Columns

Better Off Dead: 10 Posthumous Novels That Should Have Never Been Published

October 23rd, 2013

Last month I wrote about 12 Unpublished Novels We (the royal we) Wish We Could Read. But one (the royal one) must be careful what one wishes for, because certain unpublished novels might be unpublished for a reason. This got me to thinkin'—pontificatin' if you will—about novels that might have been better off had they never seen the dark innards of a printing press. I'm not talking about books I dislike, per se; no one really wants to read a list of my least favorite books.

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The Uncanny Factor: Why Little Girls Scare the Shit Out of Us

October 23rd, 2013

Many of the common human fears have reasonable explanations. Snakes and spiders have venom we'd do better to avoid, heights can lead to the accidental (and temporary) ability to fly, killers tend to kill people, and so on. But of all our dread fascinations in recent years, one common trope seems especially peculiar: The creepy little girl. Why is it that little girls scare the shit out of us? It boils down to the uncanny factor.

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Ask the Grammarian: Missing Semi-colons, Distinguishing Dashes, and Punctuating Quotations

October 23rd, 2013

Thank you to everyone that submitted questions. Let’s get started: Is the Semi-colon Semi-Retired? Tom asks: What happened to the semicolon? Has it been replaced by the comma? The semi-colon, indeed, still exists, though I assume that many writers avoid using it because they don’t know how to use it. Let’s quickly refresh our memories.

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Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark: A Case for Scaring the Crap Out of Your Kids

October 22nd, 2013

Header image art by Stephen Gammell October is a month that I have always held dear to my heart. Two of my favorite days fall in October: the day of my birth and Halloween. Growing up in North Texas, October always signaled the turn of the seasons from “Satan’s steam room” to “something below 80 degrees.” The leaves change color, tons of people won’t shut up about pumpkin spice whatever, and the weather becomes more suitable for dark beer. But for now, let’s get back to Halloween.

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The Monster Mash-up: Horror Hybrids

October 21st, 2013

It's October, Halloween month, and this is a good time to talk about horror. Horror, of course, is a solid genre in its own right, but it's also versatile in that it mixes well with other genres. With the possible exception of fantasy, no other genre is quite as adaptable.  What follows is a brief look at some of these genre mash-ups, keeping the focus, front and center, on horror. 

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Storyville: Supernatural and Speculative Fiction—Getting Weird Without Losing Your Audience

October 18th, 2013

To be honest, I often get bored writing straight literary fiction. Don’t get me wrong, I think it's a challenge, and there are some fantastic journals and magazines out there, but many of them will just not take a story if you do anything outside the realm of the realistic. In order to make your writing more marketable, and to stretch yourself creatively—to keep from getting bored—let’s get weird, shall we?

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The Dark Stories Dark Writers Tell in the Dark

October 17th, 2013

As Halloween approaches, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about what scares people. Ghosts line the yards of my little street in Suburbia. Witches, too. And zombies and goblins and vampires and spiders and any other creepy-crawlies you can imagine. My five-year-old thinks she has it all figured out. “I’m going to be a zombie-clown for Halloween this year,” she said to me. “That’ll really freak you out.” She might be right.

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LURID: Victorian Psycho - The Picture Of Dorian Gray

October 16th, 2013

LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a guide to the merits of the kind of Bad Books you never want your co-workers to know you're reading. "Après un certain âge tout homme est responsable de son visage." — Albert Camus, The Fall

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Twisted And Wrong: 6 Children's Books Intended for Adults

October 14th, 2013

Of the many things that loom large on the horizon for the expectant parent (childcare, discipline, musical indoctrination), literature occupies its own special category.

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5 Scary Comics To Suit Every Predilection

October 11th, 2013

Comics in October, just like about every other medium out there, quickly fill up with Halloween-themed material. Some of it is very fun, and some is an obvious (and annoying) cash grab. But I thought rather than look at those, or the very traditional horror comics — of which there are legion — I’d take a look at five great horror comics for a variety of tastes, ranging from the more subtle to the absolutely grotesque. Hopefully that means there will be a scary comic for everyone.

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