Columns

'City of Rose' Book Tour Diary: Los Angeles

February 24th, 2016

Please forgive the selfie indulgence in the banner. I couldn't help myself. But when I left New York, it was -10 degrees with the wind chill. And the first three stops on my tour—Portland, Seattle, San Francisco—were pretty comfortable in comparison, but Los Angeles was like magic. Sunny and 73 degrees. I was staying in my friend's apartment in Silver Lake, off Sunset, and I spent a day wandering around in a t-shirt, eating fish tacos, and drinking weather-appropriate iced coffees.  It was pretty great.

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Why 'Moby-Dick' Matters

February 23rd, 2016

illustration by Robert Kent, from the 1930 Random House edition of 'Moby Dick,' courtesy Plattsburgh State Art Museum Call Me Dumbfounded. I pitched this idea for a column to LitReactor’s dedicated editors knowing that, if they accepted it, I’d be reading Moby-Dick for the fourth time. Rattling off reasons why Moby-Dick still mattered? A snap!

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'City of Rose' Book Tour Diary: San Francisco

February 23rd, 2016

The San Francisco leg of my tour included a pretty big milestone: I finished the final draft of my third novel, South Village, and got it off to my publisher. Earlier than I intended, too.  South Village is due March 1, and my plan was to finish and file by the flight home. But between the amount of time I was spending on planes and in airports, and the huge chunk of free time I had in Seattle, I blazed through it. 

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What Works & What Doesn't: 'Pulp Fiction'

February 22nd, 2016

Welcome once again to What Works & What Doesn't, a monthly column dedicated to the craft of screenwriting. For this installment, we're going to look at the architecture of a scene in its entirety, in particular how action (or scene descriptions) and dialogue are used to generate beats, which in turn move a scene along toward a climax.

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'City of Rose' Book Tour Diary: Seattle

February 22nd, 2016

My second day in Seattle, I went to a laundromat because I am bad at packing and was out of clean socks and would soon be out of other forms of clothing. After that I got a really awesome burrito at Rancho Bravo and found a few copies of my books at Elliott Bay Book Company—which was pretty awesome—and signed their stock. Then I got some ice cream at Molly Moon’s, because I am a sucker for fancypants ice cream.

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LURID: Fear The Preacher — In Fiction and Beyond

February 22nd, 2016

LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a guide to the merits of the kind of Bad Books you never want your co-workers to know you're reading.

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The Architecture of Fantasy: How Authors Use Real Places To Build Imaginary Ones

February 19th, 2016

Last month, J.K. Rowling announced that the North American school for witchcraft and wizardry is named Ilvermorny. It's apparently one of 11 major wizarding schools across the globe, with others located in Brazil, Japan, and Africa.

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Kindling Love: 9 of the Strangest Erotic Stories on Kindle

February 19th, 2016

Love takes a lot of different forms. There’s the love between a man and a woman, as exemplified by Adam and Eve. There’s love between two men, as exemplified by this Adam and Steve couple I’ve heard so much about lately. There’s love between women, Eve and Evie (they both used to go by “Eve”, but it’s too weird to date someone with the exact same name, so Evie made the switch). There’s love between like eight dudes named Chris, Jim, uh, Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Chip, Dale, and probably some other guy that was less memorable.

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6 Coloring Books You Won’t Be Sharing With the Kids

February 18th, 2016

Coloring—it's not just for kids any more! You no longer need to raid the kid’s stash if you’re looking to unwind with a little art therapy. From crafty pages celebrating all things literary, to ones dedicated to creative swearing, adult coloring books are all the rage. Get your crayon on with these six adult coloring books.

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'City of Rose' Book Tour Diary: Portland

February 18th, 2016

Sitting in my hotel room in Portland on Monday, waiting to leave for my signing at Powell’s, I was a bundle of nerves. I always get like that before any book or reading event. Light-headed and pukey. This was worse than usual: It was my first solo event outside New York City. It was at a bookstore chain that I’ve loved for a very long time. And Chuck Palahniuk was going to be there.

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