Columns

Everything Is Permitted When It Comes To Submissions

July 15th, 2021

Original image by Rodnae Productions "Nothing is true, everything is permitted," Nietzsche (and then, more importantly, Meat Loaf) said, so at the risk of destroying all credibility right out of the gate, or even worse, running the risk of stating the obvious, the best advice for writers is still ignoring most writing advice. Boy, that was fast! Thanks for stopping by [credits roll].

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Christine Morgan: A Leading Voice in Extreme Horror

July 14th, 2021

Photo via author Twitter Everyone watched it happen. Friends, family, peers, readers, and fans tuned in to the Splatterpunk Awards ceremony live as part of Killercon’s 2020 virtual convention. Deserving authors, editors, and publishers were overwhelmed and gracious as they won awards honoring work in extreme horror.

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Storyville: Story Dissection — "In His House"

July 13th, 2021

Today we’re going to be dissecting one of my short stories, “In His House,” which was published in The Nightside Codex (Silent Motorist Media) in 2020. It was edited by Justin Burnett, and was my first time alongside Brian Evenson! It also included work by Stephen Graham Jones, Philip Fracassi, and Nadia Bulkin. So, the first thing you need to do is read the story, which is about 2,000 words. I hope you enjoy it! IN HIS HOUSE Hello my friend,

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The First Date Book Walkout Question

July 12th, 2021

"You're on a first date with someone, and they tell you the name of their favorite book. You immediately leave. What's the book?" - @ogbrenna. It’s the question that kicked off a storm of tweets. The question was solid, but the answers were liquid. Or stupid. Is stupid the opposite of solid? Is liquid the opposite of smart? You know what? The answers were shitty. The answers I saw were stupid, liquid shit.

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A Leigh Bardugo Fangirl on Her Belated Obsession with Netflix's "Shadow and Bone"

July 9th, 2021

I didn’t wait to watch Shadow and Bone, the epic Netflix adaptation of an epic YA world created by Leigh Bardugo, because I wasn’t interested. In fact, I’ve been a huge fan of Leigh’s worlds since I stumbled across Six of Crows back in 2016 and utterly devoured that duology in a few breathless days, consuming the books in my room, in my living room, on the train to work, thinking about them constantly.

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Hot Ghoul Summer: New Releases From Women in Horror

July 8th, 2021

There are two schools of thought when it comes to building a summer reading list and they depend on what kind of reader you are.  1. You like to plan ahead and build a "TBR" (To Be Read) stack. A list of books that you want to be sure to read based on a seasonal theme in the order you want to read them. A pretty strict schedule of reads. or 2. You are a mood reader and never stick to any kind of seasonal reading, schedule or pre-selected books. You read what you want, when you want.

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What Is ‘The Clan of the Cave Bear,’ and Should You Read It?

July 7th, 2021

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel is one of those books that, over the course of the past decade or so, has drifted across my horizon from time to time, usually because someone has brought it up with great emotion or nostalgia. The first time I heard of the Earth’s Children series, which The Clan of the Cave Bear belongs to, I was working in a bookstore in 2011.

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Returning to Live Events as an Immunocompromised Person

July 5th, 2021

Images via Thibault Trillet & Anna Shvets We all experienced the same pandemic in 2020 and 2021, but none of us experienced it exactly the same way.

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13 Authors Redefining the Novel Without Being Obnoxious About It

July 2nd, 2021

I like “experimental” novels about as much as the next guy, and because I’ve never been in an MFA class, “the next guy” hates experimental novels. What I DO like are books that push the novel into new and interesting territory without being all showy about it. Books that read like good books, and while they're at it, they widen the boundary just a little.  The novel needs to change or die. Here are some people fighting to keep it alive, and listed with each author is a book that exemplifies how.

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Overlooked 2020: A Post-pandemic Roundup of Overlooked Releases

June 29th, 2021

Given the state of the world over the last year, it is not much to say that throughout the pandemic and particularly 2020, I struggled to read what wasn’t required of me for work. Nor did I feel it was something I had to examine in great depth. There was a lot to do ensuring the people I love were safe and there was the need to stay focused on paying the bills as some of my work contracted. More than anything I was tired, most especially at night when I like to read, happy to just climb into bed, another day defeated, and closer, I hoped, to a vaccine. 

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