The Importance of Genre
One of those writing clichés tells aspiring authors to “write the book you want to read.” That may be true, but make sure your book fits into an accepted genre or no one else will read it. As I was…
Category: Literary Thriller
Depravity Happens. Do We Have to Read About It? The Case for (and against) Violence in Literature
This spring I nearly declared a moratorium on violent fiction after reading three savage novels: The Orphan Master’s Son, The Sympathizer and A Little Life. Afterward life felt dirty. Basta! After all, the news is horrific: a toddler refugee washes…
Important Notes for the Next Giant Conference I Attend
I’m wending my way home from Bouchercon 2016, held in amazing New Orleans. I’ve spent five days at a 2,000 person event talking myself hoarse, chugging coffee and other liquids, and attending some terrific panels and talks. Overall I had…
YA Wednesday: YA Books to Get You Pumped for the Summer Olympics, You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott, Great YA Horror Reads by Women
Between the Zika virus and the latest warnings for Olympic athletes not to put their heads under the water in Brazil because it is full of disgusting stuff I’d rather not talk about here, it feels like the summer Olympics…
Crushed by the Crucible
So I did that thing, the very depressing one, where I pulled an old manuscript out of the files with the intention of fixing it. I was confident I knew the problem: it had to be the stakes. The reader…
An Interview with Emily Ross, Author of Half in Love with Death
Emily Ross’s debut novel, Half in Love with Death (Merit Press – December 18th, 2015), chronicles fifteen-year-old Caroline’s quest to find her recently missing older sister. It seems nobody can help Caroline. Her parents can’t stop blaming each other, her friends…