The Best Books On Power and Ambition

Many of my readers have asked what books I can recommend that offer fundamental insights into the drive for personal power and the way it affects individuals once achieved. Numerous authors have tackled this subject in memoirs, novels and plays. There is a vast treasure chest of books, spanning centuries, that deal with this subject […]

Hitler Speaks Again Through the Mein Kampf Reprinting

  Never has irony been more toxic than the planned reissue of Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which has been prohibited from duplication in Germany since WWII. This reissue comes at the exact moment when anti-Semitism in Europe has risen to proportions not seen in decades. The copyright, owned by the Bavarian government who, to its […]

THE ANATOMY OF A NOVELIST’S WORKSPACE (Infographic)

People often ask me where I write and what my workspace is like so I decided to do an “Anatomy of a Novelist’s Workspace” infographic – Enjoy!

Why Do Women Read More Novels Than Men?

There is ample statistical evidence showing that adult women read more novels than men, attend more book clubs than men, use libraries more than men, buy more books than men, take more creative writing courses than men, and probably write more works of fiction than men. If, as a demographic, they suddenly stopped reading, the […]

Pen or Computer: Which is Better for Creativity?

  For writers of the imagination, what we fear the most is a disruption, a blockage, a sudden dam that changes the course of the river of creativity. Back in the late sixties and early seventies when technological innovation began to creep into the public consciousness, I shunned all the so-called marvels of computers when […]

TARGET CHURCHILL: How a Bestselling Historical Thriller was Born

I am a member of the Lotos Club in Manhattan, a literary club celebrated for having Mark Twain as its most famous member. Apparently he had spent many happy hours with fellow members there in his declining years. A few years ago at Lotos event, we were regaled by James Humes, a distinguished professor, historian, Pulitzer […]

How do you Decide the Ending of a Story?

Roderick Thorp was part of a small group of novelists who came together on a monthly basis in the late eighties in Los Angeles to chew the fat. Rod had made a breakthrough success at the age of twenty-seven with the novel The Detective, which became a very successful movie starring Frank Sinatra. Rod’s novel […]