There’s a new book recommendation site in town and its name is Shepherd. They aim to give Goodreads a run for its money and to help build their site, Shepherd has been reaching out to authors for their top five book recommendations based on a theme of their choice.
In my case, I created a list of the best books about ordinary people thrown into bizarre and extraordinary circumstances. It’s an honor to be featured on Shepherd and join the ranks of so many incredible writers!
It’s been three months since I gathered a collection of informative articles here, something that was once a monthly feature on this blog. My life took an unexpected and disquieting detour in September which affected my health and my writing. I’m struggling to put both back on track as we head into the new year, but for now…
Philip Athans thinks there should be a little bit of Harlan Ellison in all of us and I agree. Harlan remains one of my literary heroes.
Kristen Lamb warns us against self-sabotage in all its forms while over at Good Story Company, Mary Kole offers advice on dealing with criticism.
Anne R. Allen encourages believability over realism in our fiction, Jami Gold explains the differences between foreshadowing and spoilers, and Amanda Patterson shows us how to use motifs.
All that and much more. Enjoy!
Maybe We Should All Be More Like Harlan Ellison by Philip Athans
How to Deal with Negative Criticism by Mary Kole
Self-Sabotage: I Don’t Deserve Success by Kristen Lamb
5 Tips to Boost Your Professional Writing Cred by Lori Freeland
7 Ways Public Readings Can Help Your Writing by Kathryn Craft
Revise for Success – A Stree-Free Plan for Polishing Your Novel by Jodie Renner via Anne R. Allen
Why Realism is Irrelevant in Fiction: Aim for Believability Instead by Anne R. Allen
How to Enhance Contrast In Your Writing by Jessica Strawser
Foreshadowing vs. “Spoilers”: What’s the Difference? by Jami Gold
Do You See Dead People? by PJ Parrish
How to Motivate Yourself to Write and Finish Your Novel by Lorna Faith
What is a Motif in Fiction? by Amanda Patterson
In all of the chaos of the election and our Indiegogo campaign to fund the publication of Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, I neglected to mention that not only has the Scary Stuff anthology been released, but my author copy arrived on Halloween!
Defintely a treat! Even my ghoulfriend found it a jaw-dropping read and she ain’t easy to please.
The book also came with an autograph checklist card (below).
Scary Stuff, published by Oddity Prodigy Productions, is an homage to the classic EC Comics titles Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear as well as the magazines Creepy and Eerie. The anthology includes my story. “Burn After Writing,” dedicated to one of my litrary heroes, Harlan Ellison (below).
On what would have been Harlan Ellison’s 86th birthday (May 27), Episode #11 of Got a Story for Ya is LIVE with “Burn After Writing,” a short story dedicated to Harlan and soon to be published in SCARY STUFF, an anthology by Oddity Prodigy Productions.
Legendary writer Adrian Halka has died. Disobeying his mentor’s instructions to burn all incomplete manuscripts upon his death, struggling writer Shane Conrad pilfers one of Halka’s unreleased novels. After publishing it as his own, Conrad learns the blistering consequences of playing with fire.
For ten weeks in the early 1950s, Harlan Ellison joined a notorious Brooklyn street gang known as the Barons as part of his research for his first novel, Web of the City and later, his crime collection, The Deadly Streets.
The first edition of The Deadly Streets was released in 1958 and contained 11 hard-boiled tales about teenage street gangs. The book was re-released in 1975 with an additional five crime stories, some written in collaboration with other writers including “Ship-Shape Pay-Off” with Robert Silverberg and “Sob Story” Henry Slesar.
What sets these additional five stories apart from the original 11 is that they are much shorter and completely unrelated to the theme of teenage street gangs. Rather, they tend to focus on mob hits (“The Man with the Golden Tongue”), revenge (“Rat Hater”, “Hippie Slayer”) and personal vendettas (the aforementioned “Ship-Shape Pay-Off”). “Sob Story” is the weakest of the lot and barely qualifies as a crime drama.
My personal favorites from the collection include “We Take Care of our Dead,” “The Man with the Golden Tongue,” “Johnny Slice’s Stoolie,” “Buy Me That Blade,” “Hippie Slayer,” “With a Knife in Her Hand,” “Dead Shot,” and “Students of the Assassin.”
Although the slang is outdated and the depictions of violence mild by today’s standards, each of the original 11 tales present a vivid snapshot of the bloody and ruthless street gang culture of 1950s New York.
Today would have been Harlan Ellison’s 85th birthday… It’s been almost a year since the grand master left us, but his work will last forever.
