Columns

Hack Dad’s Revenge: Boredom

March 20th, 2017

Originally, this month’s column was supposed to be about earning money as a stay-at-home parent/writer. But, the thing is I’m pretty much doing everything on spec these days and I’ve pitched two articles, submitted a novelette, and a short satirical article to a humor website over the last six weeks, but I haven’t heard anything back from any of them. This is what happens when you’re not under contract, though. You spend a lot of time writing and hoping someone will buy some of it.

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10 Japanese Authors You Should Read

March 17th, 2017

Image via Culture Japan Years ago, while working at a tattoo shop, I stumbled across a book of tattoos by Horiyoshi III. My obsessive mindset set me on a long journey to learn all I could about Japanese tattooing. Then came the rest, and that included Japanese literature. To my surprise, not many readers are familiar with the outstanding writing that is produced in that country.

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10 Things I Learned About Writing and Publishing From Managing a Porn Store

March 17th, 2017

Image via I used to manage a porn store in northeast D.C. I worked there for two years and it was the best writer job I ever had. There were whole blocks of time where I could read and write while I sat behind the counter. It was a blessing to get paid to practice my craft.

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Dystropia: The Threat Of Rape As An Agent of Fear

March 16th, 2017

This is a trope that is so pervasive, you probably don't always register it when you see it—especially in horror films and fiction, though it appears quite regularly in non-genre titles as well. I'm talking of course about the threat of rape (or in numerous cases the successful rape) of a prominent female character for the sole purpose of drumming up tension and fear. 

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Zines: Dead Or Alive-er Than Ever?

March 10th, 2017

Why We're Asking The Question Because the internet was going to kill everything. The internet was going to kill record stores. The internet was going to kill bookstores.The internet was going to kill brick and mortar banks.The internet was going to kill the telephone. Surely, if the internet was going to kill those other things, the internet was going to kill zines. Zines are so often painstakingly hand made. Zines have problematic distribution. These are exactly the sorts of problems that were going to be solved by the internet.  

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8 Books for March 8th: International Women's Day

March 8th, 2017

image via Hercampus International Women's Day is March 8th every year, but it picked up extra significance in 2017 when it also became A Day Without a Woman, a strike to highlight the economic significance women have around the world. Many of us are only beginning to recognize the importance of this day, which has been used to bring attention to everything from economic disparity to human rights.

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10 Authors that Will Give Your Brain a Workout

March 6th, 2017

This is one of those articles that requires a few notes before it gets going. The first thing you should know is that I decided to leave academic writers out of it because most people don't normally buy academic texts to read at the beach (shout out to my boy Jean Baudrillard because he comes to mind every day, and Gloria Anzaldúa because she helped shape my barrio noir!). Also, because after more than a decade in academia, I know that each branch of knowledge takes the work of certain thinkers and interprets it differently.

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Storyville: Writing a Story or Novel Based on One Emotion

March 3rd, 2017

So today, what I wanted to talk about was how to create based on a single emotion (or theme). When writing a short story, or novel, quite often there will be a theme that runs through everything you’re doing, one main emotion that helps to build the atmosphere, tension, conflict and resolution. Let’s talk about how you can do that, and what that might look like. Let me talk a bit about my process. When I sit down to write a short story or novel there are usually a few things that are front of mind for me:

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Subjective Preference vs. Objective Quality: A.O. Scott's 'Better Living Through Criticism' and Why Everyone is a Critic

March 2nd, 2017

“How can you win a music competition? Isn’t it all subjective?” “No. It’s not.” -Whiplash God was the first artist. It’s telling that He didn’t just wave His hands around to create the heavens and the earth. He used words. “Let there be light,” He said, and there was light.

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8 Lessons Bookstores Could Learn From Comic Book Stores

March 1st, 2017

Consider the comic store and the bookstore. Their relationship has been one similar to that of a snob and a slob in a snobs versus slobs comedy. Bookstores, represented by snobs, have been on top for a long time. But now, now that time has moved on and the movie has nearly finished, the slobs are on top. Alliances have been re-formed, Camp Whatever has been saved, and the snob looks to the once lowly slob to figure out how to exist in this new, topsy-turvy world.

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