Saturday, July 18, 2015

HEROINE PAYING HOMAGE TO GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS DEBUTS! RICHARD C. WHITE’S ‘DARK LEOPARD’ FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Publisher of Genre Fiction and New Pulp, Pro Se Productions proudly announces the debut of a new character, one whose roots are firmly planted in the early years of Comic books for inspiration. Author Richard C. White recalls the daring heroines of the Golden Age of adventure with his own character, springing to life in New Pulp prose. The Dark Leopard: Mouse Trap is now available in print and digital formats!

“There is so much,” says Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions, “to be said for reaching into the past, back to stories that have come before and seeing what modern writers today could do with such concepts. It’s not simply nostalgia. It’s about not only showing a respect for our literary past, but introducing the concepts that drove those stories, that inspired those characters, to modern readers and to find their significance today. With The Dark Leopard: Mouse Trap, Richard harkens back to more than one four color masked maven and definitely adds in his own flair to what is, all in all, a double fisted tale of action and intrigue.”

Rachel Black is known to millions for many reasons—her hit movies, her glamorous lifestyle, and her reputed romances with Hollywood’s leading men. But Rachel also leads a secret life far away from the hot spotlights as the terror of criminals, saboteurs, and spies…because with the donning of a mask and risking of her life, Rachel is The Dark Leopard, Hollywood’s glamorous detective star.

Rachel, her father, Langston Black, and Mark Stone, a journalist and some-time partner with the lovely masked heroine, are in Monaco to make a movie about Nancy Wake, the World War II’s most celebrated British Special Operations agent. It’s the chance of a lifetime for Rachel and she’ll do anything to make the picture successful. However, when things start going wrong on the set, she begins to wonder whether it’s a rival movie company or perhaps something more sinister—something that may call for a certain feline super-hero. Then, a shadow from the past makes Rachel remember the reason she became the Dark Leopard in the first place.

Paying homage to classic Heroines of the Golden Age, Pro Se Productions proudly presents the debut adventures of The Dark Leopard, created by author Richard C. White.

Featuring a stunning cover by Rock Baker and print formatting and logo design by Forrest Bryant, The Dark Leopard: Mouse Trap is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store for 10.00.

The debut of White’s catlike heroine is also available as an eBook, designed and formatted by Bryant for only $2.99 for the Kindle and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

For more information on this title, contact Morgan McKay, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Friday, July 17, 2015

[Link] Are writers guilty of whitewashing their novels?

by Paul Bishop

THE NEW BRADLEY COOPER/EMMA STONE FILM, Aloha, has regenerated a long seated controversy over the whitewashing of Hollywood movies. Aloha, a movie filmed in Hawaii about the Hawaiian culture, has no Hawaiians in the cast except for a few very minor roles.

This history of this whitewashing goes back most notably to the 1931 film Charlie Chan Carries On starring Swedish actor Warner Oland as Chan. Oland had also played Fu Manchu in an earlier film. However, the practice of casting white actors in ethnic roles began much earlier.

My own experience with this phenomenon came when I was pitching a script I’d written about the first African-American military pilot, Eugene Jacques Bullard, nicknamed the Black Swallow of Death during his time flying with the Lafayette Escadrille in France. Now keep in mind, this is a true story. At the end of the pitch, the studio executive I was pitching asked – in all seriousness – if I could make the main character white.

The publishing industry has also been accused of whitewashing – portraying ethnic main characters on book covers, especially Young Adult novels, using Caucasian features and very, very light skin tones.

Cultural icons of all sorts have also been subjected to this whitewashing –

Why, for instance, is Jesus, a Jew born in the Middle East, almost always portrayed with extremely Caucasian features and very long hair? I know the specious arguments about the area where he was born being light haired and Caucasian featured, but really? Somehow, I don’t buy it.

I recently found myself thinking about how much of this is consciously or unconsciously done, especially in the case of novelists. I recently finished the manuscript for my new book, Lie Catchers (due for publication in August by Pro Se). The book is fiction, but very much based on my experiences as a detective and interrogator with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Read the full article: http://venturegalleries.com/blog/are-writers-guilty-of-whitewashing-their-novels/

Sunday, July 12, 2015

[Link] STUPID GUN MISTAKES MOST WRITERS MAKE


by Chuck Dixon

I made a partial list below (I’m sure Duane Thomas, Larry Correia and others can add to it) of dumb things I see in novels and comics and movies in the area of firearms. A few of these (for dramatic license) I make myself. But they’re still dumb.

