Columns

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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The S-Word: Never Tell Someone They "Should" Read A Book

May 2nd, 2022

The S-Word for book recommendations isn’t “shit,” it’s “should.” Although telling someone they “should” read a book is a shitty thing to do. It sounds harmless, but you’re putting people in a spot they don’t appreciate. And the result is that they’ll turn away from a book they’d love. Let’s talk it out.

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When Writer's Block is Connected to Depression

April 27th, 2022

Original image by Alexander Grey  There’s nothing more debilitating to a writer than the feeling of getting stuck. Being on a roll and suddenly having the creative juices dry up. Watching your process slowly break down until you are at a standstill. Staring at the blank screen trying to figure out what’s next. You try to write your way out of it, but you hate every word and finally delete everything, fighting the temptation to throw your entire computer out the window.

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Ice Planet Barbarians: F***fest or Snoozefest?

April 22nd, 2022

Alien abductions, blue man sex, wormlike parasites, spaceships, Star Wars references, sassy heroines, oral sex puns–Ice Planet Barbarians is…a lot. And BookTok has taken note, dusting the frost off this bad boy 7 years after it was originally published. One brave reader—me—decided to investigate and find out whether the book really is a rock solid banger or a flaccid slab of blah. Let’s lube up and slide on in.

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The Value of Stories Without Romance

April 20th, 2022

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a sucker for a good love story. In fact, ever since I was a child, I’ve gravitated toward narratives that prominently feature romance. I wanted to see girls fall in love and have their happily ever afters.

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Storyville: Leaving Room for the Reader

April 19th, 2022

Today we’re going to discuss how to leave room for the reader, when it comes to your writing—flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, novellas, and novels.

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Doses of Darkness: Bram Stoker Nominated Horror Poetry

April 14th, 2022

Earlier this year, the 2021 Bram Stoker Award nominees were announced. In honor of National Poetry Month, I wanted to take some time to highlight the five nominated collections, their respective authors, and some of my favorite lines from each work. Horror poetry has a special place in my heart. It really kickstarted my love of writing horror in general, and poetry is such a strong medium to convey quick doses of darkness. Poems have the opportunity to showcase nightmares in only a few lines, and as the poets below show us, there are many different ways to accomplish that.

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