is included.
We will discuss “Should You Write Your Memoirs?” The answer is “yes.” There is limited seating. So if you want to attend you should take action soon. Email me for the registration form.
— Donna Lee Anderson teaches writing and is the author of two novels and one reference book for writers. Email her at welltold tales@aol.com.