THE SILENCED REVOLVER

If you’re dumb enough to put a silencer on a revolver then you’ll discover that all the noise you hoped to suppress will escape from around the cylinder. See, an automatic is a sealed system allowing gas to vent only from the end of the barrel. So all your sound is coming from the barrel as well. A revolver is not sealed. There’s a gap twixt the cylinder and the barrel where they meet. This gap allows the cylinder to turn. It also allows gas and noise to escape.

THE “EMPTY” AUTOMATIC

We’ve all seen the scene where on adversary has the drop on another at the end of a gunfight. One guy holds out an automatic to the other guy’s head, says a take away line (“This is where the rubber meets the road, scumbag.”) and then…click. The gun’s empty! Well, when an automatic has fired its last cartridge the slide atop the action locks back. They would both know the gun was empty. At the same time the firing mechanism locks back as well so no “click”. If you need to have a scene like this make sure your character’s armed with a revolver.

Read the full article: http://dixonverse.blogspot.com/2015/05/stupid-gun-mistakes-most-writers-make.html?m=1

Saturday, July 11, 2015

GENRE FICTION GETS GROOVY WITH NEW BAND OF ADVENTURE! THE LEMON HERBERTS DEBUTS FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Known as an innovator in Genre and Pulp Fiction, Pro Se Productions lays claim to that title once again with its latest release. From the far out imagination of creator Jim Beard comes a band of musicians and heroes that redefine ‘out of sight’ in a new anthology! Get ready, cats and kittens, for The Lemon Herberts!

“The most wonderful thing,” says Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions, “about Genre Fiction is just how broad a canvas it offers creators to work on. Add in the application of the Pulp style of writing to a trippy concept that might seem more at home on a Saturday morning TV screen than in an anthology and the writers Jim Beard brought together, and you truly have something unique. The Lemon Herberts is equal parts lunacy, fun, and action, which, in Pro Se’s book, makes for the best stories!”

MADNESS! Beat it, Beatles! Move over, Monkees! Roll it up, Rolling Stones! Here comes the greatest, grooviest, gearest rock-and-roll group of all time: The Lemon Herberts!

Hot on the heels of their chart-topping hit album, Redwing Blackbird’s Summer Solstice Tea Party, the Lemon Herberts launch themselves on their very first world tour – and straight into more danger, more peril, more sheer adventure than they ever bargained for! In six kicky, pulpy, far-out tales, you’ll meet drummer Ellroy, guitarists Honor and Dilly, bassist Ally, and the gorgeously fab Her Majesty – trouble-magnets that even their long-suffering manager, the mysterious Brighton Hawks, can’t hope to contain. Just ask the Lemon Herberts’ legion of screaming fans: they’re wild, they’re wonderful, they’re simply the most!

Herberts’ creator Jim Beard leads a band of groovy authors -- Nathan Meyer, M. H. Norris, Rocko Jerome, Sam Gafford, and Joseph Lamere -- for a New Pulp collection that will have you tapping your toes and humming along as The Lemon Herberts conquer the world, shining their music into hearts both dark and light around the globe!

Featuring an awesome cover by Michael Hegedus and print formatting and logo design by Forrest Bryant, The Lemon Herberts is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store at  for $15.00.

The band’s debut anthology is also available as an EBook, designed and formatted by Bryant for only $2.99 for the Kindle and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

For more information on this title, contact Morgan McKay, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Friday, July 10, 2015

[Link] Pulp’s Big Moment: How Emily Brontë met Mickey Spillane

by Louis Menand

Back when people had to leave the house if they wanted to buy something, the biggest problem in the book business was bookstores. There were not enough of them. Bookstores were clustered in big cities, and many were really gift shops with a few select volumes for sale. Publishers sold a lot of their product by mail order and through book clubs, distribution systems that provide pretty much the opposite of what most people consider a fun shopping experience—browsing and impulse buying.

Book publishers back then didn’t always have much interest in books as such. They were experts at merchandising. They manufactured a certain number of titles every year, advertised them, sold as many copies as possible, and then did it all over the next year. Sometimes a book would be reprinted and sold again. Print runs were modest and so, generally, were profits.

Then, one day, there was a revolution. On June 19, 1939, a man named Robert de Graff launched Pocket Books.

Read the full article: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/05/pulps-big-moment

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Going Pro

Welcome to the newest writers roundtable. This week, we're going to talk about what it means to go pro as a writer. So I looked up three of most "pro" pros I could think of, Bill Craig, Derrick Ferguson, and Aaron Smith. 
 

What does it mean to you to "go pro" as a writer? What are the criteria to consider oneself a professional writer?

