Storyteller

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I just wanted to touch base and let everyone know I'm still here. Things have been a bit hectic in my life, and will probably continue to be so over the next few weeks. I have been doing much better with my writing, becoming more regular (not yet daily, but much closer). I actually have a writing nook in my bedroom now! Actually, it is just a small student desk I picked up at Walmart for $49. But I love it and couldn't be happier! My reading has been going great; I just finished my tenth book for the month of January. And to top everything off, we actually got about six inches of snow here, with another inch of sleet on top. A bit of a late birthday present for me, but I'll take it nonetheless.

What I actually want to briefly focus on is another gem of a writer that I have discovered. As I documented below in my previous post, I've had an amazing run of discovering "new" authors; at least they are new to me. This lastest gem that I've discovered is Gord Rollo. In the past month, I've read his books The Jigsaw Man and Strange Magic (his newest release). Gord is one of those few authors that I've had the pleasure of reading that I would call a storyteller. To me, this is a rare talent and there are not a lot of folks I'd put in that category. The few off the top of my head are Scott Nicholson, Stephen King, and Brian Keene.

A storyteller, at least in my opinion, is someone who knows how to engage the reader, and keep the reader's attention throughout the entire story. Gord demonstrated this to me in the two books I've read by him. He doesn't go for the gross-out to grab the reader's attention (but believe me, there are some gross parts in his writing). Gord invites you to become invested in the characters, and to begin to care for them. He also piques your interest in the story, building up the suspense with each successive page. With both of these books, he had me wanting to turn the page to find out what was going to happen next. And probably my favorite aspect of his storytelling is that he knows how to end a book. I won't ruin it for those of you have not read either of these works, but Gord knows how to deliver in the end, building up to the climax and then delivering a not-so-cookie-cutter ending.

If you have not read his work, I'd suggest you start with The Jigsaw Man. Personally, I have yet to read his work Crimson. Honestly, I don't want to right now because I won't have anything else to read by him until his next work is published! But I would love to see Gord acheive success in his writing endeavors, and I would encourage you to check out my new favorite Canadian author. Eh?