RafeeqMcGiveron.com
  • Home
  • My Writings
    • Novel: Student Body >
      • Student Body: Sample 1
      • Student Body: Sample 2
      • Student Body: Sample 3
      • Student Body: Sample 4
      • Student Body: Sample 5
      • Student Body: Sample 6
    • Literary Criticism and Reviews >
      • On Robert A. Heinlein
      • On Ray Bradbury
      • On Other Authors
      • Goodreads Reviews
    • Advising/Teaching
    • Poetry
    • Memoir
    • The Bibliophile's Personal Library
    • Have You Ever Been to an Irishman's Shanty?
    • Letters from Gregory Road
  • Heinlein Cover Art
    • Pulp Magazines
    • Earlier Adult Works
    • Scribner’s YA/Juveniles
    • Serialized Novels
    • Collections/Anthologies
    • Later Works
    • On Heinlein
  • Other SF Art
    • Big Illustrated Books >
      • Flights of Fancy
      • The History of SF
      • Science Fiction/Science Fact >
        • Children's
    • Vintage Hardcovers
    • Paperbacks, Etc.
    • Pulp Magazines
  • Blog
  • Links
    • In the News

Student Body places in 2014 Independent Authors Honors List

2/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Three cheers: my novel Student Body made the 2014 Independent Authors Honors List, literary fiction category, of Australian writer and reviewer Tabitha Ormiston-Smith:
http://topcatsalley.blogspot.com/2015/02/independent-authors-my-2014-honours-list.html?showComment=1423364226393#c4137229641643628472.

From comments she made in the review of my book, and those of others, on Amazon and Goodreads, Ormiston-Smith seems to be a fine and eclectic reader, and a good sport as well, and I am both honored and touched.

Rafeeq
0 Comments

Student Body book blitz, November 10-12th!

11/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
The book blitz for the sensual, poignantly romantic literary drama Student Body, hosted by TwinOpinionsReview, begins November 10th with an author interview, samples, and more: http://twinopinionstours.blogspot.com/2014/10/book-blitz-student-body-rafeeq-o.html .  Use code 8MAEFHLY for 10% off the paperback!

0 Comments

Student Body—on sale for 99 cents on Monday!

9/14/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
The 90% discount sale for the sensual, poignant drama Student Body begins at 9:00am Pacific on Monday, September 15th, with the $9.99 Kindle edition available for only 99 cents!  The price will increase a dollar a day thereafter, with the sale ending Monday the 21st.

Charming young professor-to-be Rick O’Donnell seems to have it all, but he also hides a desperate secret: his brief, passionate affair with a beautiful girl who had been his own student just the semester before, and who now is a fellow teaching assistant with an office right down the hall from his.  If the truth comes out, he will lose everything—his once-promising career, his marriage, perhaps even his life.  This novel is the frank and intimate tale of a harrowing week and a half which will decide a deeply conflicted man’s entire future…and the lives of the women who love him.

Hailed as “vivid” and “emotional,” “smoothly presented” and “carefully crafted,” with an “unexpected conclusion…both believable and satisfying,” Student Body on September 15th at last can be downloaded for your enjoyment at deep discount: http://www.amazon.com/Student-Body-Rafeeq-O-McGiveron-ebook/dp/B00IICK44Y/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1410640161.


2 Comments

Interview on MSU public radio

7/31/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
A few weeks ago, Scott Pohl of Current State on MSU’s WKAR radio invited me over for an interview regarding my novel, Student Body, so we into the studio and chatted.  Really, it was quite a bit of fun, and an interesting experience.

Today the piece ran on 90.5 FM in the morning and again in the evening.  All-up, it was a hair over 11 minutes—and that was even after cutting the part I originally had read from the novel.  It was very kind of Scott to suggest a reading, but what I chose happened to end up running a couple minutes over what was planned, so that’s what I get for yakking so much.

In any event, if anyone would like to listen again, the interview is on the WKAR webpage here:
http://wkar.org/post/novel-murder-msu-campus.

Rafeeq
0 Comments

Goodreads discussion: Favorite allusion(s) in Student Body...?

7/25/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Student Body is, shall we say, a tad allusive—hopefully enjoyably rather than pretentiously so—to an eclectic range of works from Milton and Shakespeare through things like the Beatles and Bob Dylan.  That’s just the way my mind works, apparently, so it’s how my prose goeth as well.

I wondered if any readers might wish to comment on what they found as their favorite allusion(s) in the novel, so I posted the question to Goodreads.  I would love to hear back if anyone happens to stumble upon the query and then has a sec or two to respond.   Any takers, dear literate folks...?

Rafeeq

0 Comments

Student Body released on Amazon

2/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
At last, after nearly 2 solid years of joyous artistic slavery, Student Body was released yesterday on Amazon.

