Raymond Long: 11 books

Want to write fiction? Want to get published? Author and editor Raymond Long argues you need to enthrall readers in the personal story of one character, the protagonist. Keep your readers behind that protagonist's eyes, experiencing a life as it unfolds. Immerse them in the fictional dream of...

For many people, the great stumbling block in learning Spanish is that big verb table. It looks a lot to remember. But there are patterns in there, meaning that you have to remember far less than it seems. This short book is not a complete language course, but a simple system focused on teaching you how to commit Spanish verb forms to memory.

My early stories had dragging middles and weak endings. After five years as an author, I finally saw why this was and how to fix it. This short book briefly sets out the system I developed to design exciting stories with satisfying endings. If you're struggling to write, as I was, this system...

Lists of irregular verbs are easy to find. Most give three parts: "ride", "rode", "ridden". For many verbs, isn't enough information. The verb "shrink" has both "shrunk" and "shrunken". The verb "rot" has both "rotted" and "rotten". The verb "pass" has both "passed" and "past". What is the difference?Many...

The letter b in debt and the k in know are silent. The gh in though is silent, but the gh in tough sounds like f. When are letters silent? There are some clear rules, but many exceptions. This short book aims, with a minimum of jargon, to teach the rules and principles of English spelling so that...

Venezuela: A body floating in the bay turns out to be a wealthy American. A promising young banker who knew him is missing after mysteriously coming into money. Their circle of friends includes the scions of wealth and political power, and a girl of entrancing beauty whose origins no-one seems to...

This reference book lists English irregular verbs in alphabetic order. Many such lists only give three parts: "ride", "rode", "ridden". Often this isn't enough information. The verb "shrink" has both "shrunk" and "shrunken". The verb "rot" has both "rotted" and "rotten". The verb "pass" has both...

In Spanish the letter z can change to c: the plural of voz is voces. The letters j and g interchange in a similar way, but the rules aren't the same. When is the letter u silent in the spellings qu and gu? When are the letters b and v pronounced like English b, and when like v? Which Spanish...

Learning to pronounce English words is difficult, because often the letters used to spell them do not correspond to the sounds. For instance, the word "special" sounds like "speshul".The same spelling isn't always pronounced the same way. The letter "t" in "motion", "patient", "potential"...

In a war-torn land, a new threat arrives: desert nomads envious of the fertile coast. Once content to raid for plunder, they now turn to conquest. The daily struggle to stay alive despite the carnage becomes a fight to escape the most brutal enslavement. Amid all this, a chance meeting with one bewitching...

Nations torn down, new empires rising in their place! Technology racing forward at a breakneck speed, rushing mankind toward the cataclysmic final war that could end everything! Cyborg warriors! Vast armies of combat machines! Can humanity survive, or will the ambitions of empire-building industrialists...