Storytellersunplugged

I'm a little overwhelmed, as usual, with things clutching and dragging at me, but I wanted to take a little bit of time to talk about how schedules and best-laid plans can go to Hell in a handbasket, as my step-dad was fond of saying. I've spent a very chaotic few years bouncing form personal disaster to personal disaster, writing in mad sporadic bursts and not writing in molasses-thick periods of lethargy. I have written novels that are better than ... Read More

By Richard Steinberg “The creative artist seems to be almost the only kind of man that you could never meet on neutral ground. You can only meet him as an artist. He sees nothing objectively because his own ego is always in the foreground of every picture,” Raymond Chandler It’s an interesting moment. Dark and light seem completely balanced in my life right now. Not as if I have finally got a handle on life – far from it – but rather, as if ... Read More

by Justine Musk This is not the essay I intended to write. I write this in a lodge somewhere in Iceland where I've been staying the past two days with my spouse, assorted extremely-bright accomplished people, and a famous actress. This gathering is meant to be a kind of think tank retreat/salon concerning one issue in particular. I won't say what that issue is, because I want to talk a bit about the famous actress without giving away her identity, and, like any movie star, which is why they become a ... Read More

(Quick note from the wings...Elizabeth Massie sends greetings from the land of overwhelming deadlines, down there by that Myth Pool. She'll be back next month, entertaining as ever. In the meantime, here is a special extra bite out of Brian Knight's Mind - DNW) By Brian Knight Be silent in that solitude Which is not loneliness, for then The Spirits of the dead who stood In life before thee are again In death around thee, and their will Shall overshadow thee: be still. - Edgar Allan Poe, Spirits ... Read More

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

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

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

--Justine Musk 1 My 3 year old son was diagnosed with high-functioning autism. At that point my understanding of such things began and ended with the movie RAIN MAN, but it turns out that autism falls along an entire spectrum, from very severe to very mild. My son falls into the mild end and, thanks to early childhood intervention in general, and speech, play, and occupational therapies in particular, gets more expressive and interactive all the time. One day he might ... Read More