Some wiseacre reminded me that this was Valentine’s Day, and in retrospect, I guess I have to admit that this is rather fitting, really.  The novel is, after all, not just intellectually and artistically curious but deeply romantic as well.

In a way, although the protagonist may not quite realize it, the book is a love story—two, actually, revealed bit by bit in achingly heartfelt reminiscences through which we can examine one seemingly self-assured young man not only at his most roguishly swaggering but also at his most unguarded and vulnerable.

In Student Body we will not, as my main character sniffs of James Joyce’s Ulysses, explore obscure Christian heresies and turn-of-the-century Irish politics and the question of which of the author’s neighbors lived on what street, but we will indeed cover—emotionally, artistically, and intellectually—a fair bit of ground.

Perhaps I am an old softy.  But I believe I have captured something, or a number of somethings, about the human condition that are worthy of exploration, and are entertaining as well.  I hope readers may come to think so, too.

Rafeeq

0 Comments

A couple more Starship Troopers covers

2/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Oops--just picked up a "new" (to me) copy of Starship Troopers, and after scanning, I realized that I apparently hadn't posted the previous one I had gotten either...  Now, therefore, in my Heinlein Cover Art area, on the Scribner's YA page we have two new covers, plus a back.

In addition, very soon I expect to publish my novel, Student Body, on Amazon.  There will definitely be another blog post then!

Rafeeq

0 Comments

Student Body...manuscript now on the market again

5/31/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Well, as of June 2013, my former intended publisher has stopped putting out new books, so Student Body (previously planned cover art at left) now is back on the market.  On the one hand, this is sharply disappointing, because at under 3 months before planned release, the project had been so close to fruition that I could almost taste it.  On t'other hand, though...well, although the process is time-consuming and exhausting, it is indeed always exciting to look for new opportunities at another press.  So I guess we'll just see how it goes, eh?

Rafeeq

0 Comments

More Heinlein cover art, more Student Body

4/13/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I just picked up a weird Heinlein edition called Four Frontiers, a new-ish repackaging of his first four Scribner's juveniles (Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947; Space Cadet, 1948; Red Planet, 1949; and Farmer in the Sky, 1950) in one big hardcover volume at Schuler Books.  I have all these novels, of course—often in more than one copy, really—but I just couldn't turn down the art with its Percival-Lowell-type Mars on back.

In addition, on general principle I deepened Sample #4 of my upcoming novel Student Body by backing up for a greater lead-in.  I think now it gives a better flavor of what's going on.  Finally, I received word from my editor at MyGreenPublisher that the novel is scheduled for release on August 23.  I have been looking forward to this for quite some time, so it's very exciting to see the date set at last.

Rafeeq

0 Comments

Another sample of Student Body added

4/6/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
After hemming and hawing for awhile, I at last have added a 5th sample from Student Body, my forthcoming novel.  Really, after the first few samples it grows more and more difficult to select any succeeding ones, because while I have deep fondness for particular sections, quoting them would reveal a bit more of the secrets and surprises of the plot than I want.  Still, I hope the selection I have posted on the site will give potential readers a fair flavor of the text and characters so that they know what, later, they would be purchasing.

Finally, for my next irregularly scheduled update, I believe I will try to scan and add another decent whack of cover art in my "Other SF Art" section.  That gives me—and perhaps other afficionados of science fiction as well—something to look forward to...

Rafeeq

0 Comments

    Author

    Author of several dozen pieces of literary criticism, reference entries, and reviews; novel Student Body; memoir Tiger Hunts, Thunder Bay, and Treasure Chests; how-to The Bibliophile's Personal Library; humorous Have You Ever Been to an Irishman's Shanty?​; some poetry; and quite a bit of advising/Banner training materials.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    September 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    A.J. Donnell
    Anthony Boucher
    Astounding Science Fiction
    Book Review
    Chesley Bonestell
    Clifford Geary
    Curious Books
    Darrell K. Sweet
    Edd Cartier
    Ed Emshwiller
    Fahrenheit 451
    Fred Freeman
    Goodreads
    Hal Clement
    Hannes Bok
    Hubert Rogers
    Jack Finney
    Jim Burns Art
    Kelly Freas
    Larry Webb
    Lester Del Rey
    Michigan Transfer Agreement
    Philip K. Dick
    Pulp SF
    Ray Bradbury
    Reading Place Charlotte
    Reading Place-Charlotte
    Richard M. Powers
    Robert A. Heinlein
    Rolf Klep
    Salem Press
    Salem Press
    Schuler Books
    Scribner's
    SF Art
    Steele Savage
    Student Body
    Vincent Di Fate
    Virgil Finlay

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.