Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for all writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether they are newcomers or old hands, students or instructors, amateurs or professionals. As the always clear and direct Stein explains here, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable sol...
The Magician is a tale of two magicians, of high school extortion and violence, and of a criminal trial in which the guilty go free. Selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club, The Magician has sold over one million copies."A shark-like bite that won't be easily forgotten. Fast moving, incisive, angr...
"Stein attains a new level of achievement that demonstrates his ability to write as well as, and perhaps better than, most of the novelists he publishes... It's the sort of book you hate to stop reading." --"John Barkham Reviews""If you bury yourself in a Sol Stein book while walking, you will wa...
"It's good to be ambitious. Only remember, the nearer you get to the front of the line, the more people with knives can see your back."That's Louie Riller giving advice to his son, Ben, who happens to be the most successful producer on Broadway. Louie Riller himself happens to be long dead. "Joan...
He walked rapidly, despite his heavy briefcase. As he overtook the girl, the anonymous and interesting blondness changed; in profile she had a rather ordinary face. What was all the excitement about? He knew, of course. Elizabeth had brought a sense of spring and sexuality back into his life. Now...
I’d tell myself that my parents, Salvatore and Mary Carducci, didn’t settle in one of the Little Italys on the East Coast but went on to Minnesota because everyone there was so blond. The truth is they came from a small town in the north of Italy, and everybody from there either went to Argentina...
So must the characters we create be motivated by what they want. The driving force of characters is their desire.Inexperienced writers, sometimes ill read in the great works of their own and previous times, often try to write novels with a relatively passive protagonist who wants little or has la...
He waited for the laughter to subside. “While I do not necessarily consider myself among friends…” Again, the laughter. “…I speak to you about a problem that only now seems to have captured our attention. For years some of us in the labor movement have suggested that the work week for blue-collar...