Ann S. Epstein writes novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and poems. Please use the links or site menu to go to the HOME PAGE; learn about her NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, MEMOIR, ESSAYS, and POEMS; find interesting facts in BEHIND THE STORY; read REFLECTIONS on writing; check NEWS for updates on publications and related events; see REVIEWS; learn about her END-OF-LIFE DOULA credentials and services; and CONTACT US to send webmail.
In Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Fagin is the leader and father figure to a gang of young thieves. He employs them to steal on his behalf but does nothing to improve their squalid lives. In the end, Oliver is saved by compassionate mother figures. For the story of another greedy bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.
Fagin in Oliver Twist is often criticized as a greedy Jewish stereotypeToronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize
My Goodreads and Amazon review of Pirate Girl Falls through Beaver Dam: A Memoir of Adventurous Lessons in Earth School by Wren Godfrey Chapman (Rated 5) – Avast Me Hearties! A Yarn Worth Your Pieces of Eight. Aye, when the last name of your philandering ex-fiancé is Seagraves, there’s naught to do but crew on a ship and bury your broken heart overboard. Wren Godfrey Chapman, the spunky narrator in the memoir Pirate Girl Falls Through Beaver Dam, is up for physical exploits most of us wouldn’t dream of trying, let alone imagine surviving. Raised on conventional dreams of marriage, blind-sided by their rupture, Chapman reacts by literally and figuratively leaping into the unknown. Whether sailing the seas, braving Colorado’s brutal winters, or running her own creative enterprises, she refuses to give in or give up. Her soul is equal parts rebellion and resilience. The lessons she learns ring true but never trite. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I balance guiding readers with setting them on a voyage of self-discovery. Chapman smoothly navigates between these boundaries. Readers may not have the gumption to do what she did, but in this exuberant and self-aware memoir, they can experience the thrill of adventure vicariously. So weigh anchor, peruse this yarn, and dream.
An entertaining and instructive yarnWhy writers read: “Books let you travel without moving your feet.” – Jhumpa Lahiri
Herod the Great, the ambitious King of Judea from 37 to 4 BCE, built monuments but tore down his family. He ordered the execution of the second of his ten wives, her mother and brother, and three of his nine sons. Read about another ambitious bad dad in The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.
Paranoid papa orders family executionsToronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize
Donald Trump’s father, Fred, was a New York City real estate developer who was twice investigated for profiteering, sued by the U.S. Justice Department for racial discrimination, and charged with tax evasion and illicit campaign contributions. Accordingly to his daughter, Fred trained Donald to be a “killer” and told him, “You are a king!” Aren’t dads supposed to boost their kids’ self-esteem? For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.
Whatever you do, son, don’t be a loserToronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize
I’m happy to announce that 50 Give or Take has published another piece of my micro-fiction. Read “Untitled Country Song” for a teary-eyed chuckle. Methinks that when I wrote this story, I was taking a nostalgia trip to my country-western dancing and bar-hopping days of the early 1980s. Anyone else a recovering Urban Cowboy fan?
A daily dose of micro-fiction delivered to your inboxWhy writers write: “All writers have to do reporting. You simply cannot imagine life the way it happens without getting out.” – Tom Wolfe
My Goodreads and Amazon reviews of Kiki Finds Friends by Marty and Amie McCracken (Rating 5) – Inventive and Insightful.Kiki Finds Friends, written by Marty McCracken and his mother Amie, is a charming children’s “space odyssey,” the first in a planned series. I read it with my grandsons. Here’s what we each thought about the book: “It was totally amazing. After you read the first line, it makes you want to read more. I like how many different experiences Kiki has. I think the mean orbs will learn to be nice, eventually. Frank is kind and smart. You can trust him like a good friend. Maybe the next book will be called ‘Kiki Finds Family.’ I hope he visits lots more solar systems.” (Oscar, age 9) “The geyser was cool. I liked how the drops hit Kiki’s helmet and then fell off. I was scared when his friend got hit on the head and happy when Kiki saved him. I was glad that Kiki found a cat and more friends. I think they will have a good time together once the mean robots learn their lesson.” (Emmett, age 6) Kiki Finds Friends is a vividly imagined book about an alien child venturing forth from his home spaceship to explore his universe. Kiki confronts the same problems as real children: Will I make friends? What if others kids are mean to me? Will I look weak or stupid if I ask for help? Can I be curious and scared at the same time? What is a real apology? My grandsons nodded in recognition as Kiki faced these common challenges. The authors strike just the right balance between the unknown and the familiar. Children trust that Kiki will emerge from his adventures safe, yet wiser. As both a developmental psychologist and a writer of adult books (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I appreciate how the insights are not delivered with heavy-handed moralizing, but with patience and humor. Because his new acquaintances hail from other planets, Kiki takes it in stride that they won’t be like him, a matter-of-fact approach to accepting human differences too. Finally, Kiki Finds Friends is fun to read aloud. Not only do we learn how each alien looks and moves, but how they sound. This allows the narrator to vary the character’s voices and makes sharing this book entertaining for readers and listeners alike. (Ann, age 75)
Sci fi by and for the youngWhy writers read: “There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” – Marcel Proust
After slicing off his son’s hand, Darth Vader in Stars Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back reveals that he’s Luke Skywalker’s father and invites his son to join him on the dark side. For the story of another bad dad with unreasonable expectations, read The Great Stork Derby. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
Fantasy’s grim realityToronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize
Patriarch Royal in The Royal Tennenbaums, 22 years after leaving their mother, forces himself back into his children’s lives by faking a terminal illness. Pushy and insensitive, he tries to make amends with the former prodigies, now failed adults. For the story of another bad dad who tries to make amends, read The Great Stork Derby. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
Seriously funny fable about a failed fatherToronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize
My Goodreads and Amazon reviews of The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman (Rating 3) – Caricature in Lieu of Character. In The Book of Mother, a French novel by Violaine Huisman, the 30-year-old narrator, who shares the author’s first name, attempts to humanize the larger-than-life mother with whom she and her older sister are obsessed. Alternately smothering them with affection and verbally abusing them, Maman Catherine is a domineering, devouring figure. But as the book meanders to its half tragic, half celebratory end, Catherine never emerges as more than a caricature. Her loves and lovers, her passions and pains, fail to arouse the same devotion in readers that they do in her daughters. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I’m not concerned with making my characters likable, but I insist on making them engaging. Catherine is ultimately tiresome. If she remains a mere cutout, even more disappointing is that Violaine and her sister remain ciphers. The opportunity to make Catherine “real” through the personas of the two women forever bound to her is squandered. The Book of Mother has been touted as a bold and courageous novel but I found it tepid and lifeless, traits which the drama addicted Catherine would have abhorred.
Tepid and tiresome auto-fictionWhy writers read: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglas
Barak Obama, Sr., the President’s father, was a Kenyan economist who married an American anthropologist, with whom he had a son. She divorced him three years later. The boy didn’t see his father again until he was ten, and never again after that. All told, Obama, Sr. had four wives and eight children, all raised by their mothers. He died in a car crash months after his last child was born. History’s verdict: “He led a reckless and troubled life.” For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.
An absent father; a son with great presenceToronto, 1926: A husband pressures his wife to have babies for a large cash prize
