by mike | Apr 13, 2012 | Books, Research, Writers' Retreat, Writing |
Next week, when I facilitate workshops at the Hunt Country Writers’ Retreat in Virginia, I will finally get to meet Ken Kraus for the first time. Ken is a New Jersey-based writer of speculative fiction, and while I’ve worked with him on and off for years as his editor...
by mike | Apr 5, 2012 | Books, Bookstores, Fantasy, Research, Writing |
What? No, this isn’t about THAT first time. This blog is about writers, and writing, and fantasy, and horror, and stuff like that. Besides, that would be telling. This is about the first time I wrote a novel, and since I’ve written over thirty of them, I had to take a...
by mike | Apr 1, 2012 | Books, Fantasy, Horror, Movies, Research, Romance, Sword & Sorcery, Writing |
Who knew? While writing a recent post about Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan and the acknowledged “father” of Sword & Sorcery, I did research to make sure some of my facts were correct. I discovered that a movie had been made about a portion of his short...
by mike | Mar 27, 2012 | Books, Fantasy, Horror, Movies, Sword & Sorcery |
Horror fans in particular, and movie buffs in general, probably know that line well. Actually, it’s a part of the last line from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960 film, Psycho. Norman Bates, played so creepily by Anthony Perkins, has been taken down—wig, dress, and...
by mike | Mar 22, 2012 | Books, Fantasy, Research, Sword & Sorcery, Writing |
Everything I write—everything that just about all novelists write—begins with those two words. I prepare detailed outlines for my stories, so that I always have a pretty good idea of where I’m going. But even before outlining a story, there is the “what if?” I...
by mike | Mar 17, 2012 | Books, California, Fantasy, Romance, Sword & Sorcery, Writing |
Okay, art is supposed to imitate life. From our life experiences we create paintings, prose, sculptures, you name it. But on rare—and awesome—occasions, art can create life. Back in the early nineties I landed a contract with The Berkley Publishing Group for a...
