Scarlet Letters

This blog is in danger of becoming all about food, but a) the writing stuff is in motion but still hush-hush, and b) the family sees each other so rarely right now that we don't even get much in the way of Snippets. That is, unless you could yesterday's endless snark of poor Jim on his 51st birthday, which I kept misremembering as 61 with a big ol' grin. And yet he married me. If you're curious what's going on, you can catch up with the Literary Underworld crew at its site ; with my professional photography and newstuff at Donald Media ; and of course my Facebook and Twitter . I promise there's going to be very big changes soon. In the meantime, our observance of Memorial Day means the family gets to spend a few days actually in each other's company. Not Friday, as Boy had rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast  and I had the night shift. And not tonight (Sunday night), because Jim has a night shift and Boy is seeing one of his friends in a play. (In case...

A Return to the Roots: A Hero for Today’s Readers and Times By Stephen Zimmer In general, there has been a turn toward anti-heroes within the stories told in today’s speculative fiction, a time where there has been a proliferation of subgenres in the realms of fantasy, science fiction, horror and other primary genres.    Cross-genre fiction has also seen a sharp rise during this time, blending elements of many various genres into unique blends that open some fresh new territory for readers. All of these developments in genres and kinds of characters are welcome and needed.   They expand the possibilities in storytelling and character development, in addition to encouraging writers to take chances with their fiction.   Nevertheless, I also see a rising need in today’s fiction for characters like Ragnar Stormbringer or Rayden Valkyrie in an increasingly complex and troubled world.   They are bonafide heroes who dwell within stories that fall in...

In case you hadn't noticed, this blog is on semi-hiatus. Not that I don't enjoy sharing the menfolk's shenanigans and my latest rants, but there's a lot of things up in the air right now and I need to focus for a bit. However, the Fall Deathmarch must stomp on! Each year I say I'm not going to do this to myself, and each year I give in. Coming up: • St. Louis SPJ Student Boot Camp, Edwardsville, Ill. Sept. 23 (journalism) • Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 29-Oct. 1 (books and art/Literary Underworld) • Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. Oct. 6-8  (books and art/Literary Underworld) • Leclaire Parkfest, Edwardsville, Ill. Oct. 15 (books and art) • journalismSTL, St. Louis, Mo. Oct. 23 (journalism) • Heartland Book Festival, Cape Girardeau, Mo. Oct. 28 (tent. - books) • St. Louis Indie Book Fair, St. Louis, Mo. Nov. 3-4 (books) • Contraception, Kansas City, Mo. Nov. 10-12  (books and art/Literary Underworld) • Edwardsville (Ill.) Winter Market, Dec. 2 (...

Announcement! The Kindle edition of Moonlight Sonata  is now available for $4.99! I named my pet raven Edgar. He's happy to meet you. Q: Wait, the book's been out a week. Why is the ebook just now - A: Because I'm not Beethoven. Q: What? A: Amazon got the ebook version of my new short story collection mixed up with the various renditions and publications of Ludwig's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor , which he called " Quasi una fantasia " and we call " Moonlight Sonata ." Q: That seems like a difficult mistake to make. A: Well, it's not like I didn't know it existed. In fact, I listened to the sonata several times in the playlist I developed while writing the stories in this book. Along with a significant portion of the soundtrack to Sons of Anarchy . It's that kind of book. Q: So that's why there hasn't been an ebook up until now? A: Yes. The little hamsters running in the wheels at Amazon got my short stor...