Columns

UPDATED WITH WINNER: LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: June Edition

June 28th, 2013

Flash Fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity - The Gatsby/Summer Edition Welcome to LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown, a monthly bout of writing prowess. How It Works We give you inspiration in the form of a picture, poem, video, or similar. You write a flash fiction piece, using the inspiration we gave you. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked and awarded a prize.

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Anthony Bourdain: Is He A Better Chef, Writer, or TV Personality?

June 28th, 2013

"I'm Taylor Houston. I write, I (wish I could) travel, I eat... and I'm hungry... FOR MORE." Ok, so yeah, I stole that line from the opening of Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations. You could say that I’m a fan. I have probably seen almost every episode and I’ll read pretty much anything he has written.

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Eating Babies: Boundaries for Writers in Fiction

June 27th, 2013

Following our discussion on the Unprintable podcast about transgressive fiction, I decided to make a list of things we should never, ever write about. Here it is:

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Authorial Artists: 5 Painters Who Also Wrote

June 26th, 2013

Everyone wants to be a writer—deep down anyway. And maybe not everyone wants to tell stories on a professional or even professionally amateur level, but it is true that we're all storytellers at heart. The desire to share information, life lessons, and laughs through constructed narratives is innate to our species. We tell stories to engage with others, to flatter them, impress them, bond with them.

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Adaptations: Passionate, Not Precious

June 26th, 2013

Last weekend, I was visiting my girlfriend in the suburbs of Boston. Wishing to push my absence from the Big City to its breaking point, we decided to go camping in the woods of nearby Plymouth (everything in Massachusetts is frighteningly close together). “Glamping” (glamour+camping) is probably the appropriate portmanteau; the site we chose at random turned out to have coin-operated showers, running toilets, a store with firewood, sunscreen and other essentials, and wi-fi available at daily or hourly rates.

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Is Batman: Li'l Gotham the Best Comic In the DCU Right Now? Yes.

June 25th, 2013

You may wonder why, as an adult, you should care about an all-ages digital first title called Batman: L’il Gotham. Here’s why: it is quite simply the best book DC publishes right now.

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Storyville: How Do You Know When Your Story is Done?

June 24th, 2013

You have a great idea so you rush to the computer to get it down, and there is the genesis of your next short story. You then read it over and think it’s crap. So you edit it, you push some scenes around, you fix the typos and grammar, do a little research on handguns and the avian flu, and even show it to a few friends. But how do you know when it’s done? Here are some tips for figuring that out.

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The 10 Books Every Zombie Fan Must Read

June 21st, 2013

Let’s face it, vampires are played out. Sparkles and sexiness vanquished their frightfulness in a way garlic and holy water never could. But the world needs a monster, particularly in tough times, so zombies have spent the last few years shambling in to fill the pop culture void. We play Plants vs.

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Comic Book vs. Film: Man of Steel vs. Superman Unchained

June 20th, 2013

Let's start with a disclaimer. This is not a "traditional" book vs. film piece. Because not only are we looking at a comic book, we are comparing it to a film that is not an adaptation of a specific work, a film that draws from many different ongoing works. Still, I believe it's a worthy comparison to make because two major Superman efforts were delivered last week: Zack Snyder's Man of Steel film and Scott Snyder and Jim Lee's Superman Unchained comic book.

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Why The F*ck Aren't You Reading Scott Phillips?

June 19th, 2013

Before we get started, a quick word of warning: the opening paragraphs of this column contain a SPOILER. But for me, the vaguely described passage from the final chapter of The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips is the very definition of noir and the core of Phillips as a storyteller. So, if you're a "only the destination matters" type of reader, go ahead and skim past the first parts.

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