Tag Archives: Stephen King

A Weekend of Reading to Change Your Literary Life

Posted on May 15, 2018 by

If you are like me, you have spent much of your adult life as a reader catching up on a severe lack of education. It is common that I am out with friends and when the topic of books comes … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Octavia Butler’s and Robert Heinlein’s Rules of Writing

Posted on March 26, 2018 by

My most significant alien encounter this year has been in the science fiction of Octavia E. Butler. I have only dipped into her work, enjoying her Xenogenesis Trilogy (1987-89) and a collection of short pieces, Bloodchild and Other Stories (2nd ed., … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes, On Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

2017: A Year of Reading

Posted on January 8, 2018 by

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Stranger Thing Season 2, October 27

Posted on October 23, 2017 by

Stranger Things season 2 drops this weekend. I’m not the only one who is excited. Stranger Things won the Best Ensemble Drama at the 2017 Screen Actor’s Guild Awards, as well as MTV’s TV Show of the Year and a few Emmys. Clearly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, News & Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tolkien’s “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size)” in Context

Posted on September 22, 2017 by

I don’t know that there is any more famous Tolkien quote than his claim to, in fact, be a hobbit. It’s really quite a delightful statement and worth quoting more fully: I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Why I Didn’t Finish IT as a Teen

Posted on September 19, 2017 by

I was a couple of years older than the kids in IT when I picked it up the first time. The novel is filled with sexual content, gory violence, and profanity—very little of which was carried over to the Hollywood … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The Mythogenic Principle, Or Why Reading Zombie Lit at the Beach is a Very Bad Idea

Posted on July 12, 2017 by

It’s one of the reasons watching horror films is so fun, isn’t it? Though the possibility that a serial killer who has spent too much time collecting comic books or reading 19th century engineering reports is hiding behind your couch … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments