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10 Things to Read (or Watch) Instead of Watching the Super Bowl
February 5th, 2016
Image by frankieleon If you enjoy American football, odds are good that you'll have a section of your busy schedule carved out this Feb. 7 to sit on a couch, scream at the television, and eat lots of dip. That's wonderful. Dip can be very therapeutic. However, if you're anything like me, you'll be looking for something else to occupy your night—perhaps something a bit more bookish?
Read Column →Anatomy of an Action Scene: The Advantages of Present Tense
February 4th, 2016
Action is hard to write. What works so well on the screen, with the full visceral impact of celluloid, can appear rote and stagnant on the page. Imagine a sword fight in prose. Do you describe every parry and thrust? And if so, at what point does it devolve into the equivalent of a VCR user manual? One sure-fire way to inject adrenaline into your words is to write in the present tense. This is a method that is rare in the literary world, as it’s offputting in its immediacy and begs the question: if this is happening right now then how is the story being told?
Read Column →Making A Murderer: How Good Storytelling Made It So Damn Compelling
February 3rd, 2016
If you haven't seen Making A Murderer yet, I'm sorry. This must be a confusing and annoying time to be online. If you have, then you know it's a wild tale, or maybe even a wild tale INSIDE OF a wilder tale, all inside another wild tale. It's a Russian nesting doll of wild tales, but instead of a tiny little doll in the center, there's a white hot ball of outrage. What is it about this story? Why has this, amongst so many others, caught so much attention? Why have so many of us stayed up so late to see its end?
Read Column →LitReactor Community Spotlight: February 2016
February 2nd, 2016
Have you visited the Writer's Workshop lately? It had been a while for me. As I've mentioned before, LitReactor is a pretty cosmopolitan place, as far as level of experience goes. While we have some real heavyweights hanging around, we also have people like me who, I admit, have not yet been published.
Read Column →One Month of Reading Stephen Graham Jones: A Primer
February 1st, 2016
Author photo via University of Colorado, Boulder Usually in ‘One Month of Reading…’ I’ll provide you with a rundown of who the author is and highlight the books I’ve read in the preceding month. This month I’m mixing things up as I turn my attention to Stephen Graham Jones, an author whose story The Elvis Room I was fortunate enough to publish back in March, 2014. As part of this column I spoke with Stephen to glean further insight into his work.
Read Column →UPDATED WITH WINNER - LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: Maps Edition
January 29th, 2016
Flash fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity Welcome to LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown, a monthly bout of writing prowess. How It Works We give you inspiration in the form of a picture, poem, video, or prompt. You write a flash fiction piece using the inspiration we gave you. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked and awarded a prize.
Read Column →Five Literary Sex Scenes You Wish You'd Written
January 29th, 2016
My professional writing career began as a book reviewer for Time Warner Publications. To qualify for the job I had to review a pot boiler about sleeping your way to the top in Hollywood. I know, right? It had lines like, “Please Tom. I can’t wait any more,” and “His swollen thickness was drawing pleasures out of her she had never imagined existed.” Every sex scene was more or less the same, a kind of caricature of itself. Cue “swollen thickness.” I, um, had a ball with the review and it got me the job and it made me think about sex scenes.
Read Column →The Best Book Covers of 2015
January 28th, 2016
It was a good year for books. Let's take a look at what I consider the best, most original book covers of 2015. This is most definitely a subjective selection, but I tried to pick books that represent different styles, genres, publishers and artists/designers. Props to Lazy Fascist Press for pushing the envelope, Matthew Revert who I had to limit to one entry, and that really great The Visible Filth cover. It was a close call for #1. And probably #2. Here goes.
Read Column →Screw Your Resolution: 10 Dystopian Beauty Narratives
January 28th, 2016
The winter months following the holiday season are a time for stoic contemplation and self-improvement for many. Eat more salad, develop a regular workout routine, drop five pounds; these are common resolutions made by thousands every January first. But why do we make these same resolutions, year after year? Whether fully dystopian or just disillusioned, these books will give you the perfect excuse to cancel that gym membership you'll only use for a month anyway.
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