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LURID: Beach Blanket Boogeymen
July 3rd, 2012
LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a twice-monthly guide to the merits of the kind of Bad Books you never want your co-workers to know you're reading.
Read Column →Revolutions in Fantasy: Four for the Fourth
July 3rd, 2012
As we Americans approach Independence Day, where we broke away from the British monarchy, I find myself thinking of the large segment of fantasy fiction that seems to want to run right back toward it. In much of fantasy, elements like monarchies and royal bloodlines are not just part of the landscape but are cherished and made into monuments.
Read Column →New Release Roundup: Recommendations for July 2012
July 2nd, 2012
Every month I'll be toiling in the dank, dark mines of literary obscurity, scouring the catalogues of every major publisher to bring the LitReactor faithful a few choice titles hitting the shelves. The following is a brief look at what's worth checking out in July. Full disclosure: unless otherwise noted, none of the below books have been reviewed by myself or other LitReactor staff. These are just a few recommendations based on publisher's notes and my own opinions. Without further ado:
Read Column →UPDATED WITH WINNER: LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: June Edition
June 29th, 2012
Flash fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity. How This Works We give you something. It could be a picture or an idea or a sentence. You write a flash fiction piece, using the thing we gave you as inspiration. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked, and awarded a prize.
Read Column →What The Dark Knight Can Learn From The Avengers
June 29th, 2012
It’s been a few months since The Avengers claimed ultimate victory as the biggest superhero movie ever. As it has been dissected by critics, bloggers, fanboys, and studio execs seeking the secrets of its success, there have been numerous comparisons, mostly unfavorable, to that other superhero franchise. Everyone wants to know if Batman can beat the Avengers, but the question I’m more interested in is what can he learn from them.
Read Column →Scandalous! Is Edward Rochester A Feminist?
June 29th, 2012
Welcome to a new column here at LitReactor, in which I will dauntlessly voice an unpopular opinion about a beloved novel. Today I'll speak on a topic near and dear to my heart - the feminist subtext lying within Jane Eyre's Edward Rochester.
Read Column →Fifty Shades of Pay: A Failed Attempt To Get Rich By Writing Erotica
June 28th, 2012
My mother has recently begun urging me to read some erotica, and the full strangeness of this only hits me as I’m typing this sentence. Let me explain: as one of those writer types, one must try to keep abreast of the literary scene, yes? And to eschew genre or mass-market pulp, the kind that you and I (O intrepid bastions of Apollo’s Quill!) wouldn’t read unless for the high sport of mockery, must be taken into account. After all, can we actually just read Proust and Stein every single day?
Read Column →YA Superstar: John Green
June 28th, 2012
If you stopped a random person on the street and asked him or her to name a YA author, you'd mostly likely get a response of "J.K. Rowling" or "Stephenie Meyer." Actually, you're most likely to get no response at all, since some people don't know what YA stands for, and others don't talk to strangers because of those scary PSAs from the '80s with men in trench coats driving sketchy vans.
Read Column →Passing Strange: 15 Of The Most Bizarre Author Deaths On Record
June 27th, 2012
Why go gently into that good night like a sucker when you can go out in a Bon Jovian blaze of glory and be remembered forever? If you're a 16th century poet or an obscure opera critic, it might be your only chance at leaving a lasting legacy. And if you're already a canonical author, it doesn't hurt your street cred if you die in a fiery car wreck and people blame the KGB.
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