Columns

It Took Me 10 Years to Publish My Poetry Collection

September 27th, 2018

I create music because I have to. I might get paid for it one day, but that isn't why I’ll spend hours by myself in a basement toiling away with a bass/guitar and a microphone. There is something calming and euphoric about this ritual, something centering. 

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Books vs. Miniseries: 'The Stand'

September 24th, 2018

The Stand is one of Stephen King's most enduring and popular works. This is due, in part, to the fact the book formally introduces one of the author's most formidable baddies, Randall Flagg, as well as the fact it's an effectively modern interpretation of the epic good versus evil narrative (King took inspiration for The Stand from The Lord Of The Rings series).

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Stephen King's 10 Best - Yes, Best! - Endings

September 21st, 2018

Original Author photo by Shane Leonard via stephenking.com Today is Stephen King’s birthday, and for his birthday, I’d like to grant him a gift that I believe most readers and critics deny him: the acknowledgement that the man can write a really great ending. The horror author is often criticized for his endings, and while it’s true that some of his best books go off the rails in the last fifty or so pages, he’s also put together some of the most imaginative and poetic endings in fiction.

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Inspiration from the Brooklyn Book Fest

September 21st, 2018

Last week I outran a hurricane to make it to the Brooklyn Book Festival. Florence was bearing down on the Carolinas, and I wanted to stay to help my husband, because mandatory evacuation, but he made me leave on a train, two days early, so I wouldn't miss my chance to get up to New York for the free gathering of literary luminaries. (Luckily, Florence brought nothing more to our neck of the woods than a few downed twigs. We will rebuild!)

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Is Crosstalk Killing Your Feedback?

September 20th, 2018

We’ve all been in a workshop where that one wretched member had us conspiring to “dissolve” the workshop and then re-form without telling them. We’ve all done the thing where we allow and disallow booze. We’ve all had the rules about length and continuing stories, all of which are violated in a fashion usually reserved for exploitation horror movies. There are lots of great ways to ruin a workshop.

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A Guide to the Literary And Cinematic References in 'Castle Rock'

September 18th, 2018

Warning: SPOILERS run freer than the waters of Castle River below.

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8 Reasons We Should Listen To Book Banners

September 17th, 2018

It’s September, which means it’s Banned Books Month. Lots of us, especially in the book selling/lending worlds, get pretty excited about this. We wear our Read Banned Books t-shirts and fasten I Read Banned Books pins to our cool jackets (or cardigans). We create massive displays and really stick it to the man. I’ve done it too. I’ve been there. Big display and “Fuck you, book banners!” attitude.

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That Time I Spoiled 'Fight Club' for a Stranger (a.k.a. 'Roughhouse Club')

September 14th, 2018

Original image via Free Images So here’s me ruining a movie for everybody:

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10 Gloriumptious Words to Celebrate Roald Dahl’s 102nd Birthday

September 13th, 2018

We all remember our first brush with Roald Dahl — whether it was the Candyland wish fulfillment of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or the tantalizing terror of The Witches, Dahl always had a knack for the eccentric and unforgettable. Nowhere was this truer than his vocabulary: by the most conservative of estimates, Dahl invented hundreds of unique words throughout his literary career.

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Blogging is Worth the Effort, Even Without the Pay

September 12th, 2018

Sometimes I feel like the world’s worst blogger because I’m so inconsistent on my personal blog. I go through phases — sometimes lasting as long as a few months! — in which I post regularly. And then, suddenly, it’s mid-July and the blog hasn’t been updated since February and wow, seriously, where has the time gone?

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