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Robert's Latest Blogs

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Jun.19.2013 - 2:24 pm
The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing
The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing is not, as the dust jacket copy states, a collection of "four short novels."  It's a bound volume containing three long short stories...
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Jun.13.2013 - 12:05 pm
Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard
  Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard is far from a thriller--as the dust jacket suggests--and it's not a mystery, so I guess it's a crime novel, populated by criminals with criminal...
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Jun.11.2013 - 3:06 pm
The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín
The Empty Family, a collection of stories by Colm Tóibín, demonstrates his emotional range within a consistently quiet and slow-moving narrative style.  There's not a story...
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Jun.09.2013 - 9:56 am
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Blue Nights is a memoir that focuses on the terrible impact the death of Joan Didion's daughter, Quintana Roo, had on Didion--following shortly after the death of Didion's husband...
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Comments from Robert

Jun.09.2013 - 3:35 pm
In response to: Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Blue Nights
Blue Nights recounts Didion developing that play and seeing it through a run in New York with Redgrave as the actress...
Jan.27.2013 - 5:47 am
In response to: Sherburne-Stories by R.T. Smith
Walker Percy and Robert Penn Warren
The Moviegoer is the first Percy book I would suggest reading.  All the King's Men is a classic novel about...
Jul.11.2012 - 10:03 am
In response to: Should characters be likeable?
What does interesting mean?
Chris: I enjoyed your comment.  I can't endorse any rules about likeability or anything else in a novel, so I'm...
Jul.04.2012 - 4:31 pm
In response to: Should characters be likeable?
Do characters need to be likable
I agree with you; interesting is the benchmark, whether interesting good or interesting detestable is less important....
Jul.04.2012 - 2:12 pm
In response to: Should characters be likeable?
More on characters in fiction...and family connections
Dear Farzana: Thank you for your comment. It has prompted me to write a related blog, which you may find of interest....

Writing

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Short Story: Only in the Moment of Creation
Short Story: A Boy Makes A Bow Makes A Man
Short Story: Sweat

Published Reviews

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Jun.07.2013
Nights in the Pink Motel: An American Strategist's Pursuit of Peace in Iraq
Published by Ralphmag.org
Nights in thePink MotelAn American Strategist'sPursuit of Peace in IraqRobert Earle(Naval Institute Press)Robert Earle arrived in Baghdad in June, 2004 just as the CPA was leaving...
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About Robert

I have been writing fiction since my teens. I continued doing this through a twenty year career in the Foreign Service and now write full-time in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.  
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Causes Robert Earle Supports

World Wildlife Fund

UNICEF

NPR