Aaron Smith: I started to consider myself a pro when I began to have opportunities to make money with my work, even before the money started to arrive. There was a certain moment when my attitude shifted and writing went from being a hobby to being something I took much more seriously. I think the difference is mainly one of attitude.

Derrick Ferguson: I considered myself to be a real professional when I had people seeking me out and offering me money to write for them. I felt like I had turned a corner and had reached a level where people knew my name, had read my work and trusted me enough that they were willing to say; "hey, here's a chunk of change... come write something for me."

Bill Craig: To me it was when I started making money from the things I was writing. That meant I was reaching people and telling the stories that they wanted to read. The fact that people look for my newest book and are willing to pay for them mean I have arrived as a professional writer. As far as number.

How does a writer make the step from amateur to pro?

Bill Craig: You make the step from amateur to professional when you acquire a fan base that searches your work out.

Aaron Smith: When writing becomes an important part of one's life and that writer works hard at it and treats it like a real job, whether he's able to do it full time or it's just a supplement to his day job income, when one acts professionally, takes the job (and all it's other factors, like promotion and editing and submitting) seriously, and, yes, chases opportunities to profit from it, he's made the jump from amateur to pro.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Sean Taylor talks Asian Pulp!

ASIAN PULP Available Now! Find out what Author Sean Taylor's story in the anthology is about and more below!

Sean Taylor is an award-winning writer of stories. He grew up telling lies, and he got pretty good at it, so now he writes them into full-blown adventures for comic books, graphic novels, magazines, book anthologies and novels. He makes stuff up for money, and he writes it down for fun. He’s a lucky fellow that way. He’s best known for his work on the best-selling Gene Simmons Dominatrix comic book series from IDW Publishing and Simmons Comics Group. He has also written comics for TV properties such as the top-rated Oxygen Network series The Bad Girls Club. His other forays into fiction include such realms as steampunk, pulp, young adult, fantasy, super heroes, sci-fi, and even samurai frogs on horseback (seriously, don’t laugh). However, his favorite contribution to the world will be as the writer/editor who invented the genre and coined the term "Hookerpunk." For more information (and mug shots) visit www.taylorverse.com and his writer’s blog at seanhtaylor.blogspot.com.

“’The Face of the Yuan Gui’,” says Taylor of his tale in the collection, “covers the period in the early 70s when Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants fled communism to the United States. Some unscrupulous types took advantage of their situation to turn escaping immigrants into slaves. Pour a young Chinese woman trying to live up to her family legacy into the mix, add a pinch of classic Eastern ghost stories, wrap it up in a clash of old ideals versus new American notions, and there you have it. “

“I love,” continues Taylor, “to delve into and learn about other cultures and nothing affords me that opportunity like writing a new story. As a history minor in college, perhaps my favorite classes were History of the Vietnam War and the History of Modern Japan. I've been obsessed with Eastern culture, particularly that of China and Japan, for as long as I can remember. I know it probably started because of Kung Fu Theatre on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid, later evolving into the films of Akira Kurosawa, but it's still fun to build off those legends and folk tales and play with those themes and characters in a real time and place in history, particularly in modern history, without resorting to the exploitation that usual accompanies such tales. Well, that and I really like to write about swords.”

As to the significance, if any, that collections like ASIAN PULP might have, Taylor states, “I hope it helps readers and reviewers to reevaluate the role and importance of other cultures in modern pulp fiction in ways that far supersede the traditional "yellow menace" or "pale-skinned beauty" that Eastern characters usually got lumped into. It kind of goes without saying that we as people tend to define things by our own surroundings and culture, and if books like Asian Pulp can cause people to take some steps outside that, then I'll be awfully proud to have been some small part of that.”

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

‘ASIAN PULP’ DEBUTS FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In April 2013, Pro Se Productions released ‘Black Pulp’, a collection of stories written in classic pulp genres featuring lead characters of African descent.  Not only were readers captivated by the cast of characters featured in the book, they also saw the potential of future volumes, both of ‘Black Pulp’, and collections featuring other ethnicities in much the same way. Pro Se Productions proudly announces the release of ‘Asian Pulp’, featuring seventeen of today’s best authors, in both print and digital format.

Leonard Chang, novelist and writer and co-producer of the TV crime drama ‘Justified’, states in his introduction to ‘Asian Pulp’, “The world of pulp fiction was a world that I understood—it was a reaction to trauma, both as art and as catharsis. Personal trauma. Emotional trauma. Physical trauma. National trauma. This is why I responded to it, why I immersed myself in it. And why, whenever I was in a personal and artistic crisis, it saved me. Fiction is a reflection of and commentary on life, and I needed to find a reflection of and commentary on my life.

