5
Here’s a question for you, Dear Reader. What publisher would have taken Bram Stoker seriously if his villain had swept onto the page and said, in sepulchral tones, “I am Count Humperdink. I want to drink your blood”?
Continue readingCategory Archives: Writers on Writing
At first I thought the current fashion of dark, gritty fantasy – fantasy noir – is just that, a recent shift in popularity, like the explosion of angsty teenage vampire stories. If we take the long view, it’s an established … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Fiction doesn’t generally spend a lot of time on what characters do in the restroom. I’m all in favor of this: a few years ago I read a bestselling fantasy … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) Historical cities were hideous, open sewers, their streets clogged with human and animal filth. . . . or were they? Two groups of people would have you believe that’s true: … Continue reading
Hello, my name is Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and I’m a recovering research-aholic. I know that research addiction is common among writers of speculative fiction (genres that begin with ”what if…?”). This doesn’t mean there aren’t writers who hate research with … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series. And many thanks to my faithful patrons, who have funded two years of New Worlds: with this, we embark upon Year Three! Look for the ebook collection of Year Two … Continue reading
This blog contains a little-finger dig at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. I used to be a regular at the February venue, looking forward to it from the bleak depths of a Seattle January. Getting a job with high … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) After the wedding comes the honeymoon . . . maybe. Unlike many things I discuss in this series, where I talk about how the idea or the practice is older … Continue reading
This is part of a longer blog post that originally appeared in Crimereads. A major legal renovation of the Victorian period was in the area of divorce. Until the divorce laws were renovated in 1858, marriage really was for life. … Continue reading
(This post is part of my Patreon-supported New Worlds series.) When it comes to beautifying our bodies, we haven’t stopped at the visual. For millennia, people have sought to improve the way they smell, too — for a whole host … Continue reading