Where Crime, Horror, and Science Fiction Meet – Discussing new discoveries, old mysteries, creepy tales, and dark storytelling
You know why they tell you to write everyday? It’s not so that your fingers won’t lose their supple musculature. It’s not so that your keyboard gets that nice, worn-in feeling–where it feels like the keys are molding to your fingertips. It’s not even for consistant word count, even though that’s the nice side effect.…
John Steinbeck’s first big hit was Tortilla Flat. I haven’t made it very far in…but enough to comment. It opens like all Steinbeck’s stuff–with beautifully desolate descriptions of place. The introduction tells us that this is a rethinking of King Arthur, which has been done before, and often. This time it’s set in California during…
Read more Sometimes You’ve Gotta Lose Your Mind: Mentor of the Month: John Steinbeck
Recently I started a new job. Yay! More money, more fun position. My new position is more fun because it involves stratigizing–which I dig. It’s what I like about the writing process. Sorting out problems, finding the solutions, and hopefully the result is reward: publication, money, etc. Turns out, the new job’s challenges seem to…
It’s been months since I’ve submitted to the CWC and it’s been a tad longer since I’ve worked on my WIP. Distracted by serial killer poetry books, I didn’t work on my novel. But now the time is nigh. (Yes, I just wrote ‘nigh’) And February is a frighteningly short month. A week into it…
The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard My rating: 4 of 5 starsDisclaimer: Just because I won this book, had it personally signed to me, and have spoken personally with the author and her agent does not mean that I’ve adjusted my review in any way. The really good stuff: the main character is not a…
According to the after-notes of Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck had decided that the novel should be considered a ‘playable novel’. This means that, without any additions, subtractions, etc., a theater company could used the novel as its play book. The descriptions were the setting and stage direction, the dialogue was for the actors, and…
Read more Mentor of the Month: John Steinbeck: The Playable Novel
Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck’s most known works. It has been made into several movies, a play, and has been read in high schools and colleges across the country. It’s also, in a word, short. In these days when fantasy novels stretch to 12+ volumes of 1200 pages each, and Jonathan Strange…
Read more Mentor of the Month: John Steinbeck: Short but Big
Other Worlds, and This 