Why am I passionate about this?

Writing is in my blood ā€“ my grandmother wrote poetry, my mother writes novels, and over the last twenty-plus years Iā€™ve written just about everything (and now I teach writing at my local university). Iā€™ve loved stories for as long as I can remember. While my fiction career may be newly revived, I spent over 20 years as a pop culture commentator, poking at the minutia of the stories I love. I think stories may be one of the most important things in our culture ā€“ they inspire us, they brighten our day, they bring us to tears, and sometimes when we are lost they show us the way.


I wrote

Re: Apotheosis

By Robert B. Marks,

Book cover of Re: Apotheosis

What is my book about?

On the surface, Re: Apotheosis is about fictional characters falling out of their stories into the real world, discovering thatā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Robert B. Marks Why did I love this book?

I had been writing professionally for over two decades when I first picked up this book, and it left me kicking myself for not picking it up years ago. Not only did it make me understand why I do many of the things I do when Iā€™m writing fiction, it raised my game as a storyteller. Robert McKee has clearly done a lot of thinking about the mechanics of how stories work, and he explains them with crystal clarity. It is the best book on storytelling I have ever read, and essential reading for anybody who wants to do it well.

By Robert McKee,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Story as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Structure is Character. Characters are what they do. Story events impact the characters and the characters impact events. Actions and reactions create revelation and insight, opening the door to a meaningful emotional experience for the audience. Story is what elevates a film, a novel, a play, or teleplay, transforming a good work into a great one. Movie-making in particular is a collaborative endeavour - requiring great skill and talent by the entire cast, crew and creative team - but the screenwriter is the only original artist on a film. Everyone else - the actors, directors, cameramen, production designers, editors, specialā€¦


Book cover of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Robert B. Marks Why did I love this book?

Before I discovered my previous pick, this book was my main recommendation for new writers. It is divided into two parts. The first is an immensely entertaining account of Stephen Kingā€™s journey to becoming a writer. The second is one of the best explorations of how to use language to tell a story Iā€™ve ever read. Now, I donā€™t agree with everything King has to say on the craft of fiction writing ā€“ personally, I think heā€™s dead wrong when he recommends not using outlines ā€“ but I have yet to see better as guides go for how to create a specific effect in any given scene.

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

24 authors picked On Writing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Twentieth Anniversary Edition with Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINEā€™S TOP 100 NONFICTION BOOKS OF ALL TIME

Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen Kingā€™s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work.

ā€œLong live the Kingā€ hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen Kingā€™s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writerā€™s craft, comprising the basic tools of theā€¦


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Book cover of Brushstrokes in Time

Brushstrokes in Time by Sylvia Vetta,

Historical fiction at its best, according to renowned poet Jenny Lewis. It tells the untold story of the Beijing Spring of 1979.

"..among my top ten historical novels, certainly of this century. Utterly mesmerising and unforgettable:" says Jenny.

"Utterly Brilliant" says Shrenik Rao, the editor of Madras Courier.

Book cover of The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Robert B. Marks Why did I love this book?

This will be one of my more controversial picks ā€“ there are plenty of people who disagree with Campbell as a folklorist, a mythographer, and with his depiction of the Heroā€™s Journey. But, what is important about Campbell is his exploration of why the elements that appear in stories have the impact they do on our psyche, and how they fit together. One may not agree with all of Campbellā€™s conclusions, but I donā€™t think thereā€™s a writer out there who wonā€™t benefit from his exploration of the subject. I know I did.

By Joseph Campbell,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Hero with a Thousand Faces as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Joseph Campbell's classic cross-cultural study of the hero's journey has inspired millions and opened up new areas of research and exploration. Originally published in 1949, the book hit the New York Times best-seller list in 1988 when it became the subject of The Power of Myth, a PBS television special. The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stagesā€¦


Book cover of A Moveable Feast

Robert B. Marks Why did I love this book?

When Iā€™m teaching or mentoring in the craft of writing, one of the things I most often recommend is to ā€œread Hemmingway.ā€ For this book, itā€™s not just the lively descriptions of some very famous authors and the 1920s Paris literary scene, itā€™s how these descriptions are told ā€“ Hemmingwayā€™s language is deceptively simple. It is ā€œbare bonesā€ writing, and yet it conveys so much. And, I think itā€™s important for writers to see how Hemmingway uses language and what he accomplishes with it.

By Ernest Hemingway,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked A Moveable Feast as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. Since Hemingway's personal papers were released in 1979, scholars have examined and debated the changes made to the text before publication. Now this new special restored edition presents the original manuscript as the author prepared it to be published.

Featuring a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, and an introduction by the editor and grandson of the author, Sean Hemingway, this new edition also includes a number of unfinished, never-before-published Paris sketches revealing experiences that Hemingway had with his son Jack andā€¦


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Book cover of Dormice & Moonshine: Falling for Slovenia

Dormice & Moonshine by Sam Baldwin,

When two brothers discover a 300-year-old sausage-curing cabin on the side of a Slovenian mountain, it's love at first sight. But 300-year-old cabins come with 300 problems.

Dormice & Moonshine is the true story of an Englishman seduced by Slovenia. In the wake of a breakup, he seeks temporary refugeā€¦

Book cover of The Lord of the Rings

Robert B. Marks Why did I love this book?

This is a foundational book for me. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I would re-read it every year. But thatā€™s not why Iā€™m recommending this book. Iā€™m recommending it for the same reason Iā€™m recommending Hemmingway: how Tolkien uses language. While Hemmingwayā€™s prose is very pared-down and simple, Tolkienā€™s is the opposite ā€“ it is almost (and frequently) poetic, and yet it is never overwrought. Just as it is important for writers to see how to use simple prose to its best effect, it is important to have an exemplar of how to use more complex prose as well.

By J.R.R. Tolkien,

Why should I read it?

55 authors picked The Lord of the Rings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower ofā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Re: Apotheosis

By Robert B. Marks,

Book cover of Re: Apotheosis

What is my book about?

On the surface, Re: Apotheosis is about fictional characters falling out of their stories into the real world, discovering that they are fiction, and coming to grips with what that means, meeting their creators, and fighting a war over them.  How does a mech pilot like Atria Silversword process the fact that her world and the war sheā€™s fighting to save it is the creation of an author struggling to finish her story?

Beneath that, however, itā€™s a book about creation itself, and the media industry around it ā€“ how we create, why we create, and how we relate to what we create.

Book cover of Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Book cover of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Book cover of The Hero with a Thousand Faces

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