Summer Fiction List: News

June 2, 2017January 7, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

It has been a few weeks since I announced I would be compiling a Summer Fiction List of all the books that I plan to read this summer. I have had difficulty in coming up with this list and I believe it is because I get overwhelmed when I plan out what I’m going to read.

So I have decided I will post little lists incrementally throughout the summer, biting off pieces that I can chew so I don’t choke.

Here is this first ‘little’ Summer Fiction List,

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
One Select Philip K. Dick Novel
Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King
One Select Novel by Neil Gaiman, (I’m thinking American Gods)
One or More Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling

First one on the list is NOT an easy read. I tried starting Infinite Jest last winter with my boyfriend but we didn’t get very far. It is a modest 981 pages but I want to try again.

I love Philip K. Dick but have not read much of his work, I want to do this this summer.

Since it is a new King novel, I am curious, so I plan on reading Gwendy’s Button Box.

I have attempted reading American Gods a couple times but life always distracts me from finishing. I want to finish American gods this summer.

I have been on a Harry Potter binge for the last eight months. I’ve read every single one since then and am currently on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

I am looking forward to getting some reading done this summer. I want to broaden my horizons and read more than just stacks of Poetry since that is what I always end up doing (this is not a bad thing but I need to explore other areas more frequently).

If anyone has any suggestions for fiction, please leave title and author info in a comment below and let me know why you would recommend it.

Lastly, I want to say Thank You to all my followers and daily readers that have continued to read my writing and frequent announcement posts.

THANK YOU!

-Alina

Writing Fiction: My First Novel

Flash Fiction Series #1: The Cup

May 26, 2017June 18, 2023 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Here’s the first of many weekly Flash Fiction pieces I will be posting. All pieces will have less than 150 words.

The Cup

The dog barks at the sound of the mail man shuffling onto the porch. Marie walks into the kitchen, the coffee maker almost done gurgles the last bits of hot water and spits out the hot black nectar. She pours herself a cup and listens to the dog walking through the house. There is something a little hard, a little chewy in her mouth. She sighs, frustrated, getting rinds in her coffee again? Marie dumps out the rest of her cup into the sink, her stomach turns. The dead washed up body of a giant spider lays lifeless in a pool of coffee slowly dripping down the drain, a leg missing.

THE END

Announcement: Flash Fiction and more!

May 20, 2017January 7, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I will be posting ‘Flash Fiction’ pieces (100 words or less) starting next week. This is my way of practicing while also showing my creative process!

There will be one or two posts a week of my flash fiction next to my regular ‘Free Hand’ poetry posts.

Also, I am still working on building my Summer 2017 Fiction Book List, as well as a list of all the ‘How-to-‘ books on Poetry and Flash Fiction that I have read.

I want to thank all the people that have decided to follow me (106). I was amazed when I finally had a hundred people following my blog (sometime last week) and wanted to say thank you!

I look forward to this summer and cannot wait to correspond with others on wordpress about poetry and flash fiction (when the time comes)!

Thank You,

Alina

Writing Fiction: My First Novel

Questions about Writers Resist

May 13, 2017April 2, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I’ve been reading about Writers Resist. An organization to defend democracy and rights in America in which writers get together and use their talents to resist corruption. I’m interested by this since for the past five months I’ve been struggling along with everyone else at the state of our Nation and the politics that are now becoming a very large obsession in everyone’s day to day lives. The feeling of tension and uncertainty is almost palpable sometimes. It’s hard to adjust to this extremely hyperactive obsessive society and I feel like at this moment the fight for human rights is as important as ever.

I am trying to familiarize myself with the Writers Resist and was wondering if anyone had more information on this.

I’ve noticed that there are two websites,

www.writersresist.org/

and

www.writersresist.com/

I am going to keep researching this movement and would love to take part. But I would like to know the differences between the two sites and if these differences relate to a solid organization versus an informal gathering and events. I will post my findings soon. Please leave any info or reflections on Writers Resist in comments below.

-Alina

Book Lists: Sample My Favorite Fiction

May 10, 2017January 7, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Here are some of my favorite fiction books…just a taste.

Ulysses by James Joyce

Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald

Their Eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Fall by Albert Camus

Drive by James Sallis

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

I will be posting more lists soon. Expect a Summer 2017 Book List which will include books I want to read this summer with a follow up at the end of the summer on which books I read and my reflection on them.

If you are reading this Thank You for taking time out of your day to read my writing! I hope you return in the future!

-Alina

Writing Fiction: My First Novel