Columns

LitReactor's Black Friday Picks for Readers and Writers

November 24th, 2017

It’s Black Friday. Dust those pie crust crumbs off your distended belly, sit up, and pay attention! Black Friday is a tough one for writers. On one hand, we like to think of ourselves as being less attached to objects than others. On the other hand, most of us aren’t swimming in cash.

Read Column →

How To Be A Dude, And Not Terrible

November 24th, 2017

I love Game of Thrones and I used to use the joke valar morgulis (for those who don’t speak High Valyrian: all men must die) when discussing bad dude behavior. For example, I am walking my toddler to the bus stop and a man pulls up on the side of the road and shouts NICE PUSSY at me and my child. #AllMenMustDie

Read Column →

12 Novels About Dysfunctional Families

November 23rd, 2017

Which family dinners do you remember more? The ones where the food was not too hot, not too cold, where everyone ate a societally acceptable amount, and conversations were civil and cohesive? Or the ones where the chicken was overdone, where you ate so much the top button of your pants had to be undone, and where arguments and tension simmered away?

Read Column →

10 Books to Make You Feel Thankful

November 21st, 2017

Health. Family. Another day above ground. That one time you didn't get caught. Great coffee. Humor. Books and music. A roof over your head. There are many reasons to be thankful if you look for them. Stuffing yourself or making jokes about others stuffing themselves on social media are fine things, but if you want to take things one step further, specifically a step in the literary direction, think about some books that give you that feeling. Here are ten suggestions that have made me feel thankful in the past.

Read Column →

Storyville: Life, Death, Dreams, and Failure

November 21st, 2017

When I heard the news of LitReactor Co-Founder Kirk Clawes passing away, it really floored me. It totally caught me off guard, as death often does. I held up the pottery of his I had sitting on my desk, admiring his ability—the art, the vision, the craft. It got me thinking about my own work, my own life, as I am about to turn 50 (and will have when this column comes out).

Read Column →

Adult Coloring Books: The Great Mystery

November 20th, 2017

Adult coloring books simultaneously fill me with curiosity and snark. What is this strange, very ornate, black and white thing? What does one do with it? Are we really supposed to sit down and color in the pictures? Who does that? Based on the sales—millions and millions of people. Based on anecdotal evidence, definitely fewer than that. It is one thing to buy the thing; it is quite another to do the thing. But obviously, some do, and are very proud of themselves.

Read Column →

The Birth of Jace Salome

November 20th, 2017

…[Jace]…looked at the cells. Fifty cells on the bottom tier, fifty cells on the top tier. Most nights handfuls of inmates watched the guards. Men and women who couldn’t sleep, who couldn’t stand a silence punctured by the awful dreams and night moans of others, who hated the near-constant whack of the electric locks, who worked themselves into a quiet storm over being locked up. But tonight, with all that had gone on, there was only one man staring out at her. The inmate she’d laughed at.

Read Column →

'Discovery' vs. 'The Orville': Who Treks Better?

November 17th, 2017

It’s been a long time since Star Trek was on television—over a decade since the finale of Enterprise. The JJ Abrams trilogy was a fun distraction, but barely substantial enough to qualify as a footnote in the rich history of the franchise. While Star Trek has proven capable of producing great films, it has always performed best as a series. Imagine how embarrassingly fortunate the fans felt when we got not just one, but two new shows boldly attempting to carry on the Trek tradition.

Read Column →

12 "Boring" Books That Are Way Better Than They Should Be

November 16th, 2017

“Boring” is almost always bad. Who wants a boring movie? A boring piece of art on the wall? But sometimes boring is alright. Better than alright. I live in Colorado, land of the craft beer. I've seen it all. Beers with every kind of fruit involved. Beers of all shades. Beers with stuff floating in them. Beers meant to embody seasons, holidays, and dead celebrities. Beers garnished with lemon, lime, or half an orange on the edge of a glass.

Read Column →

A Modest Pro-POE-sal: Jonathan Swift and Doonesbury in the Age of Poe's Law

November 15th, 2017

Satire has long been part of the realm of the newspaper comic strip, and none do it better than Garry Trudeau and his long-running Doonesbury. Created during the height of ‘60s and ‘70s counterculture when Trudeau was in college, its approach to politics is decidedly liberal and unabashedly tongue-in-cheek. The only problem is these days the lines between the situations depicted in the comic strip and reality have started to blur.

Read Column →