Archive for August, 2006
The Hallowed Ground of the Land of "What if?"
“To put it in words, to write it down,
That is walkin’ on hallowed ground,
But it’s my duty…I’m a missionary.”
Depeche Mode
(Look what you’ve done, Chet…)
I think everyone has moments when they look at life, the world, governments, religions, or the fabric of reality itself and think – what if? I’ve mentioned before that I’m a [...]
Whose Story Is this, Anyway?
Frank T. Wydra
It’s one of those suicide gray days for which February is famous. Outside, month old snow is etched with the black of week-old melt and the temperature hovers around twelve above. The sun rises after I do and sets before the gin and tonic are mixed.
Actually, it’s not. But if [...]
THE READER WRITES
By Dick Hill
So my friend puts me in touch with a guy who asks if I want to be a contributor to this collaborative journal, Storytellers Unplugged. I’ve read some of his entries, and some from other folks, so I wasn’t totally unfamiliar with it. Write about writing? Not exactly the [...]
Shades of Intensity
“There was a little girlWho had a little curl,Right in the middle of her forehead.And when she was good,She was very, very good,But when she was badShe was horrid!”–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(That was for Chet.)
A good many years back, I was an intense little kid, seemingly much moreso than all the kids around me. (I believe [...]
Epigraphically Speaking…
by Chet Williamson
“Epigraphs are a snore.” – Miss Snark
Despite Miss Snark’s distaste for epigraphs, I’m a fool for those hopefully well-chosen quotations used at the beginning of a book or a section thereof, and even sometimes at the start of individual chapters. They are not to be confused with epigrams, which are witty and terse [...]
Better Fiction Through Adolescent Pummeling
It was at the Chicago World Horror Con, a lot of people sitting at a long table in a long room in a long stretch of hotel that was more or less the basement. At least, I think it was. I know a lot of people who got lost once or twice trying to find [...]
More About Interviews: "Booze, broads, and bar talk."
by Janet Berliner
A few months ago, I wrote about the art of interviews and the fun of doing profiles. One of the sub-sets of my essay was pointing out that some of the best interviews are arrived at opportunistically. You see or meet someone famous, introduce yourself, and jump right in.
The worst that can happen [...]
Difference of Opinion
By Stan Ridgley
It took me quite a while to understand one of the fundamentals of life.
And it’s taken me a while to overcome the natural reluctance to share a discovery with others for fear of being revealed as the last guy to the party. There is a fine line between carving out descriptions of universal [...]
Where I get my ideas – Mining the Modern American Myth Pool.
One of questions writers hear most frequently, posed by interviewers, other writers, critics, and fans, is the classical Where do you get your ideas?
I’m a minor player even in the small pool of small press genre fiction, but I’ve heard that question enough times to dread it every time someone starts a conversation about my [...]
Coming of Age: A Tribute to My Son
by Weston Ochse
There is no denying the popularity of coming of age stories. From McCammon’s Boy’s Life to Simmons’ Summer of Night to Barker’s The Thief of Always to King and Straub’s The Talisman and everything in between, placing children and young adults in dire circumstances and voyeuristically adventuring with them through the [...]
