Which of your stories or books best represents you as a writer? In other words, which work represents your Personal Best? Tell us a bit about it in the Comments.
12 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Which Story Is Your Best Work?”
The last one I published.
I agree with Harvey. That’s the aim, at least. I will say, however, I’m proud of my stand-alone historical novel, Glimpses of Paradise. It’s the longest book I’ve written and entailed the most research. It starts in 1916 Nebraska, goes through France in WWI, and finishes in Los Angeles during the Roaring 20s. It has two main POVs, and one minor one. I spent hours and hours at the central library in downtown L.A., poring over microfiches and rooting out primary sources.
According to the sales numbers, of all my fiction books, the first I published is the best. And its story is also dearest to my heart. (Maybe that is why the sales are best on this one 🙂 ). It tells the story of my father, an orphan of the World War II, on his quest to find his family.
That’s like asking me which is my best kid. But since I try to grow, I’d have to say I agree with Harvey. My last release is generally the best. Although it’s available now, it’s officially releasing tomorrow, so we’ll see whether any readers agree.
Based on sales, it’s my first book, based on ratings, it’s my 8th book (out of 10), but my personal favorite is my third book as the setting is a ski resort I visit every season. Every time I’m in the town or on the ski lifts, I visualize the action from the book.
Thank you for asking. Of course, I’m lousy at judging my own work, but, based on some positive feedback from friends, family and literary professionals, it could be one of the following:
A nonfiction piece, “Lessons from a Horseplayer”, about my mother, raised on an abusive, dirt-poor, tobacco-road Kentucky farm, who escaped to Chicago with a deep scorn for racist white trash and empathy for the blacks they persecuted. Chicago’s Arlington Park was where she learned to play the ponies with impressive success. Published in Canyon Voices Literary Magazine, Issue 14, Fall 2016.
A fiction piece, “Quasi-Tame Shrinking Felines vs. Throwback Expanding Canines”, about the interaction between two domestic cats and a family of coywolves, forthcoming in Evening Street Review.
With appreciation for the KillZone content from all of you that has informed my writing on this one, a historical/crime novel, and a commenced sequel, involving the Teamsters, the Mob and college-age vigilantes in northern New Jersey, based in part on my summers working in a Teamsters warehouse under the sway of mobsters, including Anthony “Tony Pro” Provanzano (Genovese crime family capo and one of the reputed killers of Jimmy Hoffa) and his soldiers.
I’d say my new Angela Richman novella, ICE BLONDE. It’s fast moving and has an offbeat solution.
I’d have to say Touching Madness, a contemporary fantasy/thriller about a homeless man with schizophrenia who is able to accidentally fracture dimensional barriers and falls into alternate dimensions. The character was inspired by conversations with my mother as she descended into Alzheimer’s, conversations that often left me feeling as though I’d slipped into an alternate dimension. I hoped that readers would embrace my crazy, lovable character and think again about how they viewed people with a mental illness.
I think my best work is the trilogy I just finished and published this week: The Dead Dog Trilogy.
It’s the story of a woman who is flawed and damaged but trying to make things right, while also tracking a dead serial killer.
It’s a 3-novel boxed set.
After writing pretty much my whole life, I think I’ve finally truly found my voice. Hopefully, it’s one that readers want to read.
Anyway, thanks for asking.
Annie
I think it’ll always be my most recently published book. 😀 Lately, I think it’s the novella I just finished, about two wizards falling in love while rebuilding a city destroyed by a war. I’m jokingly calling it Love and Infrastructure. I’ve got a riveting discussion about fractured water and sewer lines. 😀
I’d go with STAYING ALIVE, the final installment in my Miami Crime Trilogy and my most recent published novel. However, I have two more novels in the can which I think are better. They begin a new series set in Miami Beach in the early 1950s.
But isn’t our most recent book always supposed to be our best? I would hate to think I reached my peak some time ago and then tailed off.
