Archive for June, 2008
FORENSICS 110: LEGALITY MATTERS
Superstitions
Deborah LeBlanc
Over the last few weeks or so I’ve been trying to recollect and journal some of the old superstitions I’ve heard over the years. Ones from this area, sayings my grandparents, parents, and their friends mentioned often. Especially the ones that managed to lodge in my brain and take root as if they were [...]
The Suspense is Killing Me
by Bev Vincent
Three minutes from now, right about when you’re almost finished reading this essay, a bomb is going to go off. You don’t know this, but everyone else does. Sure, I could have just set the bomb off without telling anyone, but that would have caused only a brief moment of shock. This way, [...]
THOMAS SULLIVAN: FROG SEX OR JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
My mind went on a diet a while ago and already it’s lost nearly 1800 words. It started by eliminating all those empty adjectives and adverbs that just pile bulk on the body of my work without any real nutrition. Then it tossed out the interjections (pure comfort words – WOW! huh?). You’re allowed substitutions [...]
Free Fiction - “Roadside Memorials”
With my first Rogue Angel novel, THE LOST TOMB, due in just a few days, I haven’t had time to put together a column for this month. Instead, I’m going to share one of the few short fiction pieces I’ve done during my career. (It takes my longer to write a short story [...]
The ‘Old In and Out’: How to Review Short Fiction
by John B. Rosenman
Before we begin, here are two quotes from an article that presents the whole subject of book reviews from a somber perspective.
Newspaper book reviews don’t make money. Ever. Anywhere. And they are dying like polar bears in the Artic.
. . . Publishers don’t appear to believe that newspaper ads can sell books. [...]
Book Promotion: Part 2
Just to recap, last month I detailed my first two suggestions for promoting your book:
Write the best book you can.
Don’t get stuck with a bad cover.
If you’ve got those two things taken care of, you’re well on your way to having a successful book! Now, let’s take a look at a few [...]
Friends, Peers and Professionalism
Now and then I ponder what, exactly, I intend to talk about in these essays and sometimes it comes easily. Well, folks, this time it’s pretty easy. Last time in, I had a bit of a rant regarding charity anthologies and whether or not they were the best way in the world to get your [...]
Warning: Smoking May Be Hazardous
That warning has shifted from ubiquitous to superfluous over the past twenty-five years. If you don’t know that smoking can damage your lungs, endanger your child’s birth weight, increase blood pressure, cause cancer and do just about everything but empty your bank account and taunt you with calls from Barbados, you haven’t been paying attention.Sometimes [...]
Genius Loci (Part 1?)
I just got back from my honeymoon in Costa Rica. It was wonderful; I got a ton of writing done.
Naturally, none of it ended up on paper, as I had my hands full; but every waking minute contributed fresh fodder for a mill that has been grinding out the same second-hand crud for much too [...]
