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Monthly Archives: September 2011
My RX For a Bloated Novel; Posterboard and Sticky Notes
If, like me, you love to listen to yourself write, you’ve probably needed to cut huge swaths of words out of your novels. I’m rewriting my YA urban fantasy St. Vitus Academy Bk. 1; The Lazarus Rock. Word count: I’m … Continue reading
Review: Drive
Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive is one of those buzzy movies with wildly mixed reviews. The enamored toss around favorable comparisons to Pulp Fiction and Taxi Driver while others use words like ‘laughable’ and ‘over-the-top.’ Movies like that are at least … Continue reading
My Origin Story Part 7: Another Novel, More Lessons Learned (Sort of)
Previously on My Origin Story: I worked on a style of writing and won an award. During the summer between 9th and 10th grade, I started my second novel. In Anya Seton’s Green Darkness, a novel about reincarnation, there was … Continue reading
Film Noir; Some Greats
Smoking was cool. Lighting was dark. And the souls of the denizens of film noir were even darker. Born out of post-war angst and moral uncertainty, the “noir” movement in literature and film produced some classic movies. And the sultry, … Continue reading
My first-ever guest blogger!
Today, please welcome my friend, writer Ray Dean Parker (aka Richard Dean). I’ve asked him to share some of his vast knowledge about the fascinating literary genre of Noir Fiction. Look for his novel, One Good Thing, upcoming as an … Continue reading
Noir Fiction by Ray Dean Parker
I like to imagine some lonely guy back in the late-1940s or so, on his own in a small town or in a big city, living in a hotel by the railroad tracks or a roominghouse or a cheap apartment, … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Noir Fiction/Film Noir, Pop Culture, Reviews, Writing Craft
Tagged B. Traven, Black Lizard, Dashiell Hammett, David Goodis, Donald E. Westlake, hard-boiled fiction, James M. Cain, Jim Thompson, John D. MacDonald, Lawrence Block, Mickey Spillane, Noir, Patricia Highsmith, pulp fiction, Raymond Chandler, Stieg Larsson, Vicki Hendricks, W.R. Burnett
7 Comments
New Fall TV Shows, by Devlin
It’s September and we all know what that means. The new TV season is here, the new TV season is here! [/Navin Johnson voice]. These are the new shows I’m going to check out: Ringer Why? Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy … Continue reading
Posted in Pop Culture, Reviews, TV
Tagged American Horror Story, Bedlam, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Christina Ricci, Dylan Walsh, Eddie Cibrian, Fringe, Grimm, Idris Alba, JJ Abrams, Lost, Luther, Madeleine Stowe, Maria Bello, New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Pan Am, Prime Suspect, Psych, Revenge, Ringer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Stephen Spielberg, Supernatural, Terra Nova, The Playboy Club, The Secret Circle, Unforgettable, Zooey Deschanel
6 Comments
How To Write a Batterer
In critique group the other day, the issue of writing batterers and domestic abuse came up. Here are some thoughts on the matter. (My alter ego is as a crisis counselor in a domestic violence (DV) safehouse.) Who are these … Continue reading →