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Book Brawl: The Strain vs. The Passage
February 21st, 2012
Each month I throw two books, somehow related, into the BOOK BRAWL ring to fight it out for the coveted title of literary champion. Two books enter. One book leaves. This month we’ve got the first titles in two concurrent modern vampire trilogies. Justin Cronin’s The Passage, meet Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain. Which one sucks? Let’s find out!
Read Column →Post-Mortem: 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski
February 17th, 2012
Post-Mortem: As much a book review as an autopsy is a eulogy. A breakdown of the mechanics of a book and the reasons why it should be read by the writers among us.
Read Column →Comics 101: A Question of Canon
February 17th, 2012
When one associates with excessively literate company, it is quite impossible to avoid the game of canon bingo. Titles of books are invoked and those assembled either declare they have read it, or confess they haven’t yet. The only prize in this contest is the smug satisfaction of being the most well-read person in a room full of well-read people. These are special books, tomes that the enigmatic cabal known only as THEY have decreed you must read, classic works of genius so time-honored and true that they made it on the only list that really matters in literature: canon.
Read Column →Get Off The Dang Computer: The Benefits Of Hands-On Research
February 16th, 2012
A couple of months ago I was in Texas visiting my brother. On my list of things to do, after eat at Amy's Ice Cream and get some hardcore barbecue was visit a gun range. There were three reasons I wanted to do this:
Read Column →Storyville: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
February 16th, 2012
It may be one of the most common questions that people ask authors and teachers when they get them alone, or raise their hands at a conference, university or reading. Where do you get your ideas? Since we’ve already explored a lot of technical topics over the last couple of months (cover letters and Duotrope) as well as some craft (finding your voice) and some process (tracking my story “Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears”), I thought that this time we could talk about something more inexact and abstract: where to get your ideas.
Read Column →A Real Monster: Writing About People You Know
February 15th, 2012
When I was a teenage boarding school student, there was a man working at my school to whom I looked up — a hell of a lot. I looked up to him so much that when he was fired for "inappropriate behavior" I felt as though my understanding of the world had cracked. It was that serious. When you're sixteen, and someone you admire turns out to not to be perfect (and in this case, he turns out to be a man who acts on the urge to touch vulnerable boys), your life can change for good.
Read Column →What You Can Learn From Ronald Reagan: A Primer On Love Letters
February 14th, 2012
Digging through some old papers recently, I found a pile of love letters I’d received over the years from old boyfriends, a few admirers, and one guy who could have been considered a stalker. As expected, most of them were pretty bad—riddled with spelling errors and mushy sentiments. I do remember actively mocking a few of the letters with my friends, which, in hindsight, was totally undeserved by the writer. Rereading a few of them, something else occurred to me—they were sincere and brave!
Read Column →LURID: My Top 10 Bloody Valentines
February 14th, 2012
Image via Arianna Jade 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. Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you currently count yourself as a lover, or not, today's thoughts naturally turn to that biggest of Big Questions: what is Love, anyway?
Read Column →The Top 10 Fictional Antiheroes
February 10th, 2012
What makes a character an antihero? Certainly, he must be a protagonist who doesn’t display traditionally heroic traits, but there must be more. The reader must truly root for the character; we must be drawn to him despite ourselves. Perhaps his motivations are impure, his choices unconventional, but ultimately he must possess a certain allure that ignites our sympathy and engages our interest. The antihero is complex and unknowable, and because of that, he is fascinating in ways a pure hero or villain could never be.
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