Columns

Of Mice, Men, and Gloves Fulla Vaseline

March 9th, 2018

This is partly about a classic novel, but more than that, it’s about a time I decided to wear a glove fulla Vaseline. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, there’s an antagonist, a real asshole. His name’s Curley, and he’s introduced wearing a glove on his left hand and high-heeled boots, the type of boots designed for sitting on a horse and telling OTHER people what to do. Here’s a conversation between two characters, George and Candy:

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"Brazen" Celebrates Women Throughout History, and So Should We

March 7th, 2018

In March, we celebrate women. Or at least, we’re meant to. Because not only is the whole month America’s National Women’s History Month, but March 8 has long been International Women’s Day, a day set aside each year to reflect upon the achievements of women. In honor of the special day this year, MacMillan’s First Second imprint is republishing as a full graphic novel, Penelope Bagieu’s 30 vignettes of women throughout history.

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Book vs. Television: Altered Carbon

March 6th, 2018

I first discovered Altered Carbon in a book review. It was a different time—I read the review in an actual newspaper and then travelled to a physical bookstore, where I used cash to purchase a paper and ink copy of a novel, a sentence that seems surprisingly antiquated and arcane as I type it. This book accompanied me on a flight to New York, and as soon as I finished reading it, I flipped back to the first page and started again. By the time my second reading had concluded, it was one of my favorite sci-fi novels.

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The "When" Guide for Writers: Master the Science of Perfect Timing (Part 1)

March 5th, 2018

Let me kick this thing off by shocking you with a bold statement—novelists are creative people.

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Book Vs. Film: "-30-" Vs. "They Remain"

March 1st, 2018

It's a generally accepted rule that a great film adaptation of literary material simultaneously stay faithful to the source while also forging its own path, i.e., creating a narrative that is medium-appropriate without completely alienating the story's roots.

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What Made 'Roseanne' Great

February 28th, 2018

Next month we’re getting a new Roseanne. And this Conner-lover couldn’t be happier. I fucking adore Roseanne. Start up that saxophone music, show me the family sitting around the table with slices of pizza, and I’m 100% yours for the next 20 minutes.

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Annalee Newitz’s 'Autonomous': Cyberpunk from the Female Perspective

February 27th, 2018

Cyberpunk has traditionally been dominated by male characters and the male perspective. After all, the works of proto-cyberpunk—Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination (1957) and the movie Blade Runner (1982), based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? by Philip K. Dick—were all written by men and feature male protagonists. These were influences for William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984), the book that defined a genre, and whose “console cowboy” main character is a man named Case.

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Get Your Sh*t Together: Six Memoirs for Personal Growth

February 26th, 2018

As human beings, we've all got room to grow, but there are times when personal growth is more of an imperative than others.  Times of grief, change, and significant upheaval. Times when life and death and the sheer fragility of the human coil can seem overwhelming. Times when the world at large appears dangerous and strange, and the ghosts of the past come knocking. Times, you could say, like these.

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How to Hide Exposition Through Action

February 23rd, 2018

I was reading a draft of a friend's novel, and in one of the chapters, it was critical for a character in the chapter to explain something. Ah, the dreaded telling. The thing every teacher you've had from middle school on has told you to avoid. But the fact is, telling is a necessary device for progressing a story. If telling was not allowed, we'd all be writing plays and screenplays. The trick is using it infrequently and hiding it. 

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Zoraida Cordova Writes Fantasy She Can See Herself In

February 21st, 2018

Zoraida Cordova writes fantasy about witches and magical beings because her childhood was sheltered. She grew up in a quiet neighborhood and didn’t have much freedom to wander around with her friends. So the stories she writes are a form of escapism.

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