Monthly Archives: July 2017

The Big Idea: Michael F. Haspil

Getting older often gives you a perspective that younger people don’t have. But what happens when you’re immortal? What is your perspective then? It’s a question Michael F. Haspil has considered for his debut novel, Graveyard Shift. MICHAEL F. HASPIL: As human beings, we tell ourselves fictions to make it easier to cooperate one with […]

Read More

The Unsolicted Review: Poo-Pourri

Some members of the Scalzi Household — I won’t say which ones for privacy’s sake — occasionally do a thing called “pooping.” Look it up on Google if you’re not sure what that is. And while pooping is generally a laudable and healthy activity, it also sometimes leaves a certain odor. Someone I know recommended […]

Read More

How to Screw Up a Triumphant Bestselling Debut

I’ll preface this by noting I think Milo Yiannopoulos is a real piece of shit human being who I’d be delighted to see tossed into the metaphorical oubliette of uncaring oblivion. But, when I saw some people having schadenfreude over Yiannopoulos’ book sales of Dangerous, which were reportedly only a fifth of his self-asserted sales […]

Read More

The Big Idea: Christopher Brown

The opening sentence of Christopher Brown’s Big Idea essay for Tropic of Kansas hits awfully close to home these days. Buckle in. CHRISTOPHER BROWN: What if the revolutions we watch ripping other countries apart were happening on our own streets? America as Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela—that core conceit behind Tropic of Kansas drove almost everything else […]

Read More

The Big Idea: Jennifer Stevenson

  With a title that includes the phrase “coed demon sluts,” you might think that you know all you need to know about Jennifer Stevenson’s series of paranormal women’s fiction. Here’s Stevenson to make the argument that there’s more than meets the eye. JENNIFER STEVENSON: The foundation of this series is a question: “Aren’t you […]

Read More

The Big Idea: Nancy Kress

Folks, in discussing her new novel Tomorrow’s Kin, author Nancy Kress has some bad news for you. It’s about your brain. And mine. And everyone’s. NANCY KRESS: Your mind does not work the way you think it does. You probably assume that you consider data and come to rational conclusions. But all too often, people […]

Read More

Today’s Very Quick Writing Tip

Written yourself into a corner? Go take a shower. No, seriously. Whenever I write myself into a corner (like, for example, yesterday), I go and take a long shower. And whilst I am standing there doing nothing other than having water spritzing onto my head and body, my brain works the problem. And more often […]

Read More

The Big Idea: Sarah Beth Durst

Be warned: in today’s Big Idea post for The Reluctant Queen, author Sarah Beth Durst gets a little… bloody. SARAH BETH DURST: This book was born in blood. Seriously. I had just arrived at a writing retreat in the Poconos.  Beautiful place.  Every writer was given an adorable wood cabin nestled beneath pine trees.  I […]

Read More

%d bloggers like this: