Published Reviews!

I have a confession to make: I don't have a book review this week. I went to Barnes & Noble, purchased several new books to review, and got very excited about all of them. So excited, in fact, that I began reading more than one of them, and subsequently finished none of them.

It also doesn't help that I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII every day. I can review the first 18 hours of that if you'd like? No? Alright then.

Anyway, in lieu of an actual, original review—I have a whole string of them coming up, I promise—I thought I would post links to the book reviews that I've published in local newspapers. I can't reprint the reviews themselves, but I can link to them, so take a look at some of the stuff I've been working on for non-Genoshan outlets.

Invisible China: A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands by Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson—My first published book review! A great little nonfiction piece about a pair of travelers studying linguistics throughout rural China. It's much more interesting than I ever would've imagined.

Smart Kids, Bad Schools: 38 Ways to Save America's Future by Brian Crosby—My most recent published review (though I've since done other articles/theatre reviews). An interesting look at the American educational system by a Los Angeles-area teacher.

Hard Times in the Country: Ramblings of a Hayseed by Timothy L. Wahl—A terrible book, but a fair study on the pitfalls of self-publishing. I actually received negative comments from an "anonymous source" for this one, and the author even went so far as to bash me on his Twitter account. For a week after this review was published, he posted links to my other website, 5x500, to show how "juvenile" I am. It was kinda satisfying, knowing something I wrote had such a profound effect on someone. And it got me more hits for my website.

Drawn to Life by Walt Stanchfield, edited by Don Hahn—This guide to animation is a compilation of long-time Disney animator Walt Stanchfield's teaching notes. It is an incredible asset for those interested in cartooning, animation, or drawing in general.



There have been other articles, mostly theatre and concert reviews, but most of those were time- and location-sensitive. Reading today in Boston or New Jersey about a play that ran in Burbank six months ago isn't very interesting. Anyway, I hope you enjoy those reviews. Be excited for the next few weeks and all the great books I've got lined up for you! Until then, keep reading, Genoshans!



P.S. Don't be shy! If you've been hearing good/bad/contradictory things about a book that's in stores or coming out soon, feel free to let me know and I'll put it on the list! I'll gladly read and review it so you can know once and for all if you should buy it, borrow it, or skip it altogether.