Columns

In Defense Of Indie (It's Not What You Think)

March 25th, 2015

I’m going to use one of those sly literary tricks that I always find just a tad bit annoying in stories and novels: I’m going to start this column at the end and then go back to the beginning. Because, hey, why not. So here we go: The question I think we need to ask ourselves as writers is this: Does indie publishing really need to be defended? Short answer: No, not really. Now for the long answer:

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Product Review: 80 Days

March 24th, 2015

Have you ever read a classic novel and wished you could actively control the narrative's direction like a Choose Your Own Adventure book? The creative minds at inkle, a mobile gaming and software company, must have felt this desire, because they've created a game that gives you control over a hallmark work of science fiction: Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.

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Girls on Film: Marvel vs. DC

March 23rd, 2015

It’s tough being a female superhero. You catch bad guys and save lives just as well—if not better—than your male peers, and you’re expected do it all while wearing heels and trying not to pop out of your ludicrously scant costume every time you throw a punch. Regardless of how much good you do, you still get marginalized by society in the exact same way as your non-powered, but no less heroic, sisters.

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Murder Most Foul: Five Killer YA Mysteries

March 23rd, 2015

Who says Young Adult literature has to be all love triangles and fluff? In these five novels, the authors have murder on their minds, and no crime is too grisly, even for a YA audience. From missing girls meeting tragic ends to mysteries surrounding unsolved murders, authors like Paula Stokes and Abigail Haas are exploring murder and mayhem. Their books are sure to have you reading with the lights on.

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Boozing Like Famous Writers

March 20th, 2015

I hate to think of myself as a pile of stereotypes, a bunch of checkboxes with marks for either yes or no. But if I'm honest, there are some stereotypes that are true of me. I'm a white male. I'm a terrible dancer. This is true about me. I'm ridiculously bad at basketball. Unbelievably bad. If you want to disprove the stereotypes there, find someone else. I'm not your guy.

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Post-Mortem: Exploring 'Finnegans Wake'

March 20th, 2015

“Well, you know or don’t you kennet or haven’t I told you every telling has a taling and that’s the he and she of it” (213).

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Trash or Treasure? A List of Five Obscure Literary Movements

March 19th, 2015

Hermeticism, Spiralism, Futurism— there are a lot of ‘isms’ once you start to venture into this territory. Major literary movements like Realism and Romanticism are bandied about in liberal arts classrooms across the world, but not every idea finds a solid foothold in history. Just as there are innumerable faceless writers whose works have slipped from public visibility, there are whole literary movements and sub-movements that have been mostly swallowed up by the past.

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I Didn’t Know Author Jason Mott Was Black. Does That Make Me a Racist?

March 19th, 2015

When I discovered the book The Returned, I read it, loved it and decided to talk about it on the Unprintable podcast. Then I thought the author might like to hear the segment (authors generally like listening to people say nice stuff about their books), so I searched for Jason Mott on Twitter, so I could tweet him the link.

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Storyville: Ten Sexual Influences That Really Work

March 18th, 2015

In the wake of all of the Fifty Shades of Grey hype and criticism, I thought I’d make a list of ten BETTER sexual influences for writers. These are books, stories, authors and films that I think will give you a much better grasp of how to write sex scenes—the power struggles, the deviations, and the actual physical interaction. Hope this helps.

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How To Get Lucky With Your Next Read

March 18th, 2015

Photo Credit: Romano Carrattieri (Flickr) One of the most heart crushing truths of all time is that you will never be able to read every single book. There are so many titles, stories, characters, and options! Where do you begin? What happens if you spend your life reading all the wrong books? Disaster! But wait.

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