Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

I chose to ready Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, as a follow-up to Stephen King’s book “On Writing” which I recently reviewed. Given that I’ve read at least 2,000 novels in the thriller genre, I’m surprised that I had not thought more about the authors’ writing processes. I had always assumed that most authors did outlines of their books with regard to both plot and character development, but neither King nor Lamott did that. Rather, King said he would start from a situation or event, and then let the characters tell him what would happen next. Similarly, Lamott said she would listen to the characters and take them where they should go. Both King and Lamott were alcoholics, as is not uncommon among writers, perhaps popularized by Hemingway, but perhaps stoked by the rigors of so many hours of solitude while constructing a novel. It’s probably both, and more. Fortunately, both King and Lamott were able to overcome their addictions, but Lamott was a bit more open than King, sometimes mentioning her group of sober friends.

Bird by Bird is a phrase that Lamott explained means to take one step at a time, to focus on the task at hand and to do it with full gusto, and after that was done, the next step with the same passionate focus. It’s clear that like King, Lamott is fascinated by the world of words and she obsessively spends her time finding the right words and phrases to bring about the effect that she wants. She believes in editing and re-editing. As a writing teacher, this book is an instruction manual about all aspects of the novel writing process, from starting with an idea, writing every day, taking notes about anything that is happening in one’s day-to-day life, getting an agent, getting an advance on a book, the struggle to get one’s thoughts on paper, the insecurity of turning over a finished work, the celebration of a book well done. She is passionate about her craft, a passion that she would like to stimulate in her students.

 

I loved this book, and now I’m intrigued enough to soon dive into one of her novels. It was written in 1994, but it is entirely a contemporary work. Lamott is obviously a talented and clever author, and if you’re curious how a seasoned and accomplished writer goes about her craft, this is a great book for you.

 

WCD

Storm Rising by Chris Hauty

Storm Rising is the third book by Chris Hauty with Hayley Chill as the protagonist. At Men Reading books, we’ve raved about the first two novels, Deep State and Savage Road. See our reviews in this blog of both books. In this third novel, Chill takes on a US based group that wants to secede from the union, and the means of achieving this are carefully hidden through a very clever plot. But, Hayley, a part of an unnamed group that is hell bent on protecting the Constitution, seems to be every where at once, leaving dead bodies in her wake. It’s a disturbing series of events to her own “deeper state” bosses, but even more so to the forces that want to see her dead.

At the outset of this book, I thought there was something cheesy about it, and Hayley reminds me of Dirk Pitt from the Clive Cussler series. I loved Dirk Pitt, but Hayley is more than that. Pitt was always a rather two-dimensional character, and Hayley is portrayed as much more than. She struggles with her dedication to her job and country, and what that commitment means to having any real emotional balance in her life. 

 

I can’t say I didn’t put this book down, but I did read it over the course of a couple days – very eager to see what the author had in store for his characters. I hope Hauty has plans for more Chill stories.

 

Thanks to Emily Bestler Books for the advance reader copy. 

The Bone Track by Sara E. Johnson

Let’s see. Where to start. The family issue or the crime? Let's do family.

Alexa and Charlie Glock (‘like the gun’) grew up in North Carolina. As children, Alexa suffered some severe burns leaving scars still evident in adulthood. Went to college. He became an accountant, married, had two kids, now lives in Atlanta. She ended up becoming a forensic scientist with a special interest in teeth. Unmarried. Took in internship with the North Island Forensics Service Center in New Zealand and stayed when she was offered a job. She is in a relationship with Bruce, a senior detective based in Auckland. Charlie and his wife are recently separated. Brother and sister are not real close.

To strengthen their relationship, Charlie agrees to fly to New Zealand where they will take a popular multiday through hike (a ‘tramp’) in Fiordland National Park (on the South Island). Trampers can go it alone for primitive camping or they can sign up for a ‘luxe’ tramp, a guided trek where they’d sleep indoors and get prepared meals each day. They choose the primitive tramp, but quickly learn the two groups are interconnected.

Trampers take off at their leisure and arrive at cabin/campsites whenever they get there. Charlie and Alexa get separated leaving Alexa to fend for herself that first day. Weather and landslides are common issues and both further separate Alexa from Charlie. A rockslide obscures the track and Alexa must do some serious rock-hopping to traverse. As she concludes a successful traverse of the rock field, she rests in the forest, and something catches her forensic eye – a piece of bone. Curious to see if the bone in animal or human, she digs it from the earth and in doing so, finds more bones, and not just fragments. Whole ribs and some long bones. And the ribs look to have been damaged by a knife.

The local indigenous Maori feel that disturbing bones isn’t to be done, but she bags a couple fragments (what forensic scientist travels without their evidence bags?), marks the location, and plans to get them sent to her lab. While taking care of business, a helicopter buzzes her location even to the point of dropping a sack full of riff rock near where she is working. Intentional or trying to stabilize the landslide?

