Author Archives: susan

While a writer in any form has the majority of control over pacing, a reader can still put down a book–through hard to do in the middle of dramatic action unless your phone is ringing.  Basically, the building up of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Along with string theory–and I’m not sure it isn’t coincidental (!) to it–there is the theory of coincidence that takes up much of Ham’s reflections.  The excerpt below is very illustrative of the idea: (Ham on coincidence) If I acknowledge … Continue reading → Continue reading →

(Ham on heads) (…) I thought I might follow just to see or confirm. But I might have been here before, some leg of life unmemorized thousands of years ago or into the future. Why make the journey again if … Continue reading → Continue reading →

One thing I haven’t touched on to any depth is the characters and their relationships to each other.  Obviously Ham, as the main character and first person narrator is exposed by his perspective of the story which is all we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Engage the senses, the books say.  Poetry teaches this and poetry shows it best: (Pen on Geronimo) Pen looked white and vulnerable herself on the bed, her naked legs folded beneath her, her eyes glittering with sins to come.  We’d … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This, part of a conversation between Ham and a friend: "I haven’t read a book in about ten years," I said.  "I don’t trust them." Priceless. UPDATE:  And the next box is even better–though I can’t reveal it.  It’s shades … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I don’t think it’s any big secret that I’m the teeniest bit of a control freak.  Nor that for a long time I nodded and smiled while deep inside me lurked a festering resentment against hypertext, IF, gaming, or any … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Finally found a sequence that’s concise and wouldn’t ruin the reading for others to illustrate what I’ve been saying are the more scientific workings of Ham Sandoval’s mind that he applies to his view of the more mundane reality of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Involvement to the point of foreseeing.  To the point of the joy of comprehension.  That see, I told ya! moment that is the rare delight. A few hours ago I posted on the way that hypertext allows the future to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Beyond story and beyond the provocation of ideas, there is the thought of the author’s choice of the medium of hypertext to present this novel.  I can say that it suits the story theme perfectly, as there are layers and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Once again I ran instead of walking through this field of story.  Even as I follow a linear path, the sideroads lure me outward and away.  Two things have me convinced that even with my rather timid profile and a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s some beautiful writing here and I’m been waiting for a particularly dramatic section that didn’t reveal too much of plot. (Ham on movement) I made my move without regret.  I drifted the outskirts and made my way to the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Noticing that my response to this novel has been very positive, I feel it necessary to make clear that the author, Steve Ersinghaus, is one whom I consider a friend, and this reading and commentary is on a download that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ersinghaus has given us Ham’s opinion of what is both metaphor and theme of his story: (Ham on relations) How do I know that the pool is bottomless and why would I choose a pool of water other than for … Continue reading → Continue reading →