Columns

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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Ten Exceptionally Well-Written Horror Films

October 11th, 2013

It’s October, and for many of you, that means it’s time to gather ‘round the television set and consume media about ghosts, werewolves, vampires, zombies and serial killers. The trouble with this time-honored tradition, however, is that quality horror films are hard to come by these days, particularly if you’re relying on Netflix Instant Watch, whose collection is spotty at best. Where are the scary movies that both shock the senses and satisfy the audience’s craving for a narrative journey?

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Footnotes: The Walking Dead Is What We've Always Been

October 10th, 2013

Footnotes is a look at how specific novels works of fiction were shaped by the culture of their time and how those novels works shaped the culture -- and still are shaping it.

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LitRecapper: The Two Year Anniversary

October 10th, 2013

I've already been assured by multiple people that I'll never coin a better phrase than ho-lee shitreactors, and I think I'm inclined to agree.

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Meet Your Avengers 2 Villain: Ultron

October 10th, 2013

When Marvel released the identity of the next villain the Avengers will be facing, I'll admit I felt just a twinge of disappointment. I thought the announcement was all but made after the credits rolled and we saw the manic purple grin of Thanos the Mad Titan, a bad guy of such epic proportions I could spend  the rest of my career writing about nothing else. However, even though I was really looking forward to the moment Thanos put on the Infinity Gauntlet and punched the entire universe in the face, the villain they announced is the next best thing.

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The Do's And Dont's Of Writing Erotic Fiction

October 9th, 2013

Sex is at the heart of what it means to be human. It’s vitally important to nearly all of us. It’s a driving force in our daily lives (even when we’re celibate), and its mysteries are infinite. So it bewilders me that — as a rule — erotica is seldom taken seriously, either by writers or readers. Intelligent, well-written erotica is a rare, rare thing (and I’ve been looking for it all of my life).

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