She reaches the luxe tramper destination and meets up with Charlie. The luxe host is counting heads and is one short. An Auckland orthopaedic surgeon who gifted her office staff with this adventure. A search is initiated. Charlie and Alexa find the doctor. Looks like she fell off a possibly defective rope bridge over a roaring creek. After some tense cliff challenges, the doctor’s body is pulled out. Alexa does a cursory exam and notices two holes in the doctor’s back, both about the size of the end of a trekking pole. The question is no longer did she fall, but was she pushed.

In one day of tramping, Alexa has stumbled into two potential murders. One fresh, the other a cold case. Once Alexa gets the bit, she returns to full-scale forensic mode. Local law enforcement is called, and a possible murder requires a senior detective and her current flame, DI Bruce Horne, is helicoptered in to manage the investigation into both crimes.

I chose this book for two reasons. First, the story is set in the wilderness, on a through hike, which I like to do. No place I’d rather be than in the forest. Second, the principles are from North Carolina, where I live (props to the author for her accurate NC geography). The story, once the investigations get going, is routine police procedural work. There are some hairy wilderness moments, some touchy helicopter encounters, and the attempts at mending the strained brother-sister relationship. Not to mention, the importance of her burn scars. The author is a former middle school reading specialist in Durham, NC who spent a year in NZ with her family. This book is the third of three (so far) Alexa Glock Forensics Mystery titles that are published by Poisoned Pen Press.

Available February 15, 2022.

On Writing by Stephen King

Although I’ve never been a fan of the horror genre, just does not grab me like a great thriller, a friend suggested I have a look at “On Writing by Stephen King – A Memoir of the Craft.” I don’t think I’ve ever finished a Stephen King novel, but I’m aware of his success as a writer, and some of his books that have become very successful movies (like Carrie and Misery). Given my aversion to horror movies, I can’t imagine going to see a movie titled Misery. I go to the movies to be entertained, not to be reminded of other people’s misery and horror. But, I was pleasantly surprised by this nonfiction work which is partly about his writing method and style, and partly a memoir. I can imagine that someone who is really a fan and has read most of his books would thoroughly enjoy this book.

For me, the most remarkable part of his writing experience is that he does not start with an outline of his books and characters, and where he wants the story to go. He starts with some event/situation and then develops the stories from where his characters lead him. He describes a sort of passive role in the story creation, just lets the story take him wherever the characters tell him. Actually, it's quite similar to what Anne Lamott describes in her own writing, as will be reviewed shortly.

 

In the memoir, King recounts his difficult childhood and his escape into literature, both reading voluminously and writing stories from an early age. Clearly he is obsessed with the written word and has spent a lifetime at being good at it. Notably, he is an alcoholic who was able to respond to his wife’s demands that he give it up. He has had one long marriage with a woman he deeply loves. He obviously thinks about and studies his craft, and he is able to quote his own literature as well as others for examples of good and bad prose. 

 

For me, this is a weird example of being impressed with a writer, but not liking the genre in which he has produced some of his most famous works. However, if you’re a King fan, then I think this is a must-read book.

 

WCD

The Cellist by Daniel Silva

I’m very late in reviewing Daniel Silva’s most recent book. He always publishes his new novels of July, and I have a history of reading the new book within a day of it’s publication and usually finishing it during a single day. Then, I have to wait a whole year for the next installment. What can I say, the late summer and fall months were busy with my own writing project, as well as some other books I had committed to read. Finally came vacation, which I inaugurated by re-reading Silva’s last book, a brilliant plot, The Order. 

 

The Cellist is the 21^st Gabriel Allon novel. This is a a story about the international money laundering effort by Putin who is stashing his money in real estate in the West, including the U.S. and London. I must say that I think I understand massive money laundering in a way I had not previously appreciated, all of which was fascilitated by Deutsche Bank for which Silva substituted the fictitious RhineBank, “the dirtiest bank in the world.”

 

As usual, the book contains a cast of characters, most of whom we’ve come to know over the course of these novels. It was great to once again read about Christopher Keller, who we haven’t seen in a few novels, but who seems destined to take over the spy actions for the aging Allon. In a prior book, we met one of the two cellists in this. Anna Rolfe was an internationally renown player whose career was negatively impacted by the pandemic, but given the temporary easing of the virus, she was used as a draw for a charity acution for a recently discovered painting which had secretly been restored by Allon. This was Rolfe’s first public performance after being in isolation for nearly two years. The other cellist was Isabel Brenner, a brilliant woman with numbers who had won a major prize as a junior cellist. Although she chose to pursue a career in finance, she had kept up her cello chops. When Ms. Rolfe heard her play, she was impressed and got this unknown cellist to close the show for her at the charity. Importantly, Brenner had worked for RhineBank before she gave away some damning records to a reporter and was fired for it. But, because of her skill at laundering money, as she had been doing for RhineBank, she was hired by Martin Landesmann, known by all as St. Martin because of his remarkable work for various human interest charities, and the environment. However, he used the good stuff as a coverup for his clandestine banking. He really was all about profit.

 

It was Brenner, through Landesmann, who was pulled into the scheme to launder more Russian money, but she was placed there by Allon who wanted to hurt a prior enemy, Arkady Akimov, Russia’s largest oiler dealer. Putin had allowed Arkday to become monstrously wealthy. Arkady donated $20 Milion Swiss Francs just to get a seat for Rolfe’s performance. Allon was after $11 Billion of money that Putin wanted converted into Western real estate..