That there weren't any Asian Americans in the pulp I was reading wasn't a problem (or if there were Asians they tended to be dismissible stereotypes) -- no, not a problem at all, but actually an opportunity. I've always viewed writing as providing myself with more reading material. I write what I can't find out there. Why not have a Korean American act as a private eye, and infuse in his character all the traits I wanted to see but haven't? Why not write about Korean American gangsters, criminals, and detectives? And this is where we, as writers, all began moving toward: writing about people we want to see on the page, in lives and stories that speak to us.”

Following in the tradition of the best selling ‘Black Pulp’, from Today's Best Authors and up and coming writers comes ‘Asian Pulp’ from Pro Se Productions! A collection of stories featuring characters of Asian origin or descent in stories that run the gamut of genre fiction!

Asian Pulp’ includes works from Don Lee, Naomi Hirahara, Kimberly Richardson, Percival Constantine, William F. Wu, Gary Phillips, Calvin McMillin, Mark Finn, Dale Furutani, Steph Cha, Henry Chang, Sean Taylor, Gigi Pandian, Louise Herring-Jones, Alan J. Porter, and David C. Smith. The anthology opens with an introduction from Leonard Chang.

“As an author of color who writes genre fiction,” says Gigi Pandian, “I love finding books where there are diverse characters in exciting stories. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved reading mystery and adventure stories, but characters in the types of stories I enjoy rarely reflect my own ethnic heritage or the diversity around me (my father is an immigrant from India, and I grew up in California). When I became a writer, I naturally created characters that were part of my own life experience.  I enjoyed ‘Black Pulp’, so it was an honor to be invited to contribute a story for this new anthology. ‘Black Pulp’ was first and foremost a great collection of fiction--but I also loved how black writers and characters were brought into the spotlight. I hope ‘Asian Pulp’ does the same thing for Asian writers and characters.”

Mysteries, westerns, stories of crime and noir, and more, all with Asian characters in the lead! Between these covers are 17 tales of action, adventure, and thrills featuring heroes and heroines of a different shade that will appeal to audiences everywhere. ‘Asian Pulp’. From Pro Se Productions.

Featuring a fantastic, evocative cover by Adam Shaw and logo design and print formatting by Sean Ali, ‘Asian Pulp’ is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store for 20.00.

This historic collection of authors and tales is also available as an Ebook, designed and formatted by Forrest Bryant and available for only $4.99 for the Kindle and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

To request digital copies for review, to interview authors, or for further information on this title, contact Morgan McKay, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Moonstone Brings Back The Black Bat Prose

Moonstone Books has a new release coming up later this year, The Black Bat Returns. The 270-page prose contains stories of the classic pulp character along with the Green Lama, Golden Amazon and Domino Lady. It includes stories by Ron Fortier, Bobby Nash, Adam L. Garcia, Colin B. Harvey, Sean Taylor, James Palmer, David Boop, David White, and Josh Vogt with a cover by Mike Fyles.

The Black Bat Returns is due out in November 2015.

This one features my team-up tale of the Black Bat and the Golden Amazon!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

[Link] Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language

by Amanda Patterson

Translate emotions into written body language

We are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it's easier said than written. I decided to create these cheat sheets to help you show a character's state of mind. Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, he may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy. Use these combinations as needed.

The Top Five Tips For Using Body Language

  1. Use body language to add depth to dialogue.
  2. Use it because more than 50% of human communication is non-verbal.
  3. Use it to show how your character's emotions affect his or her actions.
  4. Use it to help you show rather than tell your reader everything.
  5. Use it in moderation. If overused, it can slow your story down.

Read the full article: http://writerswrite.co.za/cheat-sheets-translate-emotions-into-written-body-language

Friday, July 3, 2015

Childhood Inspirations

We all know the axiom that "Writers read," but does that mean they were always avid readers? Let's find out, shall we...

When you were a child, were you an avid reader? Why or why not?

