The Writer's Life 1/20 - Dancing on Rocks

The left is on an extended losing streak, at least in the public’s perception of it. Their policies continue to dominate our society and likely always will. The latest foolishness is their snit about the critical praise and popularity of American Sniper, based on the autobiography of the same title by Chris Kyle, who served four tours of duty in Iraq. He was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze, one Navy and Marine Commendation Medal, and two Navy and Marine Achievement Medals. He was wounded twice and survived six IED attacks. He was murdered at a shooting range by a troubled ex-soldier. He was only 38. The naïve condemn warriors. I thank our lucky stars that such men exist. Yesterday ISIS executed a group of teenage boys for the crime of viewing a televised soccer match. Who else but warriors would face such evil? Film-makers and screenwriters?

Rose Senehi, who grew up in Michigan, graduated from Syracuse University. She settled in that frigid part of New York and entered the corporate world, where she eventually was in charge of opening walls. She wrote part time. She moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and fell in love with the Southern Blue Ridge Mountain area of North Carolina, particularly Hickory Nut Gorge. I just finished Dancing on Rocks, her seventh novel. It is the story of the effect the disappearance of a little girl has had on the surviving members of her family. It is told with utmost decency, sans profanity, with only the mildest of sexual content. I cared about the characters and enjoyed the story, even though I knew where it was headed from the first appearance of one of the characters, and although it avoided an interesting conflict by dispatching a romantic rival. The prose could have used tweaking. Still, I don’t know how anyone would not be moved by the circumstances. She is to be commended for her extensive research of the area and its history. Unfortunately, I am satisfied with just a glance at natural beauty, so that aspect was a chore for me, slowing what otherwise was a fast read at 258 pages. 17 users have rated the novel at Amazon, forging to a consensus of 4.8 of five, which reveals an enthusiastic, if modest, fan base. The book’s sales have been so-so. I wish mine were so so-so. On a scale of five, I rate Dancing on Rocks three. Senehi now writes full time and lives in the small town where the action is set, Chimney Rock.

My thanks to the kind folks who bought books today.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/