Voices on the page, or on the computer screen of this blog, echo down the last days of 2009. Here are some of the voices that have brightened “A Little Romance” this year:

Local writer and teacher Cami Nihipali: There are discussions in literary circles about whetherTwilight is ‘good’ literature. I know my colleagues and I have had this discussion numerous times. The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter. Like the Harry Potter phenomenon, which became embroiled in a religious argument several years ago, Twilight and its subsequent books have gotten kids reading, and excited about reading nonetheless. As for romance, Meyer hits the nail on the head. Whether the reader likes Edward or Jacob, everyone can find that flutter of first love in this story.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a good New Year’s resolution? Or several? My plan is to make a bunch of resolutions, to improve the chances of keeping at least a couple of them.

I’m just beginning to make my own list. In addition to resolving to finish my current novel, I’m starting a list of resolutions that all involve creative fun. For example, I plan to enter the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest again. I’ve never been a winner in this contest, but it’s great fun just to play along.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Jim Darling Every winter, thousands of humpback whales assemble in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands, to mate, give birth, and nurture young calves. For over 30 years, researchers have also gathered here - in one of Earth's finest natural laboratories - to study these whales. What are t [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

BUSS LAUGH: Stand Up Poetry From Hawaii Edited by Lee Tonouchi Nationally recognized Pidgin author Lee Tonouchi, the "Pidgin Guerilla", presents a varied collection of stand-up poetry reflecting Hawaii's distinct diversity and cultural representation. "The imagery and ideas in Buss Laugh: Stand Up P [...]
Read the rest of this entry »

In two timeless Christmas stories from the past two centuries, misanthropes Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch show their contempt for the world’s greatest holiday season.

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843), the heartless banker Scrooge’s response to “Merry Christmas” is “Bah! Humbug!” For Scrooge, Christmas is a fraud.

In the 1957 Dr. Seuss classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch, his heart “two sizes too small,” tries to “prevent Christmas from coming” by stealing all the presents from Whoville. Scrooge and the Grinch have much to learn, and they do, because these are stories of redemption.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Low hanging fruit.” Easier to pick. There for the taking. Why venture higher when there’s good fruit you don’t even need a ladder for, or maybe just a short ladder?

I hear that phrase now and then in different contexts, often from someone on radio or TV. When they use the familiar phrase do they see the image in the metaphor? Do they see a tree with low hanging fruit, and perhaps someone picking?

When I hear “low hanging fruit,” an image of a mango tree immediately flashes in my head. Not just any mango tree, although where I live in Kapahulu/Kaimuki, on the island of Oahu, there are beautiful, fantastic Hayden mango trees on every block. I see a tree that is no longer there.

Read the rest of this entry »

Born and raised in the most multicultural state in the union, President Barack Obama bears the indelible stamp of his native Hawai‘i. Stu Glauberman and Jerry Burris’s book, The Dream Begins: How Hawai‘i Shaped Barack Obama (Watermark Publishing, 2009), is a coming-of-age story set in Hawai‘i’s storied “melting pot”—a revealing look at the island state that is surely a core part of what makes Obama tick.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the middle of Frank Delaney’s novel Ireland, an engaging 560-page narrative about Ireland and Irish storytellers, there’s one paragraph that jumped off the page at me and said “Take me home with you.” Or perhaps it whispered “Kiss me, I’m Irish.” Whatever. But it’s a memorable paragraph for all writers, and readers, and here it is.

A story has only one master—its narrator; he decides what he wants his story to do. I know, I have always known, what I want my stories to achieve—I want to make people believe. Believe what I tell. Believe in it. Believe me. Belief is the one effect I’m always looking for, and I apply every device, every pause, every gesture, every verbal nuance and twirl, to that end. To achieve it, I myself have to believe; if I don’t, who will? I must believe ancient Ireland was as I describe it. The swords really did ring loudly off the shields. And the armor surely gleamed in the sun.

Read the rest of this entry »

Price, speed, and convenience will probably determine how information that is carefully argued and presented in book form will be distributed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Thursday morning I had the opportunity to read and speak at Farrington High School, as part of the Farrington Library's visiting writers program. The [...]
Read the rest of this entry »