Columns

Happy Birthday To Agatha Christie, Inventor Of The Slasher

September 15th, 2023

Author photo: Wikipedia Commons Agatha Christie was born on September 15th, 1890. The author is already much celebrated as one of the greatest mystery writers of all time, but there’s one area where Christie still deserves recognition: as the inventor of the slasher. Whether intentional or not, the horror subgenre owes a huge debt of gratitude to Christie and her 1939 novel And Then There Were None.

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Storyville: Researching Your Novel—for Depth, Emotion, and Authority

September 14th, 2023

Are you thinking about writing a novel? Do you have the authority to tell this story, or do you need to do some research? Let me walk you through the process on my last book, Incarnate, and I’ll see if these suggestions can help you with your next novel.

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Why Progressive Kid's Books Suck

September 11th, 2023

Header via Pixabay While I was browsing the library a bit back, I came across a little book: Feminist Baby. I hated it. Not because I hate the politics of the book or feminism or hate women or have strong opinions on trans athletes in women’s sports or hate babies.

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Celebrating The Ampersand On National Ampersand Day

September 8th, 2023

Header image by Christopher Shultz How often do you think about the ampersand? If the answer is “not very often,” then today is a chance to give this symbol its due. That’s because today is National Ampersand Day. 

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7 Trippy Horror Novels That Will Mess You Up

September 5th, 2023

Ever since watching Terry Gillam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and subsequently reading the novel, I’ve been obsessed with mind-altering substances and psychedelic experiences. Not so much in real life (my body and mind are not equipped to handle it), but through art and movies and music and, of course, literature.

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The Absolute Worst Schools in Fiction

September 1st, 2023

For many, fall is their favorite time of year. The weather gets cooler, the leaves change color, and the holiday’s keep everyone busy. But there’s one thing we all dread: going back to school. There are the early mornings, the piles of homework, and everything in between. But all things considered, it could be much worse. You could be surrounded by assassins, spend detention in a coffin-sized closet, or face flying demons. To make you feel better about your first day of school, we found the absolute worst schools in fiction.

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Jonathan Safran Foer's "Tree of Codes": Gimmick or Great Read?

August 30th, 2023

Photos by Peter Derk Let’s take a moment to talk carnivals. I promise that this relates to Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer. When you walk through the aisles of food stands, the section of a carnival for people like me, people with taste, you might come across walking tacos. This is the name given to a dish where you basically put a taco, minus tortilla, into a bag of Doritos, smash it all up, and then eat it with a fork. If you’ve never eaten this, I highly recommend it.

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The Silly Gooses Theater Company

August 29th, 2023

When I describe Farsickness to people, I start by saying that it’s "Demented Whimsy"—and I’d like to tell you how that artistic philosophy was born. Back in 2020, the world got knocked sideways, and the impossible became the everyday. Because we were all forced inside, we evaluated our lives. Was I fulfilled? Did I have hope? Was I a good spouse, a good parent? And would I ever see that loved one who lives across the country again? We were cluttered with unanswerable questions and had to build new status quos on the quick.

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I’m an Idiot or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Novella

August 28th, 2023

“I’m a fucking idiot.” That&rsquo

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Storyville: Literary Devices—10 Common Writing Techniques and How to Use Them

August 25th, 2023

Have you heard people talk about literary devices, but you weren’t sure what that meant, or how to use them? Let’s chat about some of the more common examples and then see how you might incorporate them into your fiction.

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