Columns

How to Write with a Newborn in the House

March 21st, 2023

Header images via Leonardo Luz & Pixabay No one can write with a child around. It’s no good. You just get cross. - Doris Lessing

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What Digital Comics Readers Really Want

March 20th, 2023

Header image via unsplash The good thing about reading average-type books is that you can get your hands on them without too much trouble. As long as you don't care about collectability, you can lay hands on just about anything put to paper. Comics have been a little tougher.

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Taylor Swift Albums as Books

March 17th, 2023

Even among fans, many of the discussions about Taylor Swift's songs revolve around her personal life; Swifties comb lyrics and videos for hidden clues to uncover which real person inspired each song. Curiosity is natural, and I haven’t always been immune to it, but I am no longer interested in any of that.

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Storyville: Some of the Best and Worst Writing Advice I’ve Ever Gotten

March 16th, 2023

So over the years I’ve gotten a lot of advice about writing, from the masters Tweeting it out on Twitter, to my MFA professors, to my fellow authors. Here is some of the best and worst advice I’ve gotten over the years, and I how I have folded that all into my writing. BEST: “In order to be a writer, you must do two things—you must read, and you must write.”—Stephen King

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Writing Through Depression—It's All About Sparking Joy

March 14th, 2023

Header images via Xi Xi & Ali Alcantara I’ve made it no secret, over the years I’ve lived and written for the internet, that I have depression. Some of my first published articles, back in 2015 and 2016, were about life with depression, and life trying to be a writer, and the way those two identities coalesced and often crashed into each other.

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Exposing Power as Ridiculous: A Conversation between Juan Martinez and Eden Robins

March 13th, 2023

Juan Martinez author photo via author website / Eden Robins author photo by Jeff Kurysz, via author website Juan Martinez’s and Eden Robins’ debut novels could not be more different — Martinez’s Extended Stay is a horror novel about the immigration experience, invisibility, and a Vegas hotel that eats people, and Robins’ When Franny Stands Up</

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Movie Novelizations Are Back!

March 10th, 2023

header image via Pixabay With Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Jeff Strand is putting out a novelization of a movie that’s more than 40 years old. The new trilogy of Halloween movies had novelizations. Vinegar Syndrome just announced that they’re set to start novelizing some of their properties (Sidekicks? The Incredible Melting Man? Invisible Maniac?).

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Book vs. Film: "The Stars At Noon"

March 9th, 2023

images: Alfred A. Knopf / A24 The Stars at Noon, by the late, great Denis Johnson, is the kind of work one might categorize as unfilmable when you really begin to unpack its layers and symbolism. This may in part explain why no one attempted — at least in earnest — a film adaptation until 2022, when famed French director Claire Denis, writing alongside Léa Mysius and Andrew Litvack, finally brought Johnson’s third book to the screen 36 years after its initial publication. 

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Yes, I Read The 111-Page Moms For Liberty Book Ban Document

March 8th, 2023

Header images via Pixabay Book bans are pretty much the worst, and when it comes to the worst of the worst, the 111-page Moms for Liberty BOOK of BOOKS document, which claims to provide parental guidance for controversial children’s books, is beneath the barrel’s bottom, somewhere deep in the sewer, under a layer of crust formed by many, many flushed turds.

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9 Grammar Books You’ll Actually Enjoy Reading

March 6th, 2023

March 4th is National Grammar Day, but the only people who probably know that are teachers, English professors, and devout grammar enthusiast's. Still, grammar is becoming more and more important in our technologically connected world. More and more, we communicate through text, and being able to articulate what you want to say clearly and precisely is more necessary than ever. To help you polish you skills and put any self-professed grammar snob to shame, here are nine grammar books you’ll actually enjoy reading.

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