Aaron Smith: I read constantly as a child, mostly because I wasn't the type who fit in well with other kids. I was never really a reader of children's books, except when I was very young. I graduated pretty early to reading classic science fiction (Asimov, Heinlein, Dick, Bradbury), the original Sherlock Holmes stories, and the books my father threw out when he was done with them(he saw paperbacks as disposable, while I most certainly did not! So I rescued them), which included Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and the James Bond novels of John Gardner (I caught up on Fleming later). I still enjoy the adult books I read as a child and often go back and reread the Holmes and Bond stories. Yes, I absolutely think it's important for those who grow up to be writers to have read as children. I don't think I'm aware of any of the writers I know not having been avid readers as children. Semi-related to the subject, one thing I don't quite understand is the current subdivisions of books into "children's books," "Young adult," "adult," etc. When I was growing up, there were books for kids and then we graduated to adult literature when we were ready. I don't remember all these phases being so noticeably differentiated back then. But if labeling books in such a way helps writers to sell them and readers to find them, I guess it's ok.

Mandi M. Lynch: Absolutely all the time. Sending me to my room was not a punishment because my books were there. Also, the library was a quarter mile from my house. I was allowed to walk there. Alone by age 10 or 11, with friends possibly sooner.
 
Ray Dean: I was always a big reader... books were exciting and offered me glimpses of other places and other times. But I really jumped in when my classmates started to tease me because I stuttered. Talking with them was a chore and so I spent more time reading.

Rose Streif: I was very much an avid reader.  So much so that my family (who in fact encouraged it) found it strange.  They would be in the other room playing cards and I would be in my room with my nose in a book.  I couldn't help it, for I was a slightly introverted and imaginative child, and books were heaven to me.  My older sister jump-started me into reading for myself (and reading more complex literature) when I was five: she was reading Black Beauty to me at bedtime, and when she came to the last chapter, she put it down and told me I had to finish it on my own.  Evil, but effective.

Stephanie Osborn: Absolutely. I was such an avid reader that my mom used to punish me for ignoring her when she'd tell me to do something. I eventually managed to convince her that I simply never heard her and she was going to have to ascertain that she got my attention, met her eyes, and that my eyes had a conscious, focused gaze on her, before she told me to do something. Otherwise, I was in some other world and never knew she said anything. Given I also had some somnolent activities at the time, that made sense to her, and we never had another problem with it.

Bobby Nash: I don’t know if avid is the right word or not, but I did read, both books and comics. My parents weren’t overly happy about my reading comics and tried to discourage it as often as possible. That  made me want to read even more comics, of course.

H. David Blalock: I was an avid reader of biographies and histories. I was enchanted with the past more than the future because I grew up during the height of the Cold War and there didn't seem to be much to look forward to at the time.

Angelia Sparrow: I was wild about books from the day I realized the marks were the story. I read voraciously. I loved Thornton W Burgess' animal books and Nancy Drew in early grade school and Edgar Rice Burroughs and JRR Tolkien in later grade school. By Jr High, I had discovered Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison and Tanith Lee and Julian May in high school. I still enjoy some of it. Burgess holds up well. Brian Daley's Han Solo trilogy is still quite good. I think you can't write unless you read. You have to be immersed in words to fall in love with them.

Robert Krog: I was an avid reader as a child. I grew up in a house full of books and readers. I was read to quite a bit when I was young. My mother, my father, and my older siblings (sometimes) all read to me until I was old enough to read on my own. I read voraciously. I read in classes with my novels hidden in my textbooks. I read at home when I should have been doing homework or chores. I read late into the night. I wish I had that much time to read now.

Selah Janel: Always. My mother worked hard to instill a love of story in me from the very beginning. She read to me all the time, and when Reading Rainbow began airing she made it a point for us to visit the library every week and look for every title mentioned on the show. I think between myself and my younger sibling, I’ve probably read a good 75% of the titles mentioned on the show and probably 85-90 percent of the books featured on the show. Most of the time when the flyers for Scholastic and other book clubs came out at school I was allowed to buy at least one book, and Mom used it as a way for us to discuss about things I was interested in and might like to read. I still remember the first book I was ever allowed to check out – There’s a Nightmare in my Closet. Summers were spent living at the library, doing the summer programs, selecting stacks of titles to take on vacation, etc. When I lived in Illinois, the library was actually built into the bottom floor of a house and the librarian lived above it. I was so jealous of that, it was such a homey, magical place. I even accidentally got locked in that building over her lunchtime because I was in the back room reading quietly and not paying attention to the time. As a grew older, My parents used things like the Peanuts comic collections as bribery for me doing my homework, and the Star Wars EU became bribe material when I was a teen and hung out at a fancier library in Indiana. It was always an important part of my upbringing – I was expected to read. We may not always agree with what I liked to read, but I was expected to take an interest in books, and that interest soon developed into an all-encompassing love.

Lee Houston Jr.: I'm still an avid reader. My parents read to me when I was a child. To this day, I can still recite passages from Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Seuss.

