Columns

What Works & What Doesn't: 'Halloween'

October 13th, 2016

Welcome once again to What Works & What Doesn't, whereby we take a classic or notable film and explore its effective and weak aspects in kind, determining what exactly works about the film and what doesn't (as the title of this series indicates). And as we are now firmly planted in the month of October, what better film to analyze than John Carpenter's breakout hit Halloween, featuring the now iconic characters Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Michael Myers AKA The Shape (Nick Castle) and Dr.

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A Book Reviewer's Bill Of Rights

October 12th, 2016

I'm guessing most of us are familiar with the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, which give us the right to be harassed by journalists, the right to be terrified by the presence of firearms, and then a bunch of other stuff about quartering soldiers, excessive bail, and stuff that's not exciting because none of it involves using swear words or shooting stuff.

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The Story Behind Kafka's Insect Infestation

October 12th, 2016

The premise of Kafka's The Metamorphosis is well known. After waking one morning from uneasy dreams, traveling salesman Gregor Samsa found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

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The 10 Types of Horror Stories I’d Love To Read

October 11th, 2016

A few weeks ago Max Booth wrote a column about the Ten Horror Stories Nobody Wants to Read. So, I thought I’d follow up on this with a column about the Ten Horror Stories I’d LOVE to read. Not only have I been an author for the past nine years, with three novels, three short story collections, and over 100 stories in print, but I’ve also edited four anthologies (The New Black, Burnt Tongues, The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers, and Exigencies).

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On The Rituals Of Writers: New Books, Burnt Offerings, and Fried Zucchini

October 11th, 2016

Twelve years ago, I visited a hostel in the Georgia woods. It's so remote that, when you arrive, you feel like you got lost on your way to the middle of nowhere. Guests stayed in tree houses and everyone contributed to the chores and all the main buildings of the camp—the kitchen, the main office, the library—were geodesic domes that looked like mushrooms sprung out of the forest floor. 

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8 Ways To Salvage Your Yearly Writing Goals

October 10th, 2016

I definitely don’t want to alarm anyone, but I’m here to tell you that there are twelve weeks left in 2016. That’s right, twelve weeks. Until 2017. (Cue frantic flailing and musings on where the year has gone). Surely it was just yesterday that we were setting New Year’s Resolutions and laying out our lofty plans for a prolific year of writing, right?

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Why Luke Cage is the Superhero We Need

October 10th, 2016

The first time Luke Cage came to my notice was in the pages of 2004’s Secret War. Cage was among the heroes recruited by Nick Fury for an unsanctioned covert regime-change operation in Latveria, and was also the first to suffer retaliation for it in the form of an explosion that leaves him comatose. In the hospital we learn that his unbreakable skin does not negate internal damage, but it does keep doctors from operating on him.

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Four Life Lessons I Learned from Reading 'The Girl on the Train'

October 10th, 2016

The Girl on the Train​ is a bestseller. It's also a movie. But if you think that's all it is, you'd be very, very wrong because the Girl on the Train ​is more, so much more than just those two things. After I'd finished it and pondered for a while what all the fuss was about, it suddenly struck me, as hard as as if someone had hit me square on the forehead with a hardened bread pellet, that ​​hidden in amongst its pedestrian prose and improbable plotting are messages of timeless wisdom.

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Product Review: Scrivener for iOS

October 6th, 2016

Two years ago and some change, I reviewed the desktop word processor Scrivener for this site. In it, I alluded to the possibility of a mobile iteration of Literature & Latte's signature software.

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10 Reasons Why Social Media Doesn't Do A Damn Thing For Writers

October 5th, 2016

"I did all this hard work, built up all this social media, and still no one's buying my book? What's up?" We've all been there. And what's up could be that your book sucks (likely) or your social media sucks (likely), but it could also be that social media is worthless for writers. That's my premise. You knew that from the title, right? Let's get to it. Your Book Is Your Baby This is not a good thing in this context.

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