Columns

Keeping it Real: A Rough Guide to Using Real People As Fictional Characters

May 23rd, 2012

Pop quiz: what do Ebeneezer Scrooge, Alice in Wonderland and Tintin all have in common? OK, the title makes the answer obvious (and if it didn’t, you’re too tired to be reading this): all of these ‘fictional’ characters were based on real people.

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Primer: The Chronicles of Amber

May 22nd, 2012

I would be remiss in writing a regular column on fantasy if I didn’t cover my favorite fantasy series of all time, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. In last year’s NPR poll on the top 100 science fiction and fantasy books, the series came in at number 40 . I would put it in the top 5.

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Indie Bookstore Spotlight: The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle

May 22nd, 2012

Independent and used bookstores offer things the big chains can't: Precise recommendations, spectacular coffee, rare treasures, and a real sense of community. The LitReactor team is scouring the planet to find the very best bookstores in existence, and will highlight them through 'Indie Bookstore Spotlight'. These are the stores that don't necessarily outsell the big stores--but they almost always outlast them. ADDRESS: 1521 10th Avenue, Seattle WA 98122

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The Long & Winding Road: Part III – Talking To Agents

May 21st, 2012

Recap: The Long & Winding Road is a multi-part essay about my endeavors to get an agent and publish my first novel. Part I discussed writing my first novel and seeking representation, Part II discussed "revision hell." 

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LURID: It's Alive! The Top 10 Mad Scientists of Literature!

May 18th, 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. From the beginnings of humanity, we’ve struggled to find our place in this wondrous and confusing universe.  It’s in our nature as a species to question, to seek, to theorize, but on our millennia-long quest for knowledge about ourselves and our surroundings, not everything we’ve learned has been to the benefit of all humankind.

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Not Even Close: The Predictions of Ron Goulart's 'Hawkshaw'

May 18th, 2012

Science Fiction is all about predicting the future. Sometimes its authors are eerily right - see Arthur C. Clarke's track record of predicting everything from geostationary communications satellites to the freaking Internet. But more often, they are very, very wrong. This is the first of what I hope will be a regular feature celebrating some of the worst predictions the genre has ever produced. 

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The Third Character: A (Very) Rough Guide to Settings

May 17th, 2012

You may already have heard it said that all drama boils down to one situation: two people and the conflict between them. Protagonist, antagonist – nice and simple. Except it isn’t. Because that statement just isn’t true. It isn’t true because drama doesn’t involve just two characters. It involves three: protagonist, antagonist and… …the room they are standing in.

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Are Audiobooks Preparing to Overtake Ebooks?

May 17th, 2012

If you were the CEO of a large company and your board of directors earmarked $20 million to be allocated at your discretion, what would you do? Build a new office complex? Increase marketing costs? Install one of those fancy toilet seats with a built-in heater and satellite radio? How about give it away? That is precisely what Audible.com is doing and unsurprisingly, it has nothing to do with altruism.

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The Heavy Hand of Didacticism

May 16th, 2012

It seems the deeper the thought, the less description is required. I don’t know what lines or passages in stories do it for you, but I can guarantee you didn’t have to reach for an encyclopedia to hit that spellbound moment.

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Me, Myself, and I: First Person Narratives in Fantasy

May 16th, 2012

I have to admit to a love of first person narration in fiction, stories told from the point of view of the narrator and thus limited to what the character experiences. It’s not that I don’t appreciate third person point of views, or even the occasional second person story, but first person narration, when done right, let’s you get closer to a character, right up into their thoughts and feelings, than most other narrative styles allow.

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