Mark Twain – Michael A. Kahn

T.Rex, The White Lotus, & Chekhov’s Gun: Why Truth Is Stranger than Fiction

Posted on April 11, 2025April 12, 2025 by Michael Kahn

The challenge facing every author of a novel or short story is best captured in a cartoon I saw years ago: the writer is seated at his computer, and on the wall behind him is a sign reading: “10 Days without a Contrived Coincidence to Forward the Plot!” This universal author’s dilemma was perfectly captured…

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Fair Use or Brazen Theft? Andy Warhol and the Copyright Fog of War

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Michael Kahn

As a copyright lawyer, I have always smiled at the following quote from Mark Twain: “Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” And for those seeking to find any sense in that law, no realm is more of a challenge than the doctrine of…

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Artificial Intelligence? A Cautionary Tale Starring the Chatbot Associate from Hell

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Michael Kahn

As both a trial attorney and the author of novels, I have learned to heed the words of Mark Twain, who wrote: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.” We’ve all heard remarkable true stories about amazing coincidences (twins separated at birth and reunited…

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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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Why Is the Wisest Advice in the World so Hard to Follow?

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Michael Kahn

Many years ago I came across some words of wisdom from Mark Twain that have both inspired and haunted me ever since: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor….

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The Magical Lure of the Intimate Voice

Posted on December 18, 2017December 21, 2017 by Michael Kahn

I have written here and elsewhere of the power of a great opening line. If you can imagine a bookstore as a crowded singles bar with each book hoping to get lucky, that first sentence essentially functions as the author’s pick-up line. Sure, a sexy book jacket helps, since it will increase your chances of…

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I’m Sorry, Anna.

Posted on December 9, 2017October 26, 2019 by Michael Kahn

For more years than I’d care to admit, my take on Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina was perfectly summed up by fellow Missourian Mark Twain, who famously defined a “classic” as a novel “that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” But then a few months ago, while browsing my bookshelves in…

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Bringing Up the Rear: The Literary Mic Drop

Posted on February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 by Michael Kahn

Many years ago, my agent offered me the following advice: “The most important sentence of your novel is the first one. The second most important sentence is the last one.” There certainly have been vivid, memorable first lines, many of which we can quote by heart–from “Call me Ishmael” in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick to “It was a bright…

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God or Huck Finn: Who Should Tell Your Story?

Posted on September 15, 2016September 14, 2016 by Michael Kahn

An online discussion among several of my fellow Poisoned Pen Press authors got me thinking about the one decision every fiction author must make before typing CHAPTER 1 at the top of the page. That decision? Who will tell your story? “Huh,” a baffled reader may wonder, “doesn’t the author tell the story?” Only rarely….

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Meet Me in St. Louis: Toasted Ravioli, Hoosiers, and High School

Posted on August 15, 2016August 21, 2016 by Michael Kahn

If asked to name the key elements of their favorite novel, most readers would place at the top of their list vivid characters and an engaging plot. But when we think of our favorite novels, another vital element is the strong sense of place. Whether it’s Huck Finn’s Mississippi River in Mark Twain’s masterpiece or…

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