FEATURED AUTHOR - A beach; a mystery; a bubbly drink: Ritu's favorite vacation day. She has spent years living in both Montreal and Vancouver--which inspired the settings of Book 1 and Book 2 of the Gray James Mystery Series respectively. Ritu won the Colorado Gold Award for the first in the Chief Inspector Gray James Murder Mystery Series, His Hand In the Storm. As our Author of the Day, she tells us about the second book, Kill Me Why?, which is currently an Amazon bestseller.
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Terry Goodkind is another good example of an author who just can't keep his own warped views out of his books and end up preaching at the readers throughout most of them. Just read the Sword of Truth series for an example of how bad it can get. Not only is Goodkind very anti communism and pro capitalism, but he also appears to hate pacifism and has a huge appreciation of Objectivism. He tries his best to dress up his views in a nice fantasy disguise, but it is impossible to read the books without feeling like the author is trying his best to convince you about his beliefs.
The only other one I can think of right now is Gennady Stolyarov II, with the novel Eden Against The Colossus. It is a science fiction novel that is steeped in Objectivist propaganda. The "hero" of the story is a scientist who discovers a distant planet that is occupied by an alien species unlike anything ever seen before. While observing these aliens, the scientist notices how destructive their nature is and uses it as an opportunity to praise the virtues of Objectivism.
It is a bit older, but I would recommend the Pete Dexter novel, Deadwood, as well. I think a lot of people tend to overlook this novel because they think that the HBO television series was based on it. While the show shared some eery similarities with the book, the producer of the show claimed to have never read the book. Whether you want to believe him or not, the one thing that the book has, which the television show did not, is an actual ending. If you are still upset that Deadwood was canceled before the show could finish the story, then you should definitely read the book.
Rucker was a Victorian who wrote Elizabethan prose. I found it hard to approach. I discovered that what I had to do was stop trying to actively read the book, and sit back and let the book read itself to me. Once I did, the prose went down like fine cognac, and it's become one of my favorite volumes. I understood why Ursula Le Guin praised it in her books "The Languages of the Night" where she discussed the use of language in fantasy, and was put off by some works because the prose simply didn't fit the story or the setting.
Another I'm reading at the moment is James Joyce's Ulysses (also here at https://manybooks.net/titles/joycejametext03ulyss12.html)
One suggestion I found helpful was to read Joyce *aloud*. His primary sense was hearing, and he was trying to reproduce what he heard on his legendary walks through Dublin. Reading his work aloud helps to get the rythym and cadence of his prose.
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Dennis