Columns

5 Reasons Jigsaw is the Perfect Writing Mentor

October 27th, 2017

Jigsaw just wants to make people be their best selves. He’s a secular humanist and a post-modern self-help guru. Is he a psychopathic mass-murder? I mean technically yes, but I think Jigsaw didn’t find his true purpose—being the best writing mentor of all time. Yes, his love of torture is a bit extreme, but Jigsaw understands the human heart and the power of narrative. His heart is in the right place and he could help many beginning writers find their true voice. 

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Gory, Bizarre, Cheesy Horror Movies and Their Book Matches Pt. 1

October 26th, 2017

I love horror movies. I also love horror books. It’s October, and you’re on LitReactor, so I’m guessing you feel the same way. Combining a love of horror movies and horror books seems easy, right? I mean, look at a good movie, find the book it was based on, pow.

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The Rare Occurrence of the "Final Boy" in Horror

October 23rd, 2017

The "final girl" is a potent concept that started off in academic circles but has recently entered into the mainstream. A final girl, the main character in slasher horror movies defined by the antagonist murdering the cast in various sordid ways, ultimately confronts and defeats the killer, who is in more ways than one an uber male that stands in for the patriarchy. Usually she is a "pure" character, with the stereotype being that she is a virginal “girl scout” type.

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7 Beloved Authors Who Occasionally Dabbled in Horror

October 23rd, 2017

When you think of horror writers, your mind probably jumps to names like Poe, Lovecraft, and King. Authors you don’t immediately think of are Charles Dickens and Truman Capote — both of whom, at some point in their careers, dabbled in the literary dark arts. In this special October post, we’ll be looking at a few of our favorite writers who took detours into the world of horror fiction. Happy Halloween!

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The Walking Dead Pilot: Saying Hello Again to "Days Gone Bye"

October 20th, 2017

The Walking Dead returns this Sunday, and what better way to prepare yourself for the wildly popular show's premiere than to take a deep dive into the pilot that started it all, "Days Gone Bye?" The Sounds of Silence If you're a fan of the show and you re-watch the pilot, the most striking element is the silence. As the seasons have progressed, the cast has shifted, the herds of zombies have grown in size, and the horror of the show has been replaced with action.

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Storyville: Activities to Feed Your Dark Creative Soul Around Halloween

October 20th, 2017

Wander your local graveyard after dark. Sit near the most decorative mausoleum you can find. Or the oldest one. Perhaps the most ornate. Talk to the resident of that tomb, and ask it questions. Offer it forgiveness. Say you’ll keep its secrets. Leave a flower, or maybe spill a bit of wine into the earth. Sprinkle breadcrumbs around the edges of the tombstone. Recite incantations to the moon. Light a stick of incense, or a candle, and close your eyes. Rest your hands on your knees, palms up, and slowly smile.

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Library Love: I Left My Heart in the Book Drop

October 19th, 2017

I never thought so seriously about book drops until I led a renovation of my library.  So many things fell into place: the student study rooms, the comfortable furniture, the staff break room facing the mountains. But the one thing that went wrong, seriously wrong, was the book drop. I blamed myself, for a while. How did I not catch this when I looked at the drawings? Had I not been clear enough in the planning meetings? They had asked, "Do you really need a book drop?" and I had said, "Yes, absolutely.

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The 18 Most Egregious Art Replacements From 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'

October 18th, 2017

It's been a few years since the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy got a major facelift, replacing Stephen Gammell's art/living nightmares with Brett Helquist's tamer take on the urban legends, folktales, and general creepiness collected by Alvin Schwartz. People were incensed, but now that some time's passed, we should be able to evaluate it objectively. Was the change a good one? No. It was not. Usually I wait until the end of a column to make a judgment, but screw that, this was a terrible idea.

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5 Bizarro Books That Should Be Movies

October 16th, 2017

I’m very excited to see the horror movie Happy Death Day, due in large part to its similarities to a cool Bizarro book by Tiffany Scandal that came out this year called Shit Luck. But that's not the only recent movie that makes me think of Bizarro. There are some similarities between the Purge films and cult favorite Murderland by Garrett Cook, and I can’t give you a rational reason why Mother! brings to mind Kevin Donihe.

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Anatomy of a Mini Flash Novel Experiment: Angel Dust

October 13th, 2017

Photo: Seaview, WA, in November (Alex Behr) At a flash fiction class at The Attic in Portland, OR, poet/screenwriter/overall godhead David Ciminello led us through prompts. He creates trust through guidelines on how to receive and give feedback (example: “Be prepared to ask for the kind of feedback you want”) and his easygoing demeanor, but this night, I was wary. Directed writing makes me feel uneasy, as if a “real” writer doesn’t need external motivation. But I loved these prompts.

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