Storytellersunplugged

By David Niall Wilson I'm currently reading one of the most recent novels by Stephen King, Lisey's Story, which is a twist on the old writer writing a story about a writer plot. The story is about the widow of a writer, and is full of insights from an odd perspective. The perspective, in this case, is that of an author, Stephen King, writing through the mind and eyes of a woman who was married to a horror writer. In other ... Read More

R C Jones In case some of you unpluggers might someday wish to write about a situation involving a shooting, some information about firearm identification might come in handy. First, a bit of basic background. For the sake of brevity, I will limit the discussion to handguns, that is, to revolvers and semi-automatic pistols. Both fire cartridges each of which comprises a casing, within which is held an explosive powder, a bullet held in the forward end of the casing, ... Read More

(Since we have not yet replaced the inestimable Dick Hill in the SU lineup, I have this extra essay penned by our own "Alienmotives" Bill Lindblad on hand for just such an occasion. Thanks Bill) by William Lindblad Pigeonholing happens. It’s easy for people to make categories and slip individuals into one of the slots or another. Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing is arguable, and the answer you’ll get changes depending on the person to whom ... Read More

Sarah MonetteThis month, let's not talk about my book (although it does, btw, look like I'm going to meet my deadline after all). Instead, let's go all meta and think about the ways we think about writing.Homo sapiens sapiens is a peculiar species in more ways than one, but one of our most endearing quirks is our ability to think about our own thought processes. We can do something; we can think about doing something; and we can think about ... Read More

Wayne Allen Sallee Brian Knight’s comment about his coworker in his entry of a few days back got me to thinking. No one at my job really brought up the process of how, say, WITH WOUNDS STILL WET, was published when I had paraded copies around. Certainly, I had back-up to my writing credentials, having been interviewed by CHICAGO magazine, the Daily Southtown, and the Chicago Sun-Times–the latter as I stood naked outside my basement shower on Memorial Day, it must’ve ... Read More

Lyon. Autumn Night. This is the city of ancient sorceries and Blackwood’s “Ancient Sorceries”, of churches on hills and walls of fire-blackened stone houses huddled in close alongside them. It’s the city of grand avenues and cobblestones, of streetcorner vin chaud in the winter and constant rain in the spring, of a hundred tiny bouchons tucked into even tinier streets where the galumphing American tourists dare not go lest they accidentally eat something strange. It’s where I was ... Read More

By Janet BerlinerLast night, I reread some of the stories in David Niall Wilson's short story collection, DEFINING MOMENTS. The stories are written from the inside out. That's why they're brilliant. You're IN the characters, at the place, feeling the pain and the pleasure. The book is a limited edition, so why am I promoting it here by using it as the title of this essay?As a tribute to Dave, in thanks for the work he's done keeping Storytellers Unplugged healthy. ... Read More

By Stan RidgleyWhat books do you choose to read? And which books do you like to read?Which books are you driven to read?There are differences, you know.If the question comes up, most often people ask me what books I like to read.Now, they ask this question for assorted reasons. Either to shut me up from my latest soliloquy on product differentiation . . . or as a casual pleasantry. What a great conversation-starter! And more revealing of character and taste than the ... Read More

by Jeffrey ThomasWhenever I fear I’m imitating myself as a writer, returning too often to territory I’ve worked before, I always remind myself of Monet and his water lilies, a series he painted over the last twenty-seven years of his life. Sometimes I worry that I’m being lazy or unimaginative, not pushing myself far enough or hard enough when I return to old themes and ideas. But Monet wasn’t being lazy; his subject matter was an obsession, a very intentional and intensely ... Read More

by Brian Knight This happens to me all the time, so I should be well prepared for it by now, but it still catches me off guard every time. It’s the question everyone seems to pose to me after finding out I’m a writer (that is if they don’t head for the hills when they find out what I write). This last time it came from an unexpected source, an extremely religious co-worker who couldn’t make it past page 1 of Hacks (I ... Read More