Columns

The 7 Greatest Fears of Horror Writers

October 9th, 2017

October has rolled around, and we, readers, once more return to horror fiction in anticipation of Halloween. We put ourselves in the hands of masters like Lovecraft and Barker, or new kids like Joe Hill — all with the aim of scaring ourselves stupid. But what chilling thoughts keep horror writers awake at night? What thing scares Stephen King? What makes R.L. Stine lose his mind? Take our hand as we peel back the velvet curtain to reveal the seven terrifying things that frighten the frighteners.

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Queer Stereotypes Aren't Just Bad Writing—It Goes Deeper, Says 'Writing The Rainbow' Instructor Nita Tyndall

October 6th, 2017

I’ve been reading queer YA since I was in middle school and starved to see myself in stories. In the beginning, I took what I could get, even if the stories were riddled with cliches, because I was so desperate to see my identity reflected. I snuck these books from the library and hid them behind my textbooks to read, comforted because I could at last see myself.

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The Agony & the Ecstasy of the Best-Seller List

October 5th, 2017

Last month, there was a little hullabaloo about a book publisher "quitting" the New York Times Best-Seller list. Regnery Publishing publicly stated that they would no longer use the best-seller list in promotional materials or as a basis for bonuses.

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The Top 10 LitReactor Columns of All Time

October 4th, 2017

On October 1st, 2011, LitReactor was pushed wet and screaming into this world. Like many new parents, Dennis Widmyer and Kirk Clawes had high hopes for their bundle of Internet joy. They didn't know what the future held, exactly, just that they wanted the site to grow into something special. A community where writers could connect, learn, and flourish. On this, LitReactor's sixth year anniversary, we are proud to say we are still here—making new friends, arguing the minutiae of the written word, and paying writers to write.

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The Top 10 Rare and Pricey Stephen King Books

October 3rd, 2017

I consider myself a book collector. I have some signed books, a few first editions, a couple of rare releases, some stuff that's old but in great condition, and books by my favorite authors that are now out of print. However, the world of Stephen King book collecting is a whole different beast.

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Six Lessons I Learned Co-Writing A Novella With James Patterson

October 3rd, 2017

Last year James Patterson announced a new publishing venture: BookShots. Shorter, novella-sized stories. The tag line was: Under 150 pages. Under $5. Impossible to put down. I was very excited when BookShots got a splashy announcement in the New York Times—because it meant I could finally share some news I had been sitting on for months: I was writing one.

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LitReactor Remembers Kirk Clawes

October 2nd, 2017

AWP 2016, Los Angeles: Pictured left to right, top to bottom: Rob Hart, Bree Ogden, Joshua Chaplinsky, Renee Asher Pickup, Taylor Houston, Kirk Clawes, Dennis Widmyer LitReactor suffered a huge blow a few days ago when we learned our co-founder and technical lead, Kirk Clawes, had passed away in his sleep. It truly was a shock, because Kirk was only 38 and so full of life.

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Tom Perrotta is My Favorite Existential Uncle

September 25th, 2017

Photo y Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 3.0 Many families have that uncle who gets invited over for Thanksgiving and doesn't quite fit in. The black sheep, who doesn’t understand the concept of polite conversation or hold any of the same values as your family. He’s outspoken and crosses the line before the turkey even hits the table, sharing something completely inappropriate but interesting enough that the family wants to hear what comes next.

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Breaking Worse? The 'Ozark' Pilot Treads Dark Territory

September 22nd, 2017

Heavy spoiler warning!!! Ozark eschews the traditional "slow burn" that has defined (and sometimes plagued) television drama recently with a pilot episode designed to surprise you with gut punches—all to prepare you for the uppercuts yet to come.

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Road Trip Horror: 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' and 'Nocturnal Animals'

September 20th, 2017

Nocturnal Animals, released in 2016, took a classic horror movie trope and added prestige to it. That is, the idea that traveling on rural highways, especially at night, will result in an encounter with lunatics and death. This has existed at least as far back as 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with its band of five teens picking up a hitchhiker which turns out to be a catalyst for a night of brutal violence and madness. Then there’s 1986’s The Hitcher, in which C.

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