Monsters are cool. They come from nightmares, so they have power over us that we don’t understand, and as transgressors who get away with whatever, they hold our attention. They’re cool. They’re often the subject of scary stories. Not always, though. They’re useful in a lot of sorts of stories. Monster Theory came out of…
Every year about this time, Fred, my muse and history buff, and I meet. This year, I located him hanging in the closet. He assured me that many people have skeletons there. “Have I ever told you about my years in Cripple Creek?” Chewing on a piece of Halloween candy, I shook my head. “In…
This month I’m beginning my third novel, and I face a familiar, nerve-racking challenge: deciding how to start. The opening of a novel sets the tone for everything that follows, and I’m torn. Should I go back in time and give the reader a sense of how the conflicts playing out in the present spring…
In the Fall, a young man’s (actually, everyone’s) fancy lightly turns to thoughts of… well… spooky stuff! Take advantage of the Halloween spirit (spirits?), channel your inner Edgar Allen Poe, stretch your creative energy in a creepy direction, and have fun crafting a scary short story or poem that sends a tingle up our spines….
Like most writers, I’ve heard and read a lot about self-publishing, with most articles and stories advising that it’s nice to get your name in print, but you’ll need to keep your day job. Granted, some self-published books sell few copies beyond the author’s friends and relatives, yet some of them do well enough, including…