Columns

Appetite for Destruction: 7 Food Horror Books

November 17th, 2020

I'm a little bit of a messy eater, so if I snack while I'm reading the food has to be very smudge-free, otherwise, I'm likely to leave more on the page than just my feelings. Some of my favorite go-to snacks are: Nuts & Seeds, Popcorn (not too buttery!), and pretzels. There's something so satisfying about the relaxing nature of eating and reading at the same time. But twice as nice is eating and reading about food! Food horror is totally a thing. Don't believe me? Check out these recommendations of horror with an emphasis on food.

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The BS Parts of the Submission Process

November 13th, 2020

This is going to sound like the embittered ramblings of someone who’s been rejected by a whole lot of publishers, lit mags, and agents. I guess this is the part where I explain why that’s not true. But I’m skipping that. Because, readers, if you’ve gone through a fair number of submissions, you’ll know that I speak the truth here. Once in awhile, an embittered jerkface, like myself ,gets it right.

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Stab Wounds: Meditation on the Line

November 11th, 2020

Photo by Badulescu Badulescu Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the line: how it breathes, how it holds itself together, the way it drags us gasping and screaming off the page. At the same time, it’s both vibrant and silent, and yet what’s so fascinating about it is the fact that its importance is so often overlooked because we, as writers and readers, often turn a blind eye to the way it frames the poem, how its skeleton allows us to move and dance and disappear on and off the page.

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Co-writing a Novel: Keys to a Successful Collaboration

November 10th, 2020

A few days ago, Bob Pastorella and I released our collaborative novel, They’re Watching, to coincide with Halloween. Though in many ways it was far from our first collaboration. We’ve been working together for years, hosting the This Is Horror Podcast and running the This Is Horror website.

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7 Books for Fans of Subtle Horror

November 9th, 2020

I am the oldest of three sisters. We are all avid readers and we inherited our love of books from our mother. I would say the whole family has an affinity for horror, but some of us like the intense scares (me) and some of us prefer a more subtle approach. My middle sister's birthday is November 7th, so this list of "Quiet Horror" is dedicated to her. Some of these books she has read and recommended to me, some I have seen lingering on her shelves, one she gifted to my daughter and the rest are books I think she would like.

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Poets Who Bled on the Page

November 6th, 2020

Header: Hughes, Sexton, Baudelaire All images via Wikipedia Poetry has seen a surge in popularity during these uncertain times we find ourselves facing—a worldwide pandemic, fluctuating financial markets, and never-ending military conflicts, to name a few—and quite often crises of any kind, whether on a global or personal scale, create catalysts within an individual to become more introspective about their place in the world and their very own existence.

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Five Things to Keep in Mind for a Great Opening

November 4th, 2020

Original image via Tim Mossholder Without a great hook, a boxer will never be a champion. Without a great hook, your narrative won’t grab readers from the start, and you run the risk of them bailing on your story. Trust me, they have plenty of books on their TBR pile, and if you don’t get them hooked from the start, some of them will opt to close your book and move away from it. That’s why we’re talking about beginnings today. Yes, I’m aware of how hard they are.

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David Sedaris' 'The Best of Me' for Readers and Writers

November 2nd, 2020

David Sedaris is putting out The Best of Me, a book of his self-selected best stuff. What would a David Sedaris fan get out of the intro, and what’s the big idea behind a “Best Of” collection anyway? And what can writers learn from the existence of this book (without ever reading it)? Greatest Hits: A Good Idea? Actually...yeah! I think it’s a great idea. Lots of writers put out collections, but they’re more along the lines of…”complete” collections. 

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Five Must-Read Poetry Collections for Halloween

October 30th, 2020

Halloween is right around the corner, and as you continue to craft and work your way through your TBR list this month, I want to make sure that horror poetry is front and center in your mind. Over the last few years, we’ve seen speculative poetry bring out its claws as it slashed its way into our hearts…only to leave us bleeding and crying, desperate for more. As such, I’ve compiled a list of five must-read collections (both new and old) that will be sure to keep you up all night and have you screaming well into the day. 

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How to Write Horror That Sticks

October 28th, 2020

Why do we still talk about The Shining? Why did someone make a documentary about off-the-wall Shining theories in 2012, almost 25 years after the movie’s release, and 35 years after the book came out? Why can you still buy pajamas patterned after the rug in The Shining? Why don’t we talk about The Long Walk this way? Why hasn’t Slither become the movie that’s referred to time and again?

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