professional science fiction and dark fantasy writer
One of the tenets of Wicca/Paganism is the idea that everything around us, rocks, trees, clouds, is alive. This animistic idea that animals, plants, even natural phenomenon itself have spiritual essence is ancient and very, very attractive. As I move into Wicca/Paganism I find these ideas do enlighten my perspective toward the world around me. …
Continue reading "Relating the Thoughtforms of Animism to Everyday Modern Life"
Many years past a couple of friends and I were talking about religion. What we liked, what we didn't like. I said then, "If I had not been born a Catholic I would have followed Wicca." I never forgot that. To be honest, I never realized at the time what being born, or not being …
Frontier Tales has accepted a new Haxan story from me. It will appear in September. The title is as yet undecided. I'm really excited about this story for many reasons. It features Magra Snowberry and tells the story how she tries to get home to the man she loves. Standing in her way are four …
I guess there comes a point in your life when you are farther along past the middle, and closer to the end, than you are to the beginning. I've been reflective of late. Not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it depression related. It's just a point in my life when I am hearing about …
I started a brand new Haxan short story yesterday called "Talitha Koum" and so far I am making decent progress. It's taking time, but the story is shaping up and I am beginning to see what it is really about. It's funny. I was looking through some old files and saw the notes and stuff …
Continue reading "Looking for Stories in all the Right Places"
One of the things that interests me is how writers are influenced by other writers. I have thought about this a lot because I see other writers talk about it. I got to wondering who influenced me the most as I was growing up and learning how to write. I had a lot of favorites …
*Press elevator stop button. Cage jerks to a halt.* "I can sum the novel up pretty fast. Jorge Luis Borges said man will one day resign himself to new abominations, and that soon only bandits and soldiers will be left. Which is why I'm going to beat the living shit out of you right now." …
A writer friend of mine, Sandra Wickham, was trying to brainstorm ideas and found herself, in her own words, "floundering." She wondered aloud if people had any tips on how to dig deep for a big idea. I expect she got lots of good advice, because if writers have anything in over abundance it's advice. …
Continue reading "On Pushing Your Writing Beyond Safe Boundaries"
I believe writing is the art of reality. Writers paint in words. We use the world around us to create, and we create immense worlds. We aren't constrained unless we let ourselves be constrained. We can take as much as we want, or as little, depending on the story that wants to be told. We …
Speaking only for myself, but I find it's important to find a workable balance between perfection and compromise. I was responding on a classical guitar forum earlier tonight and it got me to thinking about this problem in more detail. Not only how it affects facets of our lives, but, since this is primarily a …
Continue reading "Tension and Compromise, the Charybdis and Scylla of Art"
I've been practicing classical guitar lately. Mostly arpeggios and reading music in divisi. (See how handy I am with those terms, haha) I was lax while working on the novel, and I've been working on the novel a year and half. So my CG playing suffered. I kept up with the guitar during that year …
Continue reading "Writers Come and Go, but the Story is Eternal"
I am not using italics for the Spanish translations in the Haxan prequel novel. I want to show stylistically the Spanish and English is all one part of the same culture. Now whether or not I am ultimately successful in this is open to debate. But that's my philosophy why I am not underlining Spanish …
Continue reading "Late Afternoon Thoughts on a Novel in Progress"
While attending Chicon 7 I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussing violence in fantasy and how much was too much. Or if there was such a thing as too much. The usual things you expect to be said on such a topic were said. But I was surprised, genuinely surprised, no one seemed …
When I attended ArmadilloCon I had the good fortune to see my friend Gabrielle Faust on a panel focused on how you can write better. One thing she said, and it's something I have been saying and believing for a long time, is that you should watch other people to see how they act and …
There is an apocryphal quote attributed to Freud: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." There's no evidence he ever said this, and later SNL did a skit where they substituted the word "banana" for cigar. But it got me to thinking about stories and how we view them from different perspectives Re: writers and …
Continue reading "Sometimes a Banana is just a Banana. And a Story is just a Story."
I guess one of the things that surprises me most is how easy it is to come up with ideas for stories. I wrote about this before. I used to be worried I would never have enough story ideas when I began to write. Now I have too many. I suppose that's growth of a …
Continue reading "In Search of Bold Story Ideas…and settling on the warm safety of cliche."
The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of my favorite novels by H.G. Wells. Published in 1896 it has deep philosophical elements which Wells faces head on. It is arguably one of his least known, but best written, scientific romances. In 1933 the novel was adapted to film by Paramount Pictures. It starred Charles Laughton …
Continue reading "Island of Lost Souls (1933) – Censored Horror with Sex and Atmospheric Bestiality"
I have a background in physics with a little chemistry on the side. So I know all about the scientific method and how you employ it when approaching a problem. And the scientific method works when you are doing science. But we have no common method when it comes to writing. It's extremely organic and …
Continue reading "Writing as an Organic Process (in other words, it’s Art)"
Occasionally I come across a post by another writer that is so good I just have to share. "The Downside of Persistence" by Richard Parks is such a post. I know Richard from the time I lived in Mississippi. He is a superb writer and he thinks deeply about the process of writing and its …
Continue reading "“The Downside of Persistence” by Richard Parks"
I've been a professional writer (by deed and definition) for a long time. Sometimes it amazes me. I will never be satisfied or ready to rest on my laurels, but I must admit if I never wrote another word for the rest of my life I have come further than I had any right to …
Continue reading "Process VS Protocol, or why only one thing matters in writing"
Hoover's Corner 