by mike | Jun 22, 2012 | Adventure fantasy, Books, Horror, Movies, Romance, Sword & Planet, Writing |
Did you expect to see the word “profit” in that title? Not likely. Let me share some thoughts from what I’ve experienced over the past gazillion years and nearly thirty novels written. When I made the commitment to start writing novels a long, long time ago I began...
by mike | May 14, 2012 | Books, California, Horror, Native Americans, Research, Writing |
Of my four horror novels, three are steeped in Native American culture and mythology. More specifically, the Native Americans that I chose to write about are among California’s indigenous people. Why? First, there has been a book or two (or a gazillion) written about...
by mike | May 4, 2012 | Books, California, Horror, Nightmares, Science Fiction, Writing |
As a writer I don’t often use the old cliché, “Love at first sight.” But that’s what happened the first time I saw Barney. This runty German shepherd, about two months old at the time, sat by himself in a large cage inside an Indianapolis pet shop. There were other...
by mike | May 1, 2012 | Books, Horror, Horror Movies, Research, Sword & Planet, Writing |
In an earlier post, “Horrors! Or How to Scare the ‘Yell’ Out of People,” I wrote about the effect of scaring readers and film watchers with subtle horror, rather than in-your-face buckets of blood, entrails, oozing brains, various and sundry dismembered body parts—you...
by mike | Apr 23, 2012 | Guilty Pleasures, Horror, Horror Movies, Movies, Writers' Retreat |
Let’s talk about guilty pleasures. The term itself relates to something that a person enjoys despite feeling guilty for enjoying it. Where does the guilt come in? From worrying about what others might think about one’s tastes, maybe seeing you as a real lowbrow,...
by mike | Apr 18, 2012 | Books, Fantasy, Horror, Nightmares, Research, Sword & Planet, Sword & Sorcery, Writing |
What’s the deal? A guy who writes horror, fantasy and other weird stuff thinking that creativity is a curse? To be honest—no, not the majority of the time. My brain is almost always swirling with new plots, unique characters, exotic settings and such, and for the most...
