Columns

Post-Apocelliptical: The New Old Face of the Post-Apocalypse

August 12th, 2015

I’ve always loved post-apocalyptic fiction, which is probably why my first novel ended up squarely in the genre. And while I grew up with tales of irradiated wastelands, post-apocalyptic stories these days tend to stick to more familiar topics like pandemics and zombies. My own novel, Falling Sky, uses disease as a catalyst. It makes sense — diseases, pandemics scare us. They are a present threat whereas nuclear war, well, it’s a lot further down the list. When Falling Sky came out, Ebola was all over the news.

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Six Ways to Survive the Query Trenches

August 12th, 2015

Every writer knows that publishing is a notoriously slow process, and waiting at any stage of the game can be pure hell. Never is that more true than when you're in the Query Trenches.

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Truman Capote reviews 'Go Set a Watchman'

August 11th, 2015

Excuse me if I sound a little irritated today, but I should explain that here in the corner of Heaven reserved for Famous Dead Authors, the organizing committee, chaired this year by that meddling busybody Agatha Christie, recently changed the system for choosing our overall Paradise experience. For some time Norman Mailer and I had charmed and bribed enough votes from our fellow-authors to ensure that the Hereafter permanently took the form of Studio 54 in its 1970s heyday.

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10 Tips On How To Write A Press Release

August 10th, 2015

If you’re running a publishing house or self-publishing, sooner or later you’ll need to write a press release. Sure, there are other ways to get the word out—like door-to-door cold calling, physical theatre and old school intimidation—but the press release is a more traditional approach, and unlikely to land you jail time or judgement… provided you get it right.

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Embracing the Brutal Brilliance of Pixar

August 10th, 2015

What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don't succeed? Stack the odds against.

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5 Exercises From Comics Creators That Will Save Your Prose

August 6th, 2015

No, we're not talking about this: No, you don't need a motorcycle jacket to support your lower back for your Bizarre Bicycles:

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'Orange Is The New Black' and the Downgraded Protagonist

August 5th, 2015

In 2010, Spiegel and Brau published a memoir by Piper Kerman called Orange Is The New Black. The book detailed Piper's thirteen months spent in a women's correctional facility for her brief involvement in a drug smuggling and money laundering gang ten years prior. While the narrative stuck mostly to Piper's own experiences in prison, her ultimate goal was to shed light on the deeply flawed prison system in America. Since the book was a bestseller, it can be said that goal was more or less accomplished.

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Welcome to the Suicide Squad

August 3rd, 2015

By now you have no doubt been deafened by the infinite squees of a billion fans reacting to the “leaked” trailer for Suicide Squad. If you watched it and merely wondered why everyone was so excited about this new Will Smith picture, this is a brief intro to the comics and characters the movie is based on. The titular squad is a black-bag strike force composed of captive supervillains compelled into the government’s service.

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UPDATED WITH WINNER - LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: July Edition

July 31st, 2015

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.

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Culling the Poetry Classics: Langston Hughes

July 31st, 2015

It's very difficult to cover the truly immense scope of the poetic world and its rich history through a kinda-monthly-but-let's-be-real-bimonthly column. It's even harder when I'm an American who only reads in English and who only went to American schools and who really was only ever actively taught the Great White Males of Literature with a smattering of Great White Females of Literature thrown in every so often.

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