Being able to read is an important life skill, regardless of what professional career you eventually choose as an adult. But having a love for literature, which in turn nurtures avid reading; fosters curiosity, the imagination, an eagerness to learn, and a love of live itself.

Erwin K. Roberts: With my family reading tons of stuff to me, most definitely. My family was also a late adopter of TV, first set when I was in the Second Grade. I read lots books and comics. As my reading skills developed I read more advanced material. I went thru just about every science-fiction title available in the children's section of the Kirkwood, Missouri, Public Library and more when available from the St. Louis County Bookmobiles.

Jeff Hewitt: I was a voracious reader as a child. My parents and older sister were, too. There was a TON of reading in my house growing up.

Armand Rosamilia: I was an avid reader. I was punished and had to spend my time in my parent's room to keep me away from my brother so we didn't kill each other.

Chris Kohler: I read all the time as a child, as I had a lot of time on my hands and it kept me from being bored. I enjoyed stuff by Beverly Cleary, Ruth Chew, and Judy Blume (as well as books on geography and dinosaurs) until about age 11 or 12, then I started reading stuff like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and I really enjoyed Frederic Brown. I discovered Piers Anthony around age 14 and devoured those for a couple of years, then started getting into Stephen King and L. Ron Hubbard (the Mission Earth books were sort of dope).

Then in college, my recreational reading was Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, Card, Clarke, Harrison, and I'm still working on the rest of them. I haven't really revisited books as I read as a kid (although I re-read some of them several times back then).

I'm not a writer, I'm a comic artist/cartoonist. So much of my reading these days is art books, because I want to be inspired and steal their tricks. wink emoticon I would think that prospective writers should be reading all the time for similar reasons.

Kathleen Bradean: I was an avid reader from the moment I learned to read. (4 years old, for the record) I remember the moment it clicked. I was afraid to go to sleep that night because I thought I might forget how. I read everything I could get my hands on. I took my elder sisters' readers and devoured them. Then I read my parent's novels. My third grade teacher put me into detention when I saw James Mitchner's Hawaii on her desk and said "Oh, I read that!" so my mother came down to the school and gave her hell for calling me a liar.

What series or authors did you most enjoy as a child?

Mandi M. Lynch: All of them. Goosebumps, Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High (didn't like em as much but I read em all), the Jenny Archer series, the Mandie series... Roald Dahl. Matilda is still my favorite book; I have easily read it 200 times.

Ray Dean: Alcott was my gateway drug... Little Women was the first book I stayed up all night to read. Under my covers, flashlight, the whole bit. I don't think I fooled my great-grandparents who I was staying with that summer. They always encouraged me to read and do well in school.  I read her whole series of books and went on to Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, Little House, Boxcar Children, whatever I could get my hands on. It's no wonder I hung out in the library all the time and the school staff that I still talk to were all librarians or archivists.

Rose Streif: I skipped most children's literature when I was a child, because it simply wasn't immersive enough.  Books of that sort did indeed exist, but they were not in our home library.  I read a few of the classics, and then started on Stephen King around the age of nine or ten.  But the "Wham!" moment happened at age eleven, when (at the suggestions of my sister, brother, and father, respectively) I read the trifecta of Watership Down, Johnny Got His Gun, and Animal Farm.  My reading and inner life were never the same after that, and I began writing shortly thereafter and drifting towards fantasy and science fiction.

Stephanie Osborn: My gosh, too many to count, I think. Surprisingly enough, many of the series I read had nothing to do with SF: the Little House books, the Anne of Green Gables books, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden (and later Tom Swift, which WAS sort of SF), Sherlock Holmes (eventually; I was given Hound of the Baskervilles before I was old enough to deal with the frightening aspects, and that sort of set me back a bit). Film and TV were what first brought me to SF. Then I discovered the Star Trek novelizations in there someplace, but before that I'd discovered the likes of Asimov, Bradbury, a bit of Heinlein, some del Ray, Madeline L'Engle, and more.

But I also did things like sitting down to read a volume of the encyclopedia, cover to cover. I read the dictionary and Mom's etiquette handbook. Anything I could find to read, and from which to learn, I read.

Bobby Nash: In the school library I discovered Encyclopedia Brown then later moved on to reading my Mom’s Reader’s Digests looking for stories. The only one there that stands out in my memory is called The Snowbound Six. I really should look that one up and give it a re-read. After Star Wars, I read Han Solo’s Revenge, which I really enjoyed. From there it was Conan, The Avenger, comics in paperback form, and whatever other paperbacks I could get my hands on. Eventually I discovered Bova, Bradbury, and Asimov.

