Happy Holidays

The year has come to an end and it’s time to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. For many of us, that means road trips and travel.

When I travel with my family, I try to stock us up with a selection of good tunes and audio books to enjoy. May I load you up too?

If you’re looking for something to listen to, perhaps you’d like to hear some of my radio readings from Baltimore’s NPR station, WYPR. You can find more than a dozen of them, set to music, at www.EricDGoodman.com/radio.html.

And, if you’re looking for material to fill your new e-reader, may I invite you to www.TracksNovel.com?

Whether you’re staying home or traveling home, I’d like to wish you a warm holiday season and a happy, healthy 2015.

Twenty Years

A lot can happen in 20 years. Life events pass by quickly and, before you know it, decades have passed. So many things change. And so many more stay the same.

Twenty years ago last March, I was a college student who was thrilled to be on his way to Russia as part of a university study abroad exchange. Twenty years ago last March, I found myself a stranger in a strange land. It was 1994, and I was one of the first foreigners allowed inside the closed city of Nizhniy Novgorod. On my first day in the city, I made eye contact with Nataliya.

Twenty years ago in April, we went on our first date. We dined at a nice restaurant (Dom Aktora), had a few drinks at the Admiral Cafe, and sat together on the side of a hill as we overlooked the Volga River.

Twenty years ago this week, Nataliya and I were married.

Rather than renew our vows, we renewed our first date. We dined at a nice restaurant (Sotto Sopra), had drinks at Tio Pepe's, and sat together on the side of Federal Hill as we overlooked Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

A lot can happen in 20 years. Life events pass by quickly and, before you know it, decades have passed. So many things change. And so many more stay the same.

Here's to the next 20 years going by much more slowly, but being every bit as rewarding.

One-Night Book Stands

Late Last Night Books is a blogzine about fiction written by novelists. I was asked to write a guest blog forblogzine about dialogue. The result is “Breaking Bad Dialogue: Be Careful Who You Talk For.”

“You’ve probably heard the advice before: be careful who you talk to. But when dealing with dialogue, it’s even more important to be careful who you talk for.”

Breaking bad dialogue can go a long way to improving your writing—and your reading experience.

Read the blog at the following link.

http://latelastnightbooks.com/2014/12/01/eric-d-goodman-secrets-good-dialogue/

 

Latest A-Tracks-tion

Over the past few years, Tracks: A Novel in Stories has received a good number of positive reviews and endorsements. The latest review featured on Amazon and Goodreads comes from someone after a second reading of the book!

 

Poet and author Shirley J. Brewer had this to say.

 

“Goodman's novel-in-stories captivated me, not once but twice! And I found the second reading even richer, as I delved into the lives of passengers on a train traveling from Baltimore to Chicago. Goodman skillfully weaves his stories into a seamless "track" - not a sleeper in the bunch! He allows us to see his characters in numerous stories - sometimes as features, other times as accessories.

“The author takes us on a journey beyond the faces and facades of passengers, revealing their inner doubts and hopes. I found myself caring deeply for these fictional characters, empathizing with their dramas and dreams. As the hit man, Charlie, concludes: "So many people going in the same direction, yet all headed for different places."

Read the full review—and feel free to leave one of your own if you read Tracks—at her Amazon Review Page.

www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A14QX62NSZ392/ref=pdp_new_read_full_review_link?ie=UTF8&page=1&sort_by=MostRecentReview#RE3EFJAS0ZFK4