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Gary Paul Corcoran

Goodreads Author

Born

in Hartford, The United States

Website

http://garypaulcorcoran.com/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/gary_p_corcoran

Genre

Crime, Suspense, Nonfiction

Member Since

July 2013

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/spearshaker

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The product of an Irish/Italian family, Mr. Corcoran was transplanted as a boy from the clapboard New England of his youth to the cookie cutter, stucco subdivisions that began to litter the disappearing ranches and orange groves south of Los Angeles in the 1960s.

True to his rebellious nature and the folk music/coffee house idealism that helped shape his early worldview, Mr. Corcoran chose to resist the Vietnam War, was a man without a country for several years and can count incarceration in a Mexican prison as one of his many colorful experiences during that era.

Having pursued a love of reading and writing in various forms all his life, Mr. Corcoran finally took this passion seriously around the turn of the millennium and has dedicated the ...more

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Gary Paul Corcoran’s books

Average rating: 3.87 · 182 ratings · 30 reviews · 15 distinct works

	South on Pacific Coast Highway 4.16 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	It's Always Christmastime In Cratchitville 3.23 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Afghan's Lipstick Warriors: Darkness Falls (Afghan's Lipstick Warriors: First Chronicle (1) Book 2) 4.20 avg rating — 20 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Afghan's Lipstick Warriors: First Chronicle (Afghan's Lipstick Warriors: First Chronicle (1)) by Gary Paul Corcoran (Goodreads Author), Rob Williams 4.45 avg rating — 11 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Tribe 4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Postmark: Paris - Destination: Unknown 3.70 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Trip Into Milky Way really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Love of Eleanor Sands 4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Love in a Dying World it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Afghan's Lipstick Warriors: First Chronicle did not like it 1.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Gary Paul Corcoran's Blog

When History Careened Down Its Alternative Path

November 22nd, 1963

The call came in over the intercom at some point shortly after 11:00 AM, on a Friday. The exact minute, I am no longer certain, only that it was not quite 11:30. We had been out to morning recess. Lunch was just ahead. I was a freshman in 7th grade at the time, and, ironically enough, in my history class as history was being made.

I remember our teacher being called out into the Read more of this blog post »

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Published on November 22, 2013 00:27 • Tags: president-kennedy

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Gary is Currently Reading

Gary Corcoran is currently reading

In Patagonia

by Bruce Chatwin

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Oct 17, 2013 07:49PM

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Anatomy of Criticism

by Northrop Frye

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Oct 17, 2013 07:48PM

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Green River Virgins: And Other Passionate Anglers

by Mallory Burton

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read in August 2013

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Gary Corcoran said: " Okay, first off, allow me to confess. A female fly fishing guide? That was intrigue enough to make me want to buy the book. Then there was the title itself. I mean, doesn't that draw you in right there? The reference is at once mundane and timeless. Okay, first off, allow me to confess. A female fly fishing guide? That was intrigue enough to make me want to buy the book. Then there was the title itself. I mean, doesn't that draw you in right there? The reference is at once mundane and timeless. It's what these guides call folks who are fishing the Green River for the first time. It especially refers to folks who are virgins at fly fishing, period.

Secondly, I will admit, when it comes to fiction, and I suppose in particular narrative nonfiction like this, I'm for the most part partial to female writers. They're closer to the heart. They're more plain spoken. Plus a tenderness bleeds through them that is hard to find in the male species. Annie Dillard comes to mind, though Mallory Burton is more like Richard Brautigan in panties. I assume Mr. Burton wears panties, even with her waders on.

In any case, she's a damned good writer. She tells it like it is and she has a fine, ironic voice. Example. When one of her fellow fishing guides runs off for a bit of wild fun in South Florida, he returns towing a bit of that wild excursion in the form of buxom blonde. Burton is clearly fond of her. This sudden flame is as wild and natural as the Everglades, and Burton describes her as the only person she's ever met who says "fishing" with five syllables. Classic. It's prose with a smile and punch.

I gave the book four instead of five stars for what I consider to be a mortal sin in writing. Just as you never change from first to third person narrative in the middle of a tale (not in book, not if you want me to finish yours) you never change from a voice in past tense to one in present tense, but that is what Ms. Burton does towards the middle of the book. I am reminded of a vignette from Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, where he and a fellow writer wander Paris, discussing what you can and cannot do as an author, and I'd like to imagine this topic came up. I could write a lengthy treatise on why writing in the present tense is so limiting (it's only this moment right now, right now, right now) whereas the past tense is limitless and expansive (it includes this moment and everything that has happened before it) but that's not so much my beef here. My beef is, asking someone to suspend their disbelief is a sacred trust. I could write a story and somewhere within, tell you, you know, I'm making all this crap up, but if that's all in character, the reader will think, all right, fine, lie to me. I love the way you're doing it. As long as it's in character, it works, so when someone is suddenly no longer that past tense person but has popped up into the present, I feel swindled. Perhaps that's just me, but that's the way I felt. Like I'd gone out on a date with Ms. Burton and all of a sudden I'm in the front seat with her Aunt Mildred.

None of this makes me think less of Mallory Burton as a writer, but it did leave me feeling a tinge of disappointment in the book. Enough so, that the book got set aside and I've yet to finish it. And doubt I ever will. In fact, I've just looked on Amazon and see that Ms. Burton has yet to publish anything since, so maybe she gave up too. I hope not. She's not yet Howell Hiram Raines, but she's a worthy voice who can only be missed if she puts aside her pen. ...more "

Aug 25, 2013 10:13PM · see review

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