Category: in the book(s)
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Inspired by Ancient Mythology
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Along with the eerie literature and movies that were big influences for me as a child and early story-teller (Edgar Allan Poe, The Twilight Zone, etc.), I also grew up on what I loosely call ‘sword-and-sandal’ movies. Officially, the term ‘sword-and-sandal’ refers to a popular genre of Italian knock-off movies…
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Plotting a novel old-school – Excel spreadsheets are still alive!
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“It’s alive! It’s alive!” cries Dr. Frankenstein cries in the classic 1931 movie. I was starting to feel like his creation, plodding away with my Excel spreadsheets to plot out my novels, when I came across something that made my little old-fashioned heart beat again. Excel, the clunky, cumbersome software…
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Fun with Podcast Interviews
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“She finds out that a lot of our Earth history isn’t necessarily what we have been led to believe.” Author How do you talk about yourself? When I was invited to be on a podcast featuring indie authors recently, the first thing I did was research into how not to…
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Novel Writing Month lives on
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Here I am, once more sitting with my laptop, a mug of one of my favourite teas, Milk Oolong, ready to hand, as I commit words of horror to ‘page’. Twenty-six years ago, a freelance writer named Chris Baty started NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) with just 21 participants. Originally…
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New and revisited horror trends – Happy Halloween
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The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. H.P. Lovecraft The Horror genre is having a moment – or several, if you consider its split personality. Some of it is old, a lot new, but all…
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Autumn: dark hallways, creepy teachers, what’s not to love?
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If you attended a school where an atrocious murder was committed, or where something dark and unnatural crept the hallways, would you be fascinated, or horrified? I’m one of the few people I know who loved school, loved the entire back-to-school August prep. So why are so many people drawn…
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Star Trek: A New Storytelling Chapter
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The Trouble with Tribbles. Devil in the Dark. Wolf in the Fold. Catspaw. Some of the best episodes in the original Star Trek series. I even used one of the titles in my Chaos Roads trilogy, in homage. The original series was one of the most innovative shows to ever…
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Strange writer research
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“You’re researching what?” “Well,” I said to hubby, “I have this idea stuck in my head about the librarians on the archive planet of Jebeha being lizard-like.” He shrugged. He’s used to the weird things that come out of my brain. Why lizards? I don’t know — I just go…
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Libraries and Third Spaces
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During the first COVID lockdowns, when you couldn’t walk around a neighbourhood without people crossing the street to avoid you, I found myself gravitating to our local botanic garden. I drove by one day, just escaping the four walls of our home for a little while, and found the parking…
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The Earth’s Entrances to the Underworld
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There’s a plain just east of Naples, Italy that smolders away. I’ve been to a place like that before, on the island of St. Lucia, a large, collapsed volcanic crater called Sulphur Springs. It’s been dormant since the 1700s, but it doesn’t seem that way when you’re watching steam boil…