I am resistant to the idea that a writer’s work must be autobiographical in some way, that their characters and stories are conduits for the author’s personality or desires rather than invented fiction. Amidst the excitement of promoting my newest book, I must admit to some dread that I’ll get questions asking me if I’ve Read More …
By Steve Simpson Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. —Homer Simpson I don’t find writing clearly easy, so I invented these self-serving reasons to do the opposite. Impenetrable words allow the reader to focus on the prosody This applies to poetry and prose. Here is an example Read More …
Let’s start by saying, Kathe Koja’s Dark Factory is a fun read! The ultimate dance club where the next step in AR/VR technology, called “Y,” allows clubgoers to customize the experience. Put that tiara on and go wild. I loved the characters in this book, and there were a lot of them, but I felt Read More …
Eugen Bacon Bacon’s new book Mage of Fools just released and I asked her a few questions: If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose? EB: I recently had a writer’s residency on a Read More …
As part of The Last Days of Hong Kong Blog Tour, author G.D. Penman joins us with a guest post about how he wrote an urban fantasy noir series. Urban Fantasy Noir by G.D. Penman Defining Film Noir is kind of tricky. Some but not all have a stylised use of shadows. Some but not Read More …
Seb Doubinsky’s novella, Paperclip, was extremely fun to read. It is set on Earth, in a world similar to ours, but countries are all run as City-States, and have different names. The story feels both classic and modern. There are references to social media and other technology, but the story has a real 60s detective Read More …
Review Ariadne, I Love you is a haunting new novella from J. Ashley-Smith (The Attic Tragedy) about unrequited love that is both beautiful and seriously creepy. Jude is a down-on-his-luck Alt-Country musician who has landed a comeback gig that brings him back into the life of his former bandmate, Ben, who also happens to be Read More …
The Bridge by J.S. Breukelaar is a wonderfully dark and complex story that hits a lot of themes. Meera was “made” in a cult by a misogynist cult leader named “The Father” who implants a bit of technology into his “Mades” to make them the perfect females: obedient and unimaginative and unable to reproduce. But Read More …
Keith Rosson stopped by as part of the blog tour for his new story collection: Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons and shares what writing means to him. Be sure to enter for a chance to win a $50 gift card at the bottom of this post and check out his new book. Writing Means… by Read More …
I am excited to host a spot on Kathe Koja’s THE CIPHER blog tour, with a giveaway, guest post from the author, and my own mini-review of the book. First, my take on the book: I was blown away by her talent, her writing style and voice are stunning. Her mastery of the language, especially Read More …