Storytellersunplugged

This post is late--well, later than I like, anyway--because I am currently under internet radio silence while I try to rewrite Corambis for a March 31st deadline.  I check my mail (and icanhascheezburger) once a day, and other than that, I am head down in the book. And yesterday, I did not say to myself, Self, today is February 28th and it's a leap year, so tomorrow is February 29th. And, Self, do we remember what the 29th means? Nope. Did not ... Read More

Wayne Allen Sallee I had thought about calling this month’s entry “Butcher’s Raindance.” Sounds like a good story title, right? Even though I have no idea what it might be about...yet. Is it a ritual done by a serial killer, the dance being the way he sanitizes his crime scenes? Is it a song by an emo band (or whatever kind of music genre my oldest niece listens to these days), which, now that I’ve typed that, I realize ... Read More

Imagine, if you will, a movie. A really dreadful movie. A movie wherein no cut in the trailer lasts more than three seconds, wherein explosions and car chases and wirework kung fu abound. A movie that doesn’t go more than five minutes in between action sequences, in part to hide the fact that you could fit the plot summary in that apocryphal fly’s navel next to a producer’s heart, all the sincerity in Hollywood, and three medium-sized caroway seeds. Got a mental picture of that ... Read More

By Janet Berliner Since I, too, just finished and turned in a novel, I considered writing about post-book depression, but as two of my fellows have already well covered that issue this month, I decided to find something new. A few weeks ago, I saw the movie “Talk to Me,” the story of Washington, D.C. DJ Ralph “Petey” Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s. Where I was raised, we had no television, and given ... Read More

                For me, one of the finest moments of writing comes when crashing through the wall.                 Or cracking open a Faberge egg to find what’s inside is far more valuable than what is glittery and sweet on the outside.                 Or . . . after a long spell of grappling with nothingness, of putting down laborious word after laborious phrase . . . finally bursting into the open with passage after passage of stuff that we think is grand and sweeping and ... Read More

by Alex I always tell the students in my writing workshops that if they’re not writing down the dreams they have, every morning, they’re working way too hard. I’m starting to do interviews about THE PRICE, which comes out this week, and I got that question yesterday: “Where did the story come from?” And because you tend to forget how you started your last book, and pretty much everything else about it, when you’re tearing your hair out over the new one, I had ... Read More

First, I’d like to thank James Moore for covering my ass on the 23rd of last month. As always, his contribution was excellent. It’s pretty much a given that anything with Mr. Moore’s name on the byline will be good. If you haven’ had the opportunity to read one of his novels you’re denying yourself a treat. Of course I happen to think all of the essays you’ll find here are good. Storytellers Unplugged is a cornucopia of advice ... Read More

by Richard Steinberg “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't,” Mark Twain The Duke Of Oy is not only the best writer I’ve ever read (no exaggeration) but is also great looking, charming, intelligent, funny, profound, and oft times the only friend I’ve had that always stuck around.  All women want him, all men want to be him; cute little birdies and magnificent rainbows escorted him in pacific glory along a path of ... Read More

A week and a half ago, I got an e-mail from my friends at Paradox Entertainment. Among other things, they own the rights to the complete library of Robert E. Howard's works, and I edited an Age of Conan line of novels for them and Ace Books in the past. Last year, I wrote a novelization of a film based on one of their other properties: Mutant Chronicles. This is based on a roleplaying game—and board game, collectible card game, and miniatures game—I ... Read More

--Justine Musk So here’s the thing. I sat down yesterday to write my essay for this site. I had a topic. I had a sense of where the piece would start, where it would end up, and how it might go in-between. But when it came game-time, I realized: I got nuthin’. Could be I’m a bit burned-out – and maybe I could have essayed about that, except Elizabeth Bear already said everything I would want to say about that point in your ... Read More