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When the Answer Isn't Always Edgar Allan Poe

May 10th, 2021

Plath & Poe images public domain, Simic image by SLOWKING (GFDL) Edgar Allan Poe introduced most of us to horror—and to horror poetry—but for me, the writers who

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Blackout Poetry: New Interest in an Old Artform

May 7th, 2021

All the poetry images in this article used by permission of the poet, Jessica McHugh. Blackout poetry has been called a number of different things across time. It’s been called redacted poetry/writing, found poetry, erasure poetry, and it crosses over into cutout poetry and collage art.

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Gary Snyder: The Last Remaining Beat

May 6th, 2021

Photo via Wikipedia Commons Gary Snyder is one of the last living members of the Beat Generation. Sort of. He is alive—he turns 91 this month—and he knew many of the most famous Beats, like Kerouac and Ginsberg.

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Mistakes I Made With My Self-Published Book Covers

May 3rd, 2021

I’ve committed the worst sin of self-publishing. No, not failing to hire an editor (well, okay, I did that one, too. A bunch of times). No, not falsely representing myself to try and get my books on digital platforms used for library checkouts (wait, I TOTALLY did that one, and I won’t apoogize). I must confess: I made my own covers.

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Latinx Horror Author Roundtable

April 30th, 2021

As a Latinx poet and writer that often writes within the horror space, I have been pleased by the growth of Latinx representation in the genre. I wanted to talk to several new, emerging, and widely published Latinx horror authors to understand what being a Latinx horror writer means to them, and find out what they hope to see in the future of Latinx horror. These writers represent just a small sampling of Latinx voices writing horror fiction.

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Ruminations on Humanity, Escape and Sexiness: Recent Works by Kelly Kay, Leesa Cross-Smith and Alice Kaltman

April 27th, 2021

I want to tell you about my experience reading the books Crushing by Kelly Kay, This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith and dawg towne by Alice Kaltman. I do, and I will, there's just a lot going on. Yes, there is hope that COVID may yet run its course with vaccines now widely available. The new administration is talking about climate change. There is justice for George Floyd.

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11 Poetic Forms Ranked

April 26th, 2021

It's National Poetry Month in the U.S., which (of course) means it's time for an opinion-based list article. Today, I'm going to rank a variety of poetic forms. Some of these you're certainly familiar with while others may be new to you. Because I am ranking these forms based on my personal experience and preferences, there's nothing "true" about this list. Hopefully, though, the examples and thoughts I share will introduce you to some new regions of the poetic landscape.

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How To Write Your Novel in 20 Easy Steps

April 23rd, 2021

Original image by Andrea Piacquadio I once wrote a ten-step guide to writing your novel, but that was missing a lot of crucial steps, and some writers died or got seriously injured while following it, so I decided to expand it and create the definite guide to writing a novel. Enjoy!

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Why You Didn't Finish Your Novel During COVID

April 22nd, 2021

It’s been too long since I’ve heard a really bizarre conspiracy theory about COVID. And when the wacky theories about something dry up, you know it’s coming to an end.

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Remembering Wanda Coleman: The Unofficial Poet Laureate of Los Angeles

April 21st, 2021

It’s hard to imagine the fierce voice of Wanda Coleman comfortable with the slighted title of The Unofficial Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, but the backhanded relegation was the best CBS could offer when memorializing the trailblazing American poet working entirely on her own terms. She’s been called many things: the L.A. Blueswoman, Mad Dog Black Lady, or “hateful and hilarious, heartbroken and hellbent,” as author/poet Mary Karr described Coleman’s Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems (Black Sparrow Press, 2020).

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