Columns

Indie Bookstore Spotlight: The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle

May 22nd, 2012

Independent and used bookstores offer things the big chains can't: Precise recommendations, spectacular coffee, rare treasures, and a real sense of community. The LitReactor team is scouring the planet to find the very best bookstores in existence, and will highlight them through 'Indie Bookstore Spotlight'. These are the stores that don't necessarily outsell the big stores--but they almost always outlast them. ADDRESS: 1521 10th Avenue, Seattle WA 98122

Read Column →

The Long & Winding Road: Part III – Talking To Agents

May 21st, 2012

Recap: The Long & Winding Road is a multi-part essay about my endeavors to get an agent and publish my first novel. Part I discussed writing my first novel and seeking representation, Part II discussed "revision hell." 

Read Column →

LURID: It's Alive! The Top 10 Mad Scientists of Literature!

May 18th, 2012

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. From the beginnings of humanity, we’ve struggled to find our place in this wondrous and confusing universe.  It’s in our nature as a species to question, to seek, to theorize, but on our millennia-long quest for knowledge about ourselves and our surroundings, not everything we’ve learned has been to the benefit of all humankind.

Read Column →

Not Even Close: The Predictions of Ron Goulart's 'Hawkshaw'

May 18th, 2012

Science Fiction is all about predicting the future. Sometimes its authors are eerily right - see Arthur C. Clarke's track record of predicting everything from geostationary communications satellites to the freaking Internet. But more often, they are very, very wrong. This is the first of what I hope will be a regular feature celebrating some of the worst predictions the genre has ever produced. 

Read Column →

The Third Character: A (Very) Rough Guide to Settings

May 17th, 2012

You may already have heard it said that all drama boils down to one situation: two people and the conflict between them. Protagonist, antagonist – nice and simple. Except it isn’t. Because that statement just isn’t true. It isn’t true because drama doesn’t involve just two characters. It involves three: protagonist, antagonist and… …the room they are standing in.

Read Column →

Are Audiobooks Preparing to Overtake Ebooks?

May 17th, 2012

If you were the CEO of a large company and your board of directors earmarked $20 million to be allocated at your discretion, what would you do? Build a new office complex? Increase marketing costs? Install one of those fancy toilet seats with a built-in heater and satellite radio? How about give it away? That is precisely what Audible.com is doing and unsurprisingly, it has nothing to do with altruism.

Read Column →

The Heavy Hand of Didacticism

May 16th, 2012

It seems the deeper the thought, the less description is required. I don’t know what lines or passages in stories do it for you, but I can guarantee you didn’t have to reach for an encyclopedia to hit that spellbound moment.

Read Column →

Me, Myself, and I: First Person Narratives in Fantasy

May 16th, 2012

I have to admit to a love of first person narration in fiction, stories told from the point of view of the narrator and thus limited to what the character experiences. It’s not that I don’t appreciate third person point of views, or even the occasional second person story, but first person narration, when done right, let’s you get closer to a character, right up into their thoughts and feelings, than most other narrative styles allow.

Read Column →

Based on a "True Story"

May 15th, 2012

We can all agree that in general, we read because we like stories. The older we get, and the more advanced technology becomes, the rustier our imaginations grow. From time to time, it’s nice to dust off those marvelous contraptions and jostle them with one of the most primitive art forms still widely consumed today: the written word. Why then, does the TRUE STORY hold such a special place in our hearts? One of my duties here at LitReactor is compiling a monthly “new release roundup”, in which I pick a handful of fresh titles that might appeal to our readers.

Read Column →

Library Love: Research Like A Pro!

May 15th, 2012

Oh, the library. For most of us, the word transports us back to childhood, to story time at the local public. It was a warm and fuzzy place with child-sized furniture and really friendly ladies. That memory anchored some of us in libraries (big, small, college, public) for the rest of our lives. For others, the relationship with the library faded over time and may have completely disappeared. These people, when I tell them I’m a librarian, preemptively apologize for never using the library, like it’s a bitter green their mothers used to make them eat.

Read Column →