The Muse

You know, I should probably be blogging about the recently ended ACFW National Conference. After all, I just spent four days in the city of Indianapolis, learning about writing and making some new friends and getting some great opportunities. But truth be told, I'm still processing it all. Maybe later. For now, let's talk about the book I read on my five hour layover in Milwaukee on the way home. That would be The Muse by Fred Warren.

In some ways, reading this book is a mea culpa. At one point in the Conference, I had boldly claimed I had read all of the entries for the Carol Award's speculative category this year. In actual truth, I had read all of them but one, namely this one. So while I was on that FIVE HOUR LAYOVER IN MILWAUKEE, I decided I had best rectify the situation.

Stan Marino is an author living somewhere in the environs of Minneapolis and he's stuck. He's trying to finish a fantasy book and he's run out of creative juice. So has his sci-fi writing buddy Davos and their partner in crime, the vampire romance author Jilly. They're all suffering from writers' block. But a solution is at hand, one that could very well kill them in the end.

This was a fast read. I think I burned through it in about two and a half hours. And it was a fun read too. Warren has a definite wit and zing to his writing that I appreciated. The plot was a little predictable (once all the pieces were in place, I kind of figured out what was going on and had an idea where things were going). But that didn't make the story any less enjoyable. There were plenty of surprises lurking within the pages of this book to really keep me reading.

So there we go. Bed soon. Tired from Conference. But good book under belt. Losing ability to form proper sentences with actual subjects. Bad sign.