Summary of Previous Chapters 17 I didn’t like to think about why I’d waited decades to return to Barrington. My mother abused prescription drugs and alcohol and Dad had a hard time keeping a job—could high school have been anything I was eager to revisit? Leaving from the airport in San Francisco, I scribbled down […]
The Sureness of Horses, Chapters 17, 18, and 19 Read More »
Summary of Previous Chapters 13 In January the rains came. Storms rolled in from the Pacific, one after another, releasing torrents, until late in the month. The first morning the sun came out, I called Diana and asked her to meet me at the ranch over my lunch hour. I arrived at the barn early
The Sureness of Horses, Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 Read More »
He pulled his rifle and rucksack from the trunk of his Buick, then stepped out of the abandoned cattle shed and into the sunlight. To the south, a rusty barbed-wire fence separated ranch land from public domain. He scanned the hills beyond the fence. A local rancher had told him mule deer grazed just a
The sunset shrouded the bay in a mantle of gold. Ben scanned the horizon from his second-floor balcony and then leaned forward in his chair to gain a clearer view of his front yard. The jacaranda trees were in full bloom, their lush petals a purple canopy for anyone strolling up the path to his
Man Martin’s third novel will appear in May, 2017 from Unbridled Books. The book suggests a corollary to James A. Michener’s quote, “If your book doesn’t keep you up nights when you are writing it, it won’t keep anyone up nights reading it.” The corollary is that if your book doesn’t keep you chuckling writing it, don’t
The Shandean Spirit Lives on—Man Martin’s The Lemon Jell-o Syndrome Read More »
With my novel, The Sureness of Horses, available now, twelve years after I started, in hardcover, softback, and eBook forms, I took a few minutes to look back at some of the things I’d heard about writing that helped me finish the process. I’ve divided it into Beginnings, Middles, and Endings. Beginnings: “How is writing
How to Throw a Novel Together in Twelve Years or Less Read More »