My answer to this question is always the same: The one I’m writing now. It has to be that way, otherwise, there’s no incentive if I were to think my best book was behind me.
The last one I published.
I agree with Harvey. That’s the aim, at least. I will say, however, I’m proud of my stand-alone historical novel, Glimpses of Paradise. It’s the longest book I’ve written and entailed the most research. It starts in 1916 Nebraska, goes through France in WWI, and finishes in Los Angeles during the Roaring 20s. It has two main POVs, and one minor one. I spent hours and hours at the central library in downtown L.A., poring over microfiches and rooting out primary sources.
According to the sales numbers, of all my fiction books, the first I published is the best. And its story is also dearest to my heart. (Maybe that is why the sales are best on this one 🙂 ). It tells the story of my father, an orphan of the World War II, on his quest to find his family.
That’s like asking me which is my best kid. But since I try to grow, I’d have to say I agree with Harvey. My last release is generally the best. Although it’s available now, it’s officially releasing tomorrow, so we’ll see whether any readers agree.
Based on sales, it’s my first book, based on ratings, it’s my 8th book (out of 10), but my personal favorite is my third book as the setting is a ski resort I visit every season. Every time I’m in the town or on the ski lifts, I visualize the action from the book.
Thank you for asking. Of course, I’m lousy at judging my own work, but, based on some positive feedback from friends, family and literary professionals, it could be one of the following:
A nonfiction piece, “Lessons from a Horseplayer”, about my mother, raised on an abusive, dirt-poor, tobacco-road Kentucky farm, who escaped to Chicago with a deep scorn for racist white trash and empathy for the blacks they persecuted. Chicago’s Arlington Park was where she learned to play the ponies with impressive success. Published in Canyon Voices Literary Magazine, Issue 14, Fall 2016.
A fiction piece, “Quasi-Tame Shrinking Felines vs. Throwback Expanding Canines”, about the interaction between two domestic cats and a family of coywolves, forthcoming in Evening Street Review.
With appreciation for the KillZone content from all of you that has informed my writing on this one, a historical/crime novel, and a commenced sequel, involving the Teamsters, the Mob and college-age vigilantes in northern New Jersey, based in part on my summers working in a Teamsters warehouse under the sway of mobsters, including Anthony “Tony Pro” Provanzano (Genovese crime family capo and one of the reputed killers of Jimmy Hoffa) and his soldiers.
I’d say my new Angela Richman novella, ICE BLONDE. It’s fast moving and has an offbeat solution.
I’d have to say Touching Madness, a contemporary fantasy/thriller about a homeless man with schizophrenia who is able to accidentally fracture dimensional barriers and falls into alternate dimensions. The character was inspired by conversations with my mother as she descended into Alzheimer’s, conversations that often left me feeling as though I’d slipped into an alternate dimension. I hoped that readers would embrace my crazy, lovable character and think again about how they viewed people with a mental illness.
I think my best work is the trilogy I just finished and published this week: The Dead Dog Trilogy.
It’s the story of a woman who is flawed and damaged but trying to make things right, while also tracking a dead serial killer.
It’s a 3-novel boxed set.
After writing pretty much my whole life, I think I’ve finally truly found my voice. Hopefully, it’s one that readers want to read.
Anyway, thanks for asking.
Annie
I think it’ll always be my most recently published book. 😀 Lately, I think it’s the novella I just finished, about two wizards falling in love while rebuilding a city destroyed by a war. I’m jokingly calling it Love and Infrastructure. I’ve got a riveting discussion about fractured water and sewer lines. 😀
I’d go with STAYING ALIVE, the final installment in my Miami Crime Trilogy and my most recent published novel. However, I have two more novels in the can which I think are better. They begin a new series set in Miami Beach in the early 1950s.
But isn’t our most recent book always supposed to be our best? I would hate to think I reached my peak some time ago and then tailed off.
My answer to this question is always the same: The one I’m writing now. It has to be that way, otherwise, there’s no incentive if I were to think my best book was behind me.