 

There’s lots of action in this story which takes place mainly in Switzerland, but moves swifty to Moscow, London, and Washington. The author just happens to be a gifted travel writer. Silva clearly follows U.S. politics as he weaves his story about the last two presidential elections and the divisive activity that came from the campaigns.

 

You won’t be disappointed in this book by Silva. He lives up to his own impossible high standards.

 

WCD

Relentless Strike by Sean Naylor

One of my rare forays into non-fiction. The subtitle for this book tells you all you need to know: “The secret history of Joint Special Operations Command” otherwise known as JSOC.

It’s late summer 1980. A handful of military brass are in conference about a new organization. About a year earlier, Operation Eagle Claw had failed. The attempted rescue of American hostages held in Iran fell apart. Deep inside Iran, the operation was postponed by a day because only five of eight helicopters were air worthy. Upon withdrawing to their staging ground in Oman, a helicopter crashed into a plane loaded with fuel and Delta soldiers. Eight died. The mission was scrubbed. An opportunity was lost. Men died. But in the immediate days later, President Carter wanted a mission ready to go on a moment’s notice if it became apparent that the lives of the hostages were in imminent danger.

The 2^nd shot at a rescue would require coordination of a Naval aircraft carrier group, Air Force transport and fighter support, Army Delta and Rangers, and on-ground surveillance (CIA). A whole bunch of folks not used to talking with each other much less working together. Who answers to whom was at issue. The commander of the Eagle Claw rescue wanted a direct line to the White House, not the normal circuitous route ‘up the chain’ for approval. Targets could disappear while the military stepped all over itself to get the go-no go answer. 

This new organization under discussion in 1980 was be just that. A mostly autonomous military organization designed not along the lines of the traditional military. Rather, this group would be charged with getting in fast, fixing the problem fast, and get out quietly leaving as little of a footprint as possible . . . at the behest of the Joint Chiefs and President. 

The genesis of JSOC.

Being a history book, the birth of JSOC begins a journey through the labyrinth of the military and Pentagon. Commanders and command structure changed regularly. Spec Op units come and go. Weapons begin as a jury-rigged contraption that end up going into production. Information gathering starts out by piggybacking with the CIA before JSOC develops its own network. Electronic surveillance techniques, that began as more of an exercise by some nerd soldiers before accelerating the field of electronic surveillance, cell phone tracking, and designing the protocols and equipment that brought real time surveillance using drones. And from surveillance drones came armed drones.And the military is trying to keep up with the technology at home and with an increasingly sophisticated enemy.

The bulk of the book (and it's a beast. Text, notes, glossary, index comes in at 540 pages) is about how each new commander tweaked JSOC operations to meet their vision. Lots of organizational revisions and the mandatory acronyms the military is known for. Select missions are described to make a point, not for the salacious details. The Bin Laden raid, the subject of books and movies, is told in just a couple pages because finding him and tracking him was JSOC’s mission and that is where Naylor spends considerable effort. Finding him was hard. Killing him was the easy part.

Mission successes and failures alike are revealed. Training locations for JSOC strikes in both the US and the world are discussed about what made each location important. Locations of this developing cadre of elite, secretive soldiers get attention, a couple of which are nearby.

How’d I learn about this book? I teach an online class twice a year. In it, I do a series of group  ‘zoom' calls. I logged in early and one student was there. Just chitchatting, I asked where he lived (Texas), what was his ‘day job’ (retired military), what branch of the service was he in (Army), what was his MOS (military occupational specialty – military-speak for ‘his job’). He said Spec Ops. 

That got my attention. Now Spec Ops can mean command (the micromanagers), logistics (getting people and equipment from point A to point B), operations (the day-to-day stuff of a military unit), or the operators (the hard men who carry out the missions). Probably a dozen others MOS operations to support those gun-carrying operators. I mentioned that I like to read espionage thrillers and those can involve CIA, FBI, LEO, and the military. He said, ‘I worked for JSOC. Heard of it?’ Yeah. Of course. From those espionage books. Said he’s retired but he sometimes ‘gets called back in’ and, that 'you never know, I might be called back in during this class' (he hasn’t yet). Never said what his MOS was in the JSOC spiderweb of connections. He can’t.

He asked if I’d read Relentless Strike. Never heard of it. He said get it. It’s good. A history book that reads almost like a novel. Thoroughly researched and reported. But since its publication, the author (an award winning reporter with special expertise and connections in special operations) has been shunned by the spec ops community. Ex-communicated if you will. I asked why and was told me it was because Naylor did the indefensible. He had pulled the curtain back on an organization that is obsessive about mission security and silence. A neighbor of my daughter is a pilot out of Ft. Bragg (Delta and 86^th Airborne home) and he flies spec op missions. All his flights are secret even from his wife. When he's called, she has no clue where he's going or when he’ll be back. He’s read the book. Yes, the author is persona-non-Grata in the spec op community.

I asked if he (the pilot) is JSOC. He didn’t respond.

City of the Dead