Ernest Hemingway – Michael A. Kahn

Yiddish Wisdom: Just a Forshpayz

Posted on April 29, 2025May 1, 2025 by Michael Kahn

As you may have noticed, many authors place a special quotation on the page before the first chapter of their novel. For example, Harper Lee opened To Kill a Mockingbird with the following quote from Charles Lamb: “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.” Ernest Hemingway opened The Sun Also Rises with this quote from Gertrude…

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Great Closers of Fiction

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Michael Kahn

While the Internet teems with posts listing the best opening lines in all of literature, I have learned over years of reading and writing novels that a great opening line is nevertheless overshadowed by the importance of a great closing line. Yes, a great opening line will lure the reader into the novel. But even…

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Literary Foreplay: How the Pros Get You in the Mood!

Posted on March 3, 2022March 3, 2022 by Michael Kahn

While out in Phoenix last week I had the pleasure of spending a delightful afternoon with two of my book publishing heroes: Barbara Peters and Rob Rosenwald, the founders of Poison Pen Press. While sipping Rob’s amazing limoncello, which he creates with fruit from the lemon tree in their backyard, our conversation drifted, as you…

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Winnie-the-Pooh and Hemingway, too! Happy Public Domain Day

Posted on January 12, 2022January 12, 2022 by Michael Kahn

The past few New Year’s Days, and every January 1st going forward, herald a special event in the realm of copyright for an ever-growing collection of works of creative arts that fall into the public on that first day of the year. This January 1st marks that special day for one of our favorite literary…

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Does Size Matter? An NSFW Episode in American Literature

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Michael Kahn

As you may have guessed, the topic of this post is a penis. No ordinary penis, either. Indeed, the scene opens like the beginning of a joke: two literary lions walk into a bar in Paris. One will soon confide to the other his concerns about his penis. Specifically, about its size. And the scene…

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Dylan, Hemingway, and a Peek Behind the Curtain

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Michael Kahn

Bob Dylan made headlines this month when a group of Oklahoma institutions announced their acquisition of an extensive archive of Dylan’s private work. According to the Bob Dylan Archive website at the University of Tulsa, the trove includes 6,000 items of “never-before-seen handwritten manuscripts, notebooks and correspondence; films, videos, photographs and artwork; memorabilia; personal documents; unrecorded…

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The Coolest Book of All Time

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Michael Kahn

We live in the Age of Listicles: “The 10 Best [fill in the blank]” and”The 8 Reasons to [fill in the blank]” and “The 12 Secrets to [fill in the blank]” and, of course, those two old chestnuts of the Internet, “The 10 Sex Positions You Must Try Before You Die!” and “8 Surefire Weight-Loss…

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A Real Time Machine

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Michael Kahn

For the first time in my writing career, I had to step into a time machine in order to write my next novel, The Sirena Quest. Let me explain. Most novels, from those on the bestseller list to the classics, are written in the author’s “now.” In the same way that Gone Girl takes place…

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Who Tells the Story: From the Bible to Marlowe

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Michael Kahn

Who will tell the story? Every author must answer that question before typing “Chapter One” at the top of that first page. Not who will write the story. That’s the author’s job. But who will tell it? Who will serve as the narrator? One common answer is known as Third Person Omniscient. That’s where the…

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End Game: The Art of the Closer

Posted on January 16, 2013January 18, 2013 by Michael Kahn

This is my sequel to my prior post on the Poisoned Pen Press blog. That one was on great opening lines in novels. This one is on great closing lines, including my five favorites. Enjoy!

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