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A fiction writer charmed students and faculty with his words as he came to share his work with the campus community at Sam Houston State University on Monday.
Writer Michael Kardos read sections of his novels and shared his experiences as a writer with students as part of an ongoing series of events sponsored by the SHSU MFA Program in Creative Writing.
The night began with a reading from two chapters in Kardos’ acclaimed novel, “The Three-Day Affair”, to a room full of eager students and faculty. The book can be described as a crime novel but not in the typical sense. It is about three friends who met at Princeton and who find themselves involved in a kidnapping. Although this is Kardos’ debut novel he is also the author of the short-story collection “One Last Good Time”, which was also well-received by critics.
Kardos began with a passage from his novel that began when the characters first met in college and then continued with another chapter that finds them struggling as adults.
Kardos’ ability to portray the scenes in the novel really captured the audience’s attention. His expression when reading the passages worked to enthrall audience members in the story and he had them laughing throughout the event.
After the half-hour reading, Kardos welcomed questions from the audience and answered them in a way that had them laughing and curious to know more.
At the end of the event, his novel was available for purchase and Kardos stayed to sign copies.
Audience members really enjoyed the reading and found the passages from the book very interesting.
“He was a very frank and honest writer. I really liked his freshness and the unexpected word choice and topic. It was very nice,” audience member Jenny Seay said. “I liked that he was very engaging with the audience. He was very friendly and very funny.”
A creative writing minor and attendee of the reading, Alex Scott, enjoyed the event and thought Kardos was very entertaining.
“I thought it was great,” Scott said. “I liked it so much that I got both of his books.”
Graduate student Chad Meiners was impressed by the reading and felt like it went well.
“It was well received and everyone was laughing at his jokes. So I thought people really enjoyed the story and I thought they learned a lot about what he had to say about the art of writing,” Meiners said. “I was very impressed with his reading and his work and he had some very good advice to tell students and to faculty as well.”
The Creative Writing program will host author Tim O’Brien on April 3-4.