I’m about two-thirds of the way through Dickens’ epic Bleak House. This is the Kindle’s fault — it makes it easy to read the enormous classics because I don’t have to lug around an 800-page book. This is why I finally read Moby Dick, which was awesome, by the way. And funny. Seriously, Ishmael and Queequeg meet cute, there’s a ton of humor, vivid scenes, some scary ghostly bits, it’s incredibly modern and totally American. Read more…
Stina Leicht, a writing colleague and friend, writes about what she thinks has happened to urban fantasy on its way to being subsumed by paranormal romance. During my last signing at Barnes and Noble, I spent more than half my time explaining to customers that no, there aren’t any vampires in the book, the main character is male, and the only tattoos present on any character are prison tattoos. As much progress as has been Read more…
On a whim a couple of years ago I urged my writers group, Cryptopolis, to all enter the screenplay competition held by the Austin Film Festival. My reasoning: we were all writing novels; a screenplay had to be easier since it was only dialog, right? That sound is the sound of screenwriters everywhere laughing hysterically. Anyway, I never sent mine in, because it turns out, this is hard. Who knew? Two of my friends made Read more…