Columns

Fifteen Twisted Christmas Tales

December 10th, 2013

‘Tis the season and blah blah blah. Okay, I’m not really an Ebenezer (or Scrooge, if you will) when it comes to the holidays. Christmas is cool by me. BUT, I do like celebrating this festive, historically complicated holiday on my own terms. I go out of my way to find alternative or offbeat Christmas music (and not just run-of-the-mill punk covers of “Jingle Bells” or whatnot). Books, TV and movies themed around the holidays must be a little strange to meet my approval. 

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Bookshots: 'House of Gold & Bones' by Corey Taylor

December 10th, 2013

Bookshots: Pumping new life into the corpse of the book review Title: House of Gold & Bones

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Social Media and the Law: What Can You Write and Do You Own Your Content?

December 10th, 2013

To most of us, what you can and can't write about on social media is something so obvious that we don't even need to be told. Basically:  

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Heaven Sent: Biblical Mythology and Fantasy

December 9th, 2013

Header: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Boris Vallejo I’ve talked a lot about mythology in my columns and yet I’ve neglected to tackle Judeo-Christian mythology. Whether you’re a believer or not, whether it’s real to you or just fiction, there are mythological elements to the Biblical stories that rival some of the best fantasy stories.

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4 Things I Learned From NaNoWriMo

December 9th, 2013

1. Sign up I read the text message once, twice, began to read it thrice before I realized it was a waste of time. "Yes, but I'm not doing it through the website," my fingers Swyped. The initial message, from a friend: "Are you doing NaNoWriMo? If so, what's your screen name? I'll add you."

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Ten Unbeatable Holiday Gifts for Book Lovers

December 6th, 2013

Sure, you could put on actual pants to go partake in some door-bustin’ shenanigans at the mall, but between jingling bells, decking halls, and consuming your body weight in holiday cookies, who has time for that? Not you, my friend. Not you. Know what else you don’t have time for? Sifting through page after page of Mega Lightning Cyber Xtreme Deals, hoping to stumble upon the perfect gift for your loved ones. No!

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Prose & Conversation: 'The Shining' and 'Doctor Sleep'

December 5th, 2013

Back in August, my Post-Mortem column about Stephen King's classic work, It, garnered a lot of hits and spurred a lot of conversation. It also sparked a fun idea: Wouldn't it be awesome to host an online book club, talking about older books and re-reading the works we once loved? Then, with the release of Doctor Sleep in September, the idea went a little further, as a Twitter conversation about the book reached near-epic proportions.

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Imaginary Audience: 6 Tips on Envisioning Your Readership

December 5th, 2013

One of the best pieces of advice I've been given is to richly imagine the audience I'm writing for. As a broad abstraction, this advice easily comes off as either useless or obvious. In this article I'm going to try to move away from the abstraction by giving you some concrete advice on how you can use this strategy effectively.

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Christmas Bummers: 5 Books to Wallow In During the Holidays

December 3rd, 2013

Sick of the holidays yet? Drowned in enough comfort and joy to last longer than you care to live? Having daydreams of torching somebody’s jolly yard display? Cutesy elves charred to a satisfying crisp? Roasted Rudolf? Santa scorching on an open fire? If so, I’m with you. Scrooge got it right the first time.

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5 Words to Be Grateful For

November 28th, 2013

In this season of harvest, bounty, and gratitude, let us take a few moments to thank the bread and butter of our profession: words. They sustain us in times of deep anxiety; they’re our best friends, especially when other humans become intolerable. Here are five words I’m particularly thankful for — in no particular order — because they’re either especially vital or oddly funny sounding. Or both.

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