H. David Blalock: I discovered the works of Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury as a pre-teen and found out there were those who had a better view of the future than the average person. I followed them and the writings of people like Norton, Vance, Van Vogt, Hamilton, Clement, etc. until I stumbled on the writings of Bierce, Machen, Lovecraft, Howard, Ashton Smith and Derleth. My horizons expanded from the past to the future and beyond. There were no series to speak of unless you want to infer that voraciously consuming the works of these writers constitutes a serial involvement with their work.

Robert Krog: I read my Children's Bible, Fly Away at the Airshow, The Little Red Tugboat, Where the Wild Things Are, and a lot of other young children's books early on. Later, I read dictionaries, most of The World Book Encyclopedia, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Secret Door, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Dragon Lance Chronicles, The Pern novels, The Dark Angel Trilogy, A Wizard of Earthsea, The Mysterious Island, The Myth books by Robert Asprin, The High Crusade, The Once and Future King, various collections of Fairy Tales, some Hardy Boys, The Hitchhiker's Guide, and a few novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, such as Pirates of Venus, and Tarzan. At the time, I enjoyed everything I could get my hands on. I was not particularly discriminating.

I read everything I was supposed to read during high school, such as David Copperfield, works by Kipling, etc. I really enjoyed Les Miserable. It and the Lord of the Rings are two I go back to from time to time. They are probably my favorites, though by the time I read Les Miserable, I wasn't really a child anymore. I read the Lord of the Rings in third grade and fourth, as I recall.

Selah Janel: As a little kid I loved nursery rhymes, fairy tales, Beatrix Potter, Nancy Carlson, Stephen Kellog, Tomy dePaola. My reading skills were brushed up on this huge series of picture books my grandparents had – all I remember is they were brightly colored and featured characters like Sam and Jan and the like, and they all had pets, and they liked jam and candy and ham sandwiches a lot. They were really fun, and I read them all a million times, along with things like The Berenstein Bears, Clifford, The Little Witch, etc. As I grew a little bit, I was introduced to Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, The Babysitters Club, American Girl books, James Howe, Chronicles of Narnia etc. As a preteen I loved My Teacher is an Alien, Stories from Wayside School, and I secretly read urban legends and the RL Stine titles that were just becoming popular. I’m sure I read a lot of movie novelizations, too, because that was pretty popular in the eighties, as well.

I loved the Reading Rainbow books – The Rain on Kapiti Plain is still one of the most gorgeous things in the world to me and I can still sing you the songs from Abioyo and Mama Don’t Allow. I always asked about the books that were turned into animated specials on CBS and ABC Saturday morning shows. It still saddens me that there are a LOT of books that were read to me by teachers or I devoured as a middle school kid that I just don’t remember the title to, things that were deliciously weird and surely influenced me, but I couldn’t tell you what they are for the life of me.  It was interesting, because even as a teen, I had a much younger sibling so I would read what she was reading because I could get through those books quickly and they were a much-needed break from heavy school reading. Through her I read most of Roald Dahl’s titles, The Bailey School Kids, and things like Ella Enchanted. It was a two-way street, too. From me she started reading Harry Potter and a lot of my books were handed down to her.

Lee Houston Jr.: About the only books I remember from true childhood (before starting school) are Doctor Seuss and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. As I got older and my reading skills and comprehension developed, I discovered comic books. Then in fifth grade, there was a copy of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs in my elementary school library. By the end of that book, there was no turning back. I couldn't stop reading if my life depended on it.

Erwin K. Roberts: Dr. Dolittle was first read to me, then I read more on my own. The library had most of Walter Brooks' (creator of Mr. Ed) Freddy the Pig series which often contained satire of more adult subjects. I never had a chance to discover Edgar Rice Burroughs until the paperback boom. Apparently both libraries I partonized had an unspoken ban on his work. Otis A. Kline did not have such a reputation as ERB. So I discovered the sword & planet genre via his works. I read the Tom Swift JR books and collected them for a few years. Then I got some Tom Senior books and found them much better written. I still have a few of the G&D Lone Ranger novels. My favorite Juvenile series, so-called, was the Rick Brant - Science Adventures. I collected comics all the while. I've been in and out of comics fandom since about 1962.

Jeff Hewitt: Writers MUST read, MUST. It would be like wanting to be a swimmer who refuses to swim laps, or even look at the water until they're in. You read to understand what works, to see how other authors address the difficult nature of writing, to see what doesn't work, and why. In the past, composers copied the works of great masters by hand. In doing so, they were able to see how a symphony or opera fit together, by looking at the individual pieces and fitting them together.

