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I was asked to evaluate psychiatrically, Mr. Smith, a Workers Compensation claimant. While working in construction, he struck his head, sustaining a brief loss of consciousness. At a nearby hospital, he was examined, x-rayed, had an MRI and follow up examinations. No abnormalities were noted.
Read more on Psychology Today >>
The Foot Soldier has been named as a finalist in the 2014 Benjamin Franklin Awards competition, in the Popular Fiction category.
A single 2014 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award winner will be chosen from the finalists in each category and announced during a ceremony to be held Wednesday evening, May 28, 2014 in New York City. There were more than 1500 entries and The Foot Soldier is one of the finalists in the category of Popular Fiction.
Being a finalist brings attention to the novella, which is the best way I can think of to help our veterans. Every cent earned from sales of The Foot Soldier is going to www.DAV.org, which provides physical and emotional help to our veterans returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and to veterans of the Vietnam War.
To learn more about how you can help returning veterans, you can find some great resources here.
I read an article in which the novelist, Kristopher Jansma, explored the issue of finding the proper ending for a novel. He was plagued by the question of leaving the ending ambiguous, or of tying things up in a neat knot—one that would leave the reader “satisfied.”
The article referenced Aristotle, and Rowling, and quoted Chekhov and Vonnegut, saying among other things, “a novel aims not to represent just a slice of life, but the whole of it. We need more than just artfully posed questions. We expect to know unambiguously who is virtuous and who is corrupt, and have a novelist mete out fates accordingly.”
The author commented on the occasional need for an ambiguous ending to a novel, quoting from The Gotham Writer’s Guide.
Read more on the Huffington Post >>
Our veterans are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with very little support from the VA, which has suffered from financial cutbacks. The Foot Soldier is now ranked #10,000 on Amazon. Please help move it up to #5,000 by downloading it on Kindle for 99 cents. It’s also available as a paperback for $3.49. This 50 page novella is a story of right versus wrong and has a 4.8 star rating on Amazon. All author’s proceeds are being donated to www.DAV.org to help with rehabilitation services for our veterans. Here is the link to Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/nw4dpfk.
Many thanks for your help.
Mark Rubinstein
This is just a thought about what it means to be a writer.
I recently read an article claiming that readers who flip to the end of a thriller to check what will happen have more fun than those who endure the suspense to eventually learn the outcome. I found this difficult to believe. The study cited research done by the University of California at San Diego’s Psychology Department, which gave subjects short stories by Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl and John Updike.
To quote from the article, “Subjects significantly preferred the spoiled versions of ironic-twist stories, where, for example, it was revealed before reading that a condemned man’s daring escape is all a fantasy before the noose snaps tight around his neck. The same held true for mysteries. Knowing ahead of time that Poirot will discover the apparent target of attempted murder is, in fact, the perpetrator not only didn’t hurt enjoyment of the story, but actually improved it.”
Read more on the Huffington Post >>
I was making psychiatric rounds at a nursing home where I visited weekly. Occasionally, elderly residents became agitated, as much a result of confinement and lack of stimulation, as from dementia.
One morning, while I was reading charts, an aide approached me saying, “Mrs. Barnes hasn’t come out of her room in three days. I looked in on her and she was crying. I think you ought to check her out.”
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When I look at the faces of my dogs, I see innocence and love. I see loyalty beyond comprehension. I see everything good about living in the world; and seeing them each day enriches my life to a degree that is indescribable. I truly believe the sentiments of Schopenhauer are correct:
One spring morning, while entering the nursing home, I held the door open for a middle-aged man who was leaving. As he crossed the door’s threshold, an alarm sounded, and two security guards emerged, then guided him back into the facility. A petite, dark-haired woman approached, thanked the guards, and spoke soothingly to him. I could tell she was his wife.
“He’s new, Doc,” said a guard. “He’s much younger than the other residents and people don’t think he’s a patient. They let him out. So we have an ankle monitor on him.”
Approaching the couple, I spoke with his wife as Charles was escorted to his room. He’d been a resident for only four weeks. At 55, he suffered from early onset dementia which had progressed rapidly.
Read more on Psychology Today >>
I occasionally read a novel in which there are many references to popular culture in the storyline. This is particularly true in James Hynes’s hauntingly disturbing and must-read novel, Next. Among other popular cultural references, Next reads:
“…so he orders an iced tea.
“With legs?” says the golden blond, absently pressing a key on the register.
“Pardon?” Starbucks is like its own country, you have to know the silly argot.
“To go?” says the fortysomething woman, in a rising Texas singsong. “’With legs’ means ‘to go.’”
Read more on the Huffington Post >>