Books
A twist in the tale: Why too many ‘Twilight Zone’ endings can ruin the surprise
One summer, I spent my days lounging around the pool, reading “The Twilight Zone.” Not watching. For one thing, “The Twilight Zone” reruns were on way late at night. I wasn’t quite a teenager, VCRs were in other peoples’ homes, and the Internet was still a good decade or so away. So I’d only seen…
Read MoreNot seeing the forest for the trees: ‘Into the Woods’ and other ways Hollywood gaffes in retelling classic fairy tales
“Into the Woods” fans, brace yourself: The Disney adaptation of the award-winning, long-running, grown-up thinking fairy tale musical by Stephen Sondheim – one of the stage’s pre-eminent writers – is getting neutered. As the New Yorker reported recently, during a master class in New York City Sondheim told the audience of high school drama teachers that…
Read MoreHappy 80th to Harlan Ellison, who has a knock-knock joke for you
Harlan Ellison, that irascible love-him or hate-him genius of speculative fiction, lawsuits and storytelling, turns 80 today. While covering the South by Southwest Festival in 2008, I got a chance to talk with him in person (there's a video I'll turn up one of these days), and before that, on the phone. Here's just the…
Read MoreServing up lamb in a rare, delightfully nasty way
One of these days I'll write a longer post about the joys of discovering the fiction Roald Dahl wrote for adults, rather than children (most of us only know him by his "Matilda" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" books). It's twisty, detailed, tightly-written and often delightfully nasty. But for now, I'll send you to…
Read MoreDune, the dessert planet
I have fallen off the posting wagon, not for lack of things to say, but time to say them in. So in honor of my recent "Dune" posting, I'll just leave you with this. "Dune," in gummi worms. It is, as one wag in the comments notes, a dessert planet. Be back anon.
Read More4 reasons most book clubs just don’t work
Finding the right book club feels like dating. Many will be tried, few will succeed. At least, that's been my experience. Over the years I occasionally feel a need to actually share my reading experiences, which are wide and varied and as much about finding book-lovin' folk as it is to talk about the specific…
Read MoreYou can’t go home to Arrakis again
Recently, a link popped up all over my Facebook thread, informing me how I could begin breezing through books at a much more rapid rate than I do. If I don't know anything more about that particular link, it's because, f that noise. I see no need to read faster. I probably need to read…
Read MoreDream mining for story inspiration: Check and check!
Who says dreams are dead time? I woke up with an idea for a short story on Sunday morning and pounded out a good start. The only problem now: Where to take the darn thing. Secondary problem: Finding the time to finish it up. The important part is starting. It's even more important when you're…
Read MoreKick your own can, jump in your own tub of marshmallows
This morning, I watched Veronica Roth jump into a bathtub full of marshmallows. I'm a bit behind the times — she did this in 2010 and posted it on her blog, a promise fulfilled to her readers about what she'd do if she landed a book deal. And when "Divergent" got her that deal, she…
Read MoreDoes good writing depend on looking under a story’s hood?
You'd think writing was just about putting words on a page, in a coherent and potentially attractive and compelling order. And you'd be right. But as with any interest/specialty/art what have you thing that people focus their lives around, apparently there's a hell of a lot of technical jargon, too. Stuff I grew up just…
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