Columns

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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Sudowrite: An AI Fiction Writing Software Review

May 9th, 2022

Artificial intelligence writing software is already helping thousands of people around the world to write non-fiction such as advertising copy, news articles and technical manuals. But as computing speeds grow exponentially faster and algorithms continue to improve, we are seeing the first fiction writing programs using AI become available to the general public.

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How (Not) to Find Your Next Favorite Book

May 6th, 2022

How do you find your next favorite book? While wandering into a bookstore and letting the bookshelves speak to you may provide a serendipitous solution, you must first emotionally and spiritually invest in the process. Your life is about to change for the better, and every problem you’ve encountered in your reading life will simply melt away.

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The Impact of Scares That Care

May 5th, 2022

Many people know Scares That Care is a horror convention in Williamsburg, Virginia; but Scares That Care is also an IRS approved 501(c)(3) charity that brings together members of the horror community from film, TV, writing, and fandom to help families in need. As of this writing, they have raised over $300,000 for organizations and families, helping children affected by illness, burn survivors, and women fighting breast cancer. Each beneficiary receives $10,000 from events and direct donations.

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Ghost in the Machine: Can A.I. Write a Good Book?

May 4th, 2022

In the middle of the pandemic, anxious to distract myself from the quiet hellscape outside my apartment, I began experimenting with GPT-2 and GPT-3, which are successive generations of A.I.-powered automated text generators. In simplest terms, you upload a huge file of text, and the platform’s algorithms learn how to mimic the text’s style and cadence.

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8 Machiavellian Books to Make Niccolo Proud

May 3rd, 2022

Public domain image via Wikipedia 553 years ago, on May 3, 1469, Niccolò Machiavelli was born. He was an Italian diplomat, philosopher, and political theorist, and many consider him the father of political philosophy and political science. During his life, he wrote four books, but he is most known for his controversial treatise, The Prince, a guide for new royals to navigate treacherous courts. 

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