Columns

20 Scary Stories For Halloween That You Can Read Online For Free

October 31st, 2019

Photo by Joy Marino As our way of saying happy Halloween to you, dear reader, we’re gifting you with twenty stories to read or listen to this Halloween, all of which are available for free online. The majority of these stories have a connection to Halloween (some tenuous), though a few are just damn good stories to get you in the Halloween spirit. Let's get to it.

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Essential Slashers: The Foundations, Peaks, and Valleys of Modern Horror's Most Iconic Subgenre

October 31st, 2019

Ready to become a slasher scientist? Read the first part of my column about the craft of the slasher film, and then dive deep into this list with all the fervor of Jason Vorhees swinging his favorite machete. FOUNDATIONS Explore the foundations of the subgenre with some of these legendary films you’ve almost assuredly seen multiple times, and some overlooked influencers that birthed the slasher boon.

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Giving ARCs Instead of Candy and Other Halloween Hacks for Writers

October 30th, 2019

Photo by Matheus Bertelli Halloween is my favorite time of the year. In fact, I think we should cancel Christmas and keep going with Halloween until January 1, 2020. In any case, Halloween is the perfect time to be a writer. I've already written about some of my favorite reads for the season and about the best costumes for writers. Now I'm going to give you some hacks to help you maximize the season's potential.

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10 Horror Books In Desperate Need of a Reprint

October 30th, 2019

I'm a latecomer to the wonders and cheap thrills of a certain brand of horror novels. But now that I'm in, I'm ALL in.  Did I start a book club to get people to read The Nest, the first book in Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks From Hell imprint? Yes, yes I did.  Did my own sister attend? Yes. Did she read only to the point in the book where a young girl was eaten vagina-first by a mutated cockroach? Also yes. 

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A Brief History Of Halloween In Fiction

October 28th, 2019

cover for Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge, art by Jon Foster We all know about films set around October 31st: Halloween (1978) and its numerous sequels, all involving Michael Myers slaying teens on All Hallows Eve; Trick or Treat (1986), about a Satanic rock star planning his unholy comeback; Hocus Pocus (1993), the beloved family spooky movie starring Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker; and Trick 'r Treat (2007), an anthology film connected by the spirit of the season, a little rascal named Sam, just to na

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All Hail the Slasher: The Rise and Legacy of an Iconic Subgenre of Horror

October 25th, 2019

Freddy. Jason. Michael. This unholy trinity of horror icons represents a grimy, exploitative subgenre that exploded in the late 1970’s and dominated the 1980’s—the slasher. In celebration of Halloween, let’s take a deep dive into the slasher film—what it is, why we love it, and how the classic slasher is a purely cinematic experience that leverages the full power of the film medium.

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How IRL Writing Friends Make This Whole Journey A Million Times Better

October 24th, 2019

Photo by Dennis Magati There’s something about knowing you’re not alone on the journey that makes it a million times easier. By journey, I mean life in the grander scheme, but also publishing, book-loving-and-writing, blogging...that journey as well.

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Dyslexic Author is my Favorite Oxymoron

October 23rd, 2019

Image by Anna Shvets What do Octavia Estelle Butler, John Irving, and Dav Pilkey have in common? Other than being awesome writers, they are all dyslexic. Yeah. Read that line again. Dyslexic. Dyslexia is an annoying reading and writing disorder that often scrambles words, letters, and numbers on a page. How do I know this? I’m another dyslexic writer.

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Ursula K. Le Guin: A Primer

October 21st, 2019

Perhaps you’re just beginning to dip your toes into the vast and glittering waters of speculative fiction. Maybe you’ve been reading sci-fi and fantasy for a while, but your library tends to be stocked with the genre’s male greats. Or it could be that you’re hoping to line your bookshelf with feminism, cultural anthropology, Taoism, and philosophy. One way or another, you’ve found your way to one of science fiction and fantasy’s greatest voices, Ursula K. Le Guin — and you want to know more.

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Storyville: Finding Original Locations to Set Your Horror Stories

October 18th, 2019

So, I write a lot of scary stories—across horror, fantasy, science fiction—you name it. And one of the first things I do when I start thinking about the concept, is WHERE to set it. You can certainly lean into the tropes of classic dark fiction, but I encourage you to find new locations, less obvious places to start your tragic tales. Let me share with you a story about a recent project of mine.

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