I have read several books directly related to the Former Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation; Love Thy Neighbor, a Story of War; Yugoslavia and After) and books related to the former Yugoslavia (To End a War; Blood and Belonging). Those books were very informative, about the "how's" and "why's" of the war and the facts of what happened, for the most part. However, I believe it is the short stories of the former Yugoslavia, that are particularly helpful in adding a face to the place, a soul to the picture. This place, recent war, and its former present and aftermath has inspired those that were in it, and outside of it to read, write or learn all about it. The author, Novakovich, chose to write about it. This book helps you get inside of the situation without even being there. As you read this book,you can feel inside your soul what is true or seems fictitious related to this place, and this situation. The books that I mentioned above, are very good, and I add this book into the "good" category, along with them. I urge you to read this book, especially if the books you've been reading before about former Yugoslavia, are simply detailed fact books. Treat yourself to some poetry and prose such as this, and your soul will be stirred with the truth.

I'm actually surprised at how well many of Novakovich's stories about Croatia in the early 1990s, especially "Sheepskin" and "Crimson" capture the mood and feel of life at the time, given that he has been living in the U.S. since the 1970s. These two stories in particular reflect the brutal and at times surreal atmosphere of life in wartime Croatia. Also moving are his stories that deal with various aspects of the immigrant experience in America. Novakovich is one of those writers who can really evoke a sense of time and place, I found myself haunted by many of these stories days after reading them.

This is a collection of stories from an award-winning author who straddles two very different worlds. Born in Croatia when it was still part of Yugoslavia, he emigrated to the United States at age 20. He has traveled back to Croatia many times and spent some time there during the brake up of Yugoslavia. As both a native Croat and an American he was able to view the turbulent times of the 90s with the detachment of an outsider looking in and the insight of a native son. This book however is not about the war in former Yugoslavia but a collection of personal experiences that took place at that time.

In the following example he manages to tell us, in a personal way, something about the Serb rebellion in the Krajina region of Croatia. In the Guns of August essay, he writes: 'I took a train ride to Rijeka ' or rather I wanted to. The train was cancelled: the line passed along the Krajina region. I took the bus, and it went right to the Slovenian border. Krajina had squeezed the rest of Croatia all the way to Slovenia at one point.'

In another essay, he describes in lyrical prose moments of his childhood in a Croatian village: 'My sweating father interrupted carving wood and gave me leafy red bank notes to buy loaves. Yeasty smells drew the townspeople who were still fresh from rising in a cold dawn to the old bakery with its uneven walls and swelling mortar. Beyond the threshold, I saw naked and skinless white loaves slide into the metal oven above the random licks of flames. Soon a pale man sprinkled water from a crimson cup, glazing the emerging an tanning bread skins into polished crusts.'

Josip Novakovich is an extremely gifted writer who offered me, the reader, genuine pleasure out of the simple act of reading. I recommend this book highly because I am certain it will have the same effect on you.

This is a great book to help the struggling writer, or the writer that just wants to hone his skill. Just like the title indicates, this book is a giant practicum in writing. Joseph Novakovich is able to put a creative writing class into a book with ease. Each chapter is a self-contained lesson that focuses on a topic, from settings to dialogue and everything in between.

Novakovich focuses on each topic with in-depth detail. He provides specific examples from his own work as well as others to get his ideas across. He has found a way to simplify the idea of writing such that it may be easily explained. I felt that Novakovich covered dialogue, setting and description better than any other help-book that I have read. In fact, my problem has always been with "show, don't tell". I was finally able to learn the difference thanks to Novakovich.

But, he doesn't stop with just the lecture part of the lesson. At the end of each chapter is a series of exercises to build your writing muscles. The exercises focus on the material in the chapter that he just covered so you actually learn the ideas by performing them. He also follows each exercise with an explanation of what you should be looking for in your "answer" allowing you to see if you did indeed grasp his teachings.

I have read many books trying to improve my story telling ability. The "Fiction Writers Workshop" is the best one that I've come across to date, and I believe that my writing has improved greatly from the lessons Novakovich provided.

I find this book easy to read, and I thought the exercises at the end of the chapter helpful. Novakovich gives excellent advice about sources of fiction, setting, character, etc, and he peppers his chapters with examples taken from classical literature. I'd recommend this book for a high school or college creative writing course.

Fiction Writer's Workshop is absolutely an amazing book. It gives examples that help tremendously in understanding all the aspects of fiction writing. There are some great sections in this book! Fiction Writer's Workshop really IS a workshop. It goes through and shows you (with examples and exercises) how to create a real setting for your story, and how to fix a "blah" setting. The book teaches you how to make a character feel alive to your readers, by giving them vivid qualities and emotions. Fiction Writer's Workshop helps you to create a distinctive plot, and even teaches you how to choose correct wording when you deal with dialogues. I'm very impressed with this work by Josip Novakovich. Even an experienced fiction writer would benefit from giving this book a thorough reading. It will get your creativity flowing, get you moving when you are at a block, and help you to improve your skills, or revise a manuscript.

There are too many writing books out there for me to buy all the ones I like -- mostly, I just keep going back to the library again and again.

This one, though, I borrowed from the library and renewed it a couple of times before I realized I wasn't ever going to want to give it back. The next day, I returned it to the library and stopped in at the bookstore to buy my very own copy.

This book is very methodical, a little like taking a writing course on your own, at home. If you take Novakovich's suggestions seriously, keeping all the exercise goals in mind, you ought to have more than a few marvellous creations of your own by the time you're done.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was a lengthy inclusion of a story of his own. It is somewhat enlightening, but takes up too much space for what is gained, in my opinion.

You'll need motivation to get through this book, but Novakovich makes it easy, building on previous exercises to craft original, imaginative finished and semi-finished fiction pieces. And the feeling of accomplishment when you emerge at the end of the book is well worth the purchase price and the work you put into completing it.

This book is excellent for those who are interested in writing fiction. I think it would make a good book for a high school or college course as well--so few good ones exist. This book, while written in a flowing, 'non-textbook', easily understood style, is more informing than many textbooks I have seen on the subject.

It is well organized--even if you have some writing experience, you might still find yourself flipping through the chapters when you have a question on, per se, plot or characterization. And best of all, it endorses learning by doing, including several exercises at the end of each chapter.

I took a graduate creative writing course with Josip at the University of Cincinnati. I have not finished reading this book, but it immediately brought me back to my studies with him. He is a knowledgeable and excellent teacher. I highly recommend both this book and his fiction.

The gentle fables in Josip Novakovich's collection occassionally work, but mostly fall flat. Most of the stories reach trite conclusions and plod along. Besides the exotic locale---the former Yugoslavia---most of the people are dull. The recent ethnic conflicts serve as a constant subtext, but is never addressed successfully. The few gems in the book ("The Address", "Petrol and Chocolate", and "The Eye of God") display a charming sense of cultural displacement and near surreal occurences, where American culture serves as a common denominator and everyone dreams of heading West. But these gems are few and far between. Most of the work is safe and unchallenging, the types of stories literary journals love (most of the pieces appeared in respected little magazines). It's interesting that English isn't Novakovich's native language. Whereas Nabokov stretched and revealed English, Novakovich has a more subtle approach that's unengaging.