My Greatest Satisfaction

My greatest satisfaction is to think of a story and write it as I want to see it in my mind’s eye.” [Somerset Maugham]

Maugham has an uncanny ability to both shock the reader and put them at ease at the same time—what I call “comfort in conflict.”

It intrigues me that Maugham could visualize his stories, then put that vision onto paper to share with others; something that even well-known authors fail to do. I remember scanning a small library aboard a cruise ship and finally choosing a Dan Brown novel. After a few chapters I was ready to throw it overboard because it was too fanciful. Although I finished the book, I decided to never read Dan Brown again. Yet, I was thankful to Dan Brown for helping me decide to never write a novel that was saturated with conjecture and full of impossibilities. For the record, I am not a fan of Maugham, but admire his concise writing. He never wastes words (see my previous post) and, therefore, gets through “a lot” in a few pages, taking the reader on an adventure. This, for Maugham, was the perfect formula for his short stories. Let me finish with a crisp Maugham quote:

Only a mediocre person is always at his best. ”

Rave Review from Books Monthly (UK)

In 3 Wise Men James Hayden takes a formula that’s been tried and tested by Dan Brown, turns it on its head and brings in an edge of seat thriller based on fact and markedly better than any of Brown’s thin and insubstantial efforts. This is a classic thriller with fairly short chapters, which is always good, punchy, gritty realism, gloriously exotic locations and chapter endings that leave you hanging, another tried and tested formula that began with Edgar Rice Burroughs back at the turn of the last century. Thrillers don’t come much better than this – huge fun and very entertaining!

from: booksmonthlyreviews

 

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