Having said all this about discussions of What Is Art, consider this your final warning, for we are now about to launch into a What Is Article ..read more

For decades, horror has been where I’ve gone to unwind. Not a week passes when I’m not reading it, watching it, or playing it ..read more

Are you trying to catch up too? If so, allow me to add five more pieces to your list, each one lovely, eerie, and uncertain ..read more

What I am opposed to, however, is this long-standing tradition of making movies catering to a singular set of tastes to the point of making it weird for the rest of us. Movies made exclusively for the straight, white, male experience ..read more

For my part, I live a spectral life. My career in fiction and nonfiction focuses on ghosts and ghost stories ..read more

Still, I will say it: if you want a pet who will actually help with your writing, an author's best friend is absolutely the dog ..read more

I didn’t want adventures, not like that. I supposed I wasn’t creative enough to be a writer. I told myself this for years. Decades ..read more

Sure, “blood is the life”, as Dracula’s Renfield would have us believe, but closer examination reveals a plethora of nuances to that phrase, provided we listen close enough to the rantings of a self-admitted lunatic ..read more

I’m fascinated with languages and alphabets and musical notation because I’m looking for a communication method that works. Or a communication method that works for me. I’ve learned when it comes to anything verbal/audible, the less I have to pay attention to what specific words or phrases mean the better I can comprehend what’s happening. Years ago, when I first started listening to audiobooks and short story podcasts, I’d get lost in the shapes of the syllables and the changes in pitch and tone. Before I knew it, the narrator’s voice was just the most gorgeous rainbow noise. To be clear, thi ..read more

As the last of the twentieth century wound down, the world prepared itself for the inevitable mass hysteria known colloquially as Y2K1. It was feared to be the end of times (technologically speaking), as all clocks were doomed to revert to the year 1900. Instead of ringing in a bright future, we would start at the beginning. It was a perfect horror story fueled by “hysterical” citizens and sovereigns alike. Except, with few minor exceptions, the old gave way to the new, and the twenty-first century began with a whimper instead of a bang. Now, nearly twenty-five years later, this may seem like ..read more