Columns

The Books of Horror Facebook Group: Readers Take Over

June 1st, 2022

I went to my first convention in a long time in March of 2022. My head was spinning, being out amongst my peers after spending so much time in pandemic-induced isolation. I was so happy to see everyone. But after I calmed down a bit, I noticed something different. Where had all these readers come from, who were buying so many books? Who were these new writers, that already had a loyal audience?

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Song of My Postpartum Self: A Letter to Walt Whitman

May 27th, 2022

Author photo via Wikipedia Dear Walt Whitman– My daughter is four months old, an earth-dwelling Capricorn with stars in her eyes. She was born on the January wolf moon during a blizzard, the world dressed white, dusted with snow and small pellets of ice. We didn’t meet when she was lifted out of me, her small body trembling, reaching, searching for my voice.  My husband held her first.

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Things to Do in Denver StokerCon When You're Dead

May 26th, 2022

I haven’t written in months. I’m a full-time publisher and new dad, and when I have free time it’s spent playing music. I’m tired but feeling good. I just finished up what was basically a publishing tour, culminating with StokerCon in Denver last week. I'm here to share the highs, lows, and in-betweens of what I did in Denver while feeling dead.

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The New Splatterpunks

May 20th, 2022

David J. Schow is credited with having coined the term "Splatterpunk" in the mid-1980s. In hindsight, horror fans and writers view the Splatterpunk movement as a counter-culture response to the conservative views and policies of the time. It is also seen as a pushback against the quiet, literary styles of horror that dominated the scene. Even though there was a range of horror being published throughout the decade, attention just felt focused on quieter horror.

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10 Horror Books Perfect for Summer

May 19th, 2022

When I think of summer, I think of long, lazy, weekend days hanging out in the backyard. I like to make some kind of refreshing drink and have some fruit salad or potato salad on hand so that when the BBQ gets started, there's not much else to do but chill in the hammock with a good book. These are the books I'm visualizing for all you summertime horror readers out there. I see you! 

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The Queer Stories that Saw Me Before I Saw Myself

May 18th, 2022

It took me a long time to come out, even to myself. After growing up extremely evangelical and in an incredible heteronormative culture, it took ages to realize that maybe I wasn’t straight, actually; I was just socialized that way. Along the way, queer stories brought me light, love, and comfort. It wasn’t until much later that I started to realize these stories comforted me because I saw myself in them. And since coming out, to myself and to the world (Twitter), I’ve continued to find joy and comfort in these stories.

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Build A Gaiman Writing Lab: Experiment and Get Paid

May 17th, 2022

If you ever want to make sure you do something: declare, in an article, that you’ll never do it. After writing a whole column about how I’d never re-read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, I re-read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. On a related note: Stay tuned for my next article: How I’ll Never Outdance mid-2000s Usher.

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Storyville: Unreliable Narrators

May 13th, 2022

When I think about my body of work as an author, starting out writing thrillers and neo-noir, and then shifting over into the new-weird and horror, the unreliable narrator is a protagonist, and technique, that I’ve used quite often. Why? What is the appeal? How can that make your stories more effective, more intense, more interesting? Let’s talk about it.

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"The Nineties", "Sex, Drugs, Cocoa Puffs", and Worsening Readers

May 12th, 2022

Chuck Klosterman wrote two books about the 90s, one purposely so, one not so much. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Klosterman’s best-selling book of essays, was written about 90s pop culture and came out in 2003. It examines 90s shit like The Real World and Saved By The Bell, and it does it in a very 90s way: taking seriously those things we considered bubble gum nonsense.

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Writer's Tilt: What It Is and How to Avoid It

May 10th, 2022

Header image via Andrea Piacquadio I love playing poker and chess, and one common thread between those games is the concept of going on “tilt.” Tilt is a state of frustration brought on by a bad decision or a perceived bad decision, one that results in a loss. In poker, it could cause a player to bet on hands they shouldn’t in an attempt to make up for what they lost.

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