Win a Signed Copy of THE MARK
Here's your chance to win an autographed copy of THE MARK, my debut novel. The book is hot off the press, and won't be in stores until June 26th. Click here to check out advance reviews for THE MARK.
To win, simply post a comment to this blog containing the following:
The title and author of a book that has had a profound influence on your life and/or career
The winner will be chosen at random, and announced this Thurday. Best of luck!
posted by Jason Pinter at
11:58 AM
17 Comments:
THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler. That was my touchstone for my first novel.
DOWN BY THE RIVER WHERE THE DEAD ME GO, by George Pelecanos. This book really showed me what you could do with crime fiction.
THE BEANS OF EGYPT, MAINE by Carolyn Chute. I read it when I was 18, and it was the first time I realized it was okay to tell stories about society's losers. Everything I've written since--be it crime fiction, "literary" fiction or poetry--has been influenced by my first encounter with that novel.
DEATH OF A CITIZEN by Donald Hamilton. This book not only brought me into the mystery fold but taught me how to live my life. (For better or for worse.)
This comment has been removed by the author.
THE BLACK STALLION By Walter Farley. The very first novel I ever read. And so begins a lifelong obsession with the written word.
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card. The book had a big influence on my decision to start writing in the first place, and I consider myself a student of Card's style. Aside from that, the themes and content of this book of his were particularly powerful to me.
Chris
I've read so many books in so many genres during my lifetime, it's difficult to pick out the one that made me think, "Hey, maybe I can do this!"
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL comes to mind. It rolls high adventure, romance, human suffering and redemption into one rollicking plot. That's the stuff I want to write, except in a contemporary setting.
I forgot to add the author: Baroness Orczy. Nice name, huh?
BURN MARKS by Sara Paretsky. Before I read this book, I thought mysteries were all Agatha Christie and English gardens and little old ladies. I had no idea women protagonists could be so empowered and kickass, since I'd spent several years reading depressing Oprah books with depressing women protagonists. After I read BURN MARKS, I discovered myriad other women crime writers writing kickass women protagonists and I knew what I wanted to write. What I had to write.
Marathon Man and The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS by Kent Harrington. Harrington's elegant and efficient writing places you in the middle of the action as you live the 24 hour period with the characters in Mexico. This is the darkest noir I have ever read and I have to reread it at least once a year. It has affected my life in that it shows you now matter how screwed up things get, they still can get a whole worst.
PET SEMETARY by Stephen King. It was the first adult novel I read. I was about 9 or 10 and, once I finished it, I kicked my Sweet Valley High books to the curb. It opened up a new world.
THE CLOISTER WALK by Kathleen Norris. On a very personal level.
FLOOD, by Andrew Vachss. That was the first book I purchased when I started collecting first edition mysteries years ago, and it's a hobby/obsession that I enjoy as much today as I did then. He was also the first author I ever went to meet at a signing event.
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. It proved to me you can take something "fluffy" like a horse story and balance it with tragedy and a semi-happy ending. At the end of the book you are on a higher note, but you are subtly reminded of everything the main character went through to get to his peaceful place.
Yo! by Julia Alvarez. It made me believe that our stories as Hispanics are beautiful and that one day I could contribute my own.
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