All About Gothic and DEAD ENDS, Too

September 18, 2017 by - 4 Comments

    The word “Gothic” is thrown about a lot when it comes to literature.* Gothic is an interesting word. You know who the Visigoths were: those unsophisticated, crusty and crude pre-Germanic types who swooped down on the slothful, stuttering remains of the Roman Empire in the fourth century and gobbled them up. They were fairly …Read More

Daily Handbasket: Turtles, etc. 11 May 17

May 11, 2017 by - 2 Comments

    On my screen this week is a short story for a Southern gothic anthology. But it’s more Jane Eyre/The Secret Garden than Flannery O’Connor. It’s one of those stories that I can see the end of very clearly, but I will have to rein myself in because it really wants to be a novella. I’m …Read More

Unintended Consequences

August 5, 2014 by -

      The thing about writing stories and publishing is that they’re both very much like that old Lay’s potato chip slogan: You can’t eat just one. (No, please don’t eat books–no matter how much you love them.) So many people I’ve met who say they want to write, or want to be a writer, claim …Read More