This novel is beautifully written with lyrical prose and language. It's a modern-day fairy tale set in New York and would be a fabulous addition to anyone's TBR list. The book was adapted into a limited series which aired this fall on AppleTV+. I have had the chance to watch the show yet but I sure do want to check it out soon.
When I first read Victor LaValle's marvelous novel The Changeling, published in 2017, I was all but certain that it would top this list. That just goes to show how many 5-star reads I've gone through this year. In any other year, surely, this would have nabbed the top spot. But for 2023, it comes in at #4. The Changeling is the story of a young father in Apollo who falls in love with a librarian named Emma. They subsequently get hitched and have a son. Apollo becomes completely enamored with fatherhood while his wife falls into a deep depressive episode. After she commits an unspeakable crime and disappears, Apollo attempts to hunt her down for answers to her crimes.
This novel is beautifully written with lyrical prose and language. It's a modern-day fairy tale set in New York and would be a fabulous addition to anyone's TBR list. The book was adapted into a limited series which aired this fall on AppleTV+. I have had the chance to watch the show yet but I sure do want to check it out soon.
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I tend to not read nonfiction. That was something I wanted to change in 2023 and I did so with this book: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Racing to the Finish, published in 2018. I realize that this book might not be for everyone. I'm a huge NASCAR fan myself and this was a real treat for me. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had been my favorite driver since I started watching the sport religiously back in 2003. I followed him through his greatest triumphs, his biggest heartbreaks, and a late-career resurgence, too. This book is about his career-ending series of concussions and his drive to finish out his career on his own terms. It's a heart wrenching story that I really loved. To add to it, I was also dealing with concussion-like symptoms while reading parts of this book. It's a great read and I employ everyone to check it out, especially those NASCAR fans and Daily Downforce readers out there.
Happy Holidays, From The Desk and Daily Downforce readers! I figured I'd get that out of the way first. That's right, it's the holiday season and all that cheer and joy is in the air. For that reason, I feel obligated to do a kind of end-of-year blog post commenting on how great this year as been as well as sharing some exciting little bits of news as to what we can expect heading into 2024. Keeping with the holiday theme, I am a member of the Johnson City Community Concert Band and we gave our annual Christmas Concert Monday night (December 4th) at Seeger Chapel. The beautiful venue is located at Milligan University in Elizabethton, Tennessee. We had a great crowd and if any of you were able to make it out, I thank you! It means a lot! The concert went very well and put me in that cheery holiday mood I had been lacking for the last several years. So, I'm grateful for that. We're getting ready to start rehearsals for our annual Spring Concert tonight. The date for that is March 4th. A little ways a way but I'm excited for it! Speaking of the holidays, you know what makes great gifts? Books! Be sure and wrap up a copy of the new edition of Bunny Boy for your friends and loved ones! For those who don't know, I got to be a part of a very special announcement over the weekend: the creation of Faction46, a brand-new team set to compete in the 2024 NASCR Craftsman Truck Series season! The article I wrote covering the announcement can be accessed by clicking the picture below: You can see the truck that will be taking the high-banks at Daytona above! Faction46 is a brand new truck team owned by brothers Lane and Logan Moore in partnership with A-E Engine, the company that publishes The Daily Downforce as well as many print magazines such as NASCAR Pole Position and Cowboy Lifestyle. It's through that connection that I got the honor of covering this very special announcement on behalf of DDF and I could not be more excited heading into 2024. Thad Moffitt (grandson of Richard Petty) will be the driver, celebrating 75-years of the Petty legacy in racing. So, if you're looking for a new favorite truck team, give this gang a shot and follow them on social media. They're looking to do something really special with the effort and I could not be more excited for them! As far as The Daily Downforce goes, I'm still writing for them pretty regularly. My articles are still being published on the weekends though I write them throughout the week. A bit of a model change. So, you can keep checking back DailyDownforce.com you might see my name pop up there as the writer of certain articles here and there. It's the last week of the semester at my day job. I teach special education in the public school system and we're about to get out for Christmas break. That leaves me with a lot of time on my hands that I could spend writing. But I think I want to slow down some. Just a hair and just for the time being. DDF will also be taking a short sabbatical for the holiday season and I think I just need some time to catch my breath. I've been working really hard on a ton of different projects all year and, as much as I love it, I think I need to take a step back. Just for a week or two. You know, before I hit the ground running again in '24. I'm about to finish writing a chapter in my current WIP, Whisperwood and I think that that's a pretty decent place to press the pause button. I'm just really trying to avoid burn-out at all cost. As far as this blog goes, this will be the last actual From The Desk until January. There will be more things published through here in the next couple of weeks but it's just my annual Top-5 Books I Read in 2023 countdown thing. So that's something to look forward to and, for that reason, I'm not going to be recommending any books or movies this go-around. That'll have to wait until I get those up. Any of those 5 books would be great reads! Let's see, we've talked about the Christmas Concert, the Faction46 announcement and me taking a short break. I reckon that just leaves what we have going on in 2024! I mentioned before that the JCCCB will be presenting our annual Spring Concert in March but we've got a few other more exciting things going on between now and then. For one thing, The Fifth Line is getting published on January 19th, 2024! I can't be more nervous and excited! I love that book and Trevor Graves as a character and I can't wait to hear what readers think. To celebrate the book's publication, I'll be doing a mini-tour to promote it. I want to do a virtual event on the actual release day and I'm in talks to do a handful of signings. I hope to have all the details on all that soon! I guess that does it for this rather abbreviated installment of From the Desk! I hope everyone has a great rest of your holidays! I'll see you on the other side in 2024!
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Cody WilliamsCody Williams is the author of the novel Bunny Boy and the novella The Fifth Line, both available through True Terror Publications. He has also published two previous collections of fiction, both out-of-print. He is a staff writer for The Daily Downforce published by A-E Engine where he works as a sports journalist covering NASCAR races. When he isn't writing, he is working his day job teaching at a small high school in east Tennessee or playing the trombone for the Johnson City Community Concert Band. He lives near Bristol, Tennessee. Archives
May 2024
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