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How to Judge Books (Real or Imaginary) by Their Covers
March 27th, 2014
Everyone knows you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover… What this column presupposes (to borrow a favorite movie line – itself associated with a pretty rad book cover) is, maybe you should?
Read Column →Culling the Classics: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
March 26th, 2014
I must still be high on that St. Patrick's Day excitement, because I couldn't think of anything I'd rather read this month than James Joyce. However, one does not simply read Ulysses or Finnegans Wake, so I decided to start with something that you (and I) would be more likely to pick up and finish.
Read Column →It's Made Of SCIENCE: The Vacuum Of Space
March 26th, 2014
Look up. That's space. Maybe that doesn't floor you quite the same way it does me, but all the same, space has been a mysterious ocean for humanity since we figured out there was something higher up than the sky. Here on Earth, we're tethered and limited, and have explored almost everywhere that was once secret. But space? That will always be a place worth investigating.
Read Column →Why The F*ck Aren’t You Reading Victor LaValle?
March 25th, 2014
Image by E. Raboteau Why The F*ck Aren't You Reading? is a feature where the columnist spotlights a writer who has a dedicated following and is well known within the writing community, but hasn't achieved the elephant-in-the-room style success of a Stephen King or Gillian Flynn—But they deserve to, dammit! Hopefully the column will help gain the author featured a few more well deserved readers.
Read Column →In Defence of Snark: Why Dark Humour Can Save Your Life
March 24th, 2014
A few days ago, one of my Facebook friends posted a meme. It consists of a stock photo from the TV show Gilligan’s Island. In the background some wag has photoshopped an image of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. ‘Too soon?’ asked my friend. Some people thought so. Some people thought the image was disrespectful to the missing passengers, or might be painful to the relatives of the missing. Some felt it was making light of a terrible situation.
Read Column →Game On! Ten Awesome Word and Lit-Based Apps
March 24th, 2014
image courtesy GameFly Games In the past, I've written about mobile productivity apps that make the job of writing easier. But how can we writers also waste time on our phones/tablets and still pretend we're busy getting work done? Easy, just play some word or literary-based games, many of which are at least marginally educational.
Read Column →Hurts So Good: Why We Love YA Dystopias
March 21st, 2014
With the holiday release of Catching Fire, the second installment in the Hunger Games franchise, it's clear that YA dystopias still rule not only the bookshelves, but the box office, too. Up next is Divergent, another series seeking to cash in while the gravy—er, gruel?—train is still in town.
Read Column →Footnotes: The Bearable Lightness of the Extraterrestrial Being
March 20th, 2014
The idea of little green men absconding off into the cosmos with our physical body in tow formed right about now, as you were reading this, if we're looking at time according to Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic calendar. That is to say: the idea of being abducted by cognizant beings from another planet or another dimension is still very new, even by our own ordinary yearly calendar.
Read Column →Facebook Advertising: Is It Worth It?
March 20th, 2014
At this point, pretty much every writer/author out there has some kind of social media presence: Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, Wordpress, and hopefully, an official website...and we're all trying to crack this code of getting more "likes", more followers, more subscribers. We're all trying to widen our audience and get more eyes on our posts. We're all fighting for attention, and because most working class authors aren't brimming at the pockets, we're trying to do this in the most cost-effective way possible.
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