I’m an award-winning author with a new book of fiction out this fall. Ugly To Start With is a series of thirteen interrelated stories about childhood published by West Virginia University Press.
Can I interest you in reviewing it?
If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I can email you a PDF of my book. If you require a bound copy, please ask, and I will forward your reply to my publisher. Or you can write directly to Abby Freeland at:
Here’s what Jacob Appel, celebrated author of
Dyads and The Vermin Episode, says about my new collection: “In Ugly to Start With, set in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Cummings tackles the challenges of boyhood adventure and family conflict in a taut, crystalline style that captures the triumphs and tribulations of small-town life. He has a gift for transcending the particular experiences to his characters to capture the universal truths of human affection and suffering–emotional truths that the members of his audience will recognize from their own experiences of childhood and adolescence.”
My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story “The Scratchboard Project” received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.
I am also the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group, 2009), winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades 7-12) and one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY.
I am so excited that I found your blog! We follow each other on pinterest and I am a certified book hoarder! Reading all of the books in my house that I have purchased is on my bucket list. I am a huge fan of our library and keep reserving books as I read great reviews, so I feel that the books on my nightstand are collecting dust.
How is listening to “The Orphan Master’s Son”? I had a very difficult time reading it for long stretches, but learned so much about North Korea! Unbelievably heartbreaking!
Thanks Jennifer! We know! We know! We keep hoping these great releases in 2012 slow up a bit so that we can get to our old piles! And our library is doing an amazing job at bringing in all the latest and greatest! It’s hard to keep up!
Jackie is listening to the Orphan Master’s Son and says the narration is wonderful! She too has commented about learning much about North Korea. Thanks for stopping by and we hope to hear from you more too!
Hi BookHoarders – I’m thrilled to have found you! I will read more of your reviews, and will probably end up asking you to review my new mystery Danger in the Air, but right now I’m just enjoying knowing you 3 are out there. My book piles are always about the same height no matter what, ever changing, and often humming to me to just stop and go back to the shameless voracious reading I did as a child…Thanks for your delicious style.
In sisterhood,
Dusty Miller
Hi Eve, I checked our public library’s site and this is the info they have down:
Publisher: [s.l.] : – Time Warner AudioBooks .ISBN: 1586212702 .Performers: Read by Kyra Sedgwick.
I also checked after reading this but unfortunately, it appears that this is the only book Kyra read for.
In 2012 I published a book entitled “Sweet Scent of Justice.” It is a faith-based, true crime book about my sister, Kathy’s murder that happened in 1981. In 2006 God allowed us to bring her killer to justice in a most unusual way. My book focuses on the faith that my family had during the time of her death and also the years we searched for her killer. It also focuses on the forgiveness that we share for her killer. In March of this year my story was the focus of an episode on the show, “On the Case With Paula Zahn.” God has really opened many doors to allow me to share my testimony on a nationa level. I would love to send you a copy of my book to review. You can find more information about my story at debbiewilson.org.
literary hoarders 
re: book review request by award-winning author
Dear Literary Hoarders:
I’m an award-winning author with a new book of fiction out this fall. Ugly To Start With is a series of thirteen interrelated stories about childhood published by West Virginia University Press.
Can I interest you in reviewing it?
If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I can email you a PDF of my book. If you require a bound copy, please ask, and I will forward your reply to my publisher. Or you can write directly to Abby Freeland at:
Abby.Freeland@mail.wvu.edu
My publisher, I should add, can also offer your readers a free excerpt of my book through a link from your blog to my publisher’s website:
http://wvupressonline.com/cummings_ugly_to_start_with_9781935978084
Here’s what Jacob Appel, celebrated author of
Dyads and The Vermin Episode, says about my new collection: “In Ugly to Start With, set in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Cummings tackles the challenges of boyhood adventure and family conflict in a taut, crystalline style that captures the triumphs and tribulations of small-town life. He has a gift for transcending the particular experiences to his characters to capture the universal truths of human affection and suffering–emotional truths that the members of his audience will recognize from their own experiences of childhood and adolescence.”
My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story “The Scratchboard Project” received an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories 2007.
I am also the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group, 2009), winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades 7-12) and one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY.
For more information about me, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Cummings
Thank you very much, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Kindly,
John Michael Cummings
I am so excited that I found your blog! We follow each other on pinterest and I am a certified book hoarder! Reading all of the books in my house that I have purchased is on my bucket list. I am a huge fan of our library and keep reserving books as I read great reviews, so I feel that the books on my nightstand are collecting dust.
How is listening to “The Orphan Master’s Son”? I had a very difficult time reading it for long stretches, but learned so much about North Korea! Unbelievably heartbreaking!
Thanks Jennifer! We know! We know! We keep hoping these great releases in 2012 slow up a bit so that we can get to our old piles! And our library is doing an amazing job at bringing in all the latest and greatest! It’s hard to keep up!
Jackie is listening to the Orphan Master’s Son and says the narration is wonderful! She too has commented about learning much about North Korea. Thanks for stopping by and we hope to hear from you more too!
Hi BookHoarders – I’m thrilled to have found you! I will read more of your reviews, and will probably end up asking you to review my new mystery Danger in the Air, but right now I’m just enjoying knowing you 3 are out there. My book piles are always about the same height no matter what, ever changing, and often humming to me to just stop and go back to the shameless voracious reading I did as a child…Thanks for your delicious style.
In sisterhood,
Dusty Miller
Hi Dusty,
Thanks for stopping by and staying to read for a bit. Much appreciated!
Per year end review: Sea Glass by Anita Shreve narrated by Kyra Sedgwick. Cannot find it anywhere. Do you have any suggestions? ISBN might be helpful.
Hi Eve, I checked our public library’s site and this is the info they have down:
Publisher: [s.l.] : – Time Warner AudioBooks .ISBN: 1586212702 .Performers: Read by Kyra Sedgwick.
I also checked after reading this but unfortunately, it appears that this is the only book Kyra read for.
In 2012 I published a book entitled “Sweet Scent of Justice.” It is a faith-based, true crime book about my sister, Kathy’s murder that happened in 1981. In 2006 God allowed us to bring her killer to justice in a most unusual way. My book focuses on the faith that my family had during the time of her death and also the years we searched for her killer. It also focuses on the forgiveness that we share for her killer. In March of this year my story was the focus of an episode on the show, “On the Case With Paula Zahn.” God has really opened many doors to allow me to share my testimony on a nationa level. I would love to send you a copy of my book to review. You can find more information about my story at debbiewilson.org.