Armand Rosamilia: Dean Koontz was the first author I loved to read. Before that was Hardy Boys books.

Kathleen Bradean: My real first love was mystery novels like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. Then I moved on to Agatha Christie and the rest of the adult library offerings in mysteries. After I'd read everything they had, I picked up Dune and became a science fiction fan. I also loved Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexander Dumas and most of all Jules Vernes - stuff that was for all audiences when written but are considered YA now.

Do you still find that you enjoy children's fiction? Do you still enjoy the works you enjoyed as a child? Why or why not?

Mandi M. Lynch: I still read Matilda. And mid grades and YA. And I nanny a 18-month-old so I read picture books a lot. There are some fabulous books out there like the Llama Llama series and Bug Patrol by Denise Dowling Mortensen.

Ray Dean: Yes! Sometimes it is better than I remember... and sometimes I read it and say. I don't remember that... and wonder if I didn't see it or if I'm just beginning to understand it. Perspective changes as well. Like Jo and the Professor in Little Women. I couldn't believe that Jo didn't marry Laurie! I was bereft and sad for her back then. Reading it as an adult, I understood... boy, did I understand!

Rose Streif: Because I didn't read much children's literature as a child, I still don't. This makes my reading tastes seem incredibly pretentious, when it was really a case of early conditioning.  I'll probably get pilloried for this, but I could never make it through the first Harry Potter book, even though I enjoyed all the films.  Having said that, I still adore all the books I read as a child, because most were meant for adults.  Johnny Got His Gun I've never been able to pick up again, because of the difficult subject matter, but it's an incredible novel and I've never forgotten it.

Stephanie Osborn: I think it depends on the particular fiction. Yes, there are some of those I still read. I'm especially still fond of the Anne of Green Gables books. Since that series covered Anne's entire life, then the lives of her children, I discovered decades ago that there was something in there for me, regardless of age.

I recently got my hands on used books of a complete series of which i'd found a few books in my uncle's childhood collection, and had been fascinated with. It was about a jungle boy and was obviously a riff on the Tarzan books. Well, I got the whole series to read to find out what happened...and was rather shocked to discover how derivative, formulaic, and downright racist they were. It was classic pulp, even to the point of using multiple writers under the same pen name to create the books -- but you could still see the somewhat different styles. I found out what happened to the kid, but then I put 'em away and haven't opened 'em again because the cachet was gone -- the older, wiser, more knowledgeable me just wasn't interested.

Bobby Nash: Sometimes I do enjoy reading books where I may no longer be the target audience. There are some amazing young adult and teen titles out there. Part of me is kind of envious as there wasn’t really a line dedicated to teens when I was that age.

H. David Blalock: I no longer consciously read children's fiction, although I do still enjoy the books I read as a child. Some might say I never really read children's books (if you discount the biographies).

Robert Krog: I enjoy of some and some I do not. I read a lot to my own children and I find that some of the things that pass for children's literature is pure drivel, and others are simple, good stuff. I love rereading Where the Wild Things Are. I can recite it by heart. It isn't long. smile emoticon I also really like rereading The Clown of God by Tomie Depaola. I loved it as a child, though I didn't really understand it, and rediscovered it years later. The first time I read it as an adult, it brought tears to the eyes of myself and my wife.

Some works though, don't stand up to adult scrutiny. In books written for teenagers, the typos stand out, as do the one-dimensional characters, the wooden dialogue, and the poorly developed plots. A lot that is written for teenagers is an insult to their intelligence and helps to dumb them down and wither their interest in reading. I won't name names. Some is all adrenaline, fluff, and poor on plot, theme, character, etc. It's good, maybe, for catching the attention of someone who might not otherwise be a reader, but it isn't what classics are made of. I do have some fond memories of books I simply won't ever read again.

There is an elegance in children's stories sometimes, in stories for little children, a straight forward, unassuming simplicity that is more touching, at times, and more meaningful, at times, than anything that can be found in works written for adults.

Selah Janel: I love children’s fiction. I think it still has a lot to say, because it really gets to the core of issues and feelings. Plus, there’s a comfort factor there, whether it’s a title from my own childhood or something different. If I’m really out of sorts I’ll still check out a BSC or American Girl title, and I’ve read my copy of Heidi forty thousand times. I’ve gone through two collections of Beatrix Potter and all my Little House books have been read to pieces.  A few years ago I went through the books a lot of Disney cartoons were based on (not movie novelizations), and my mind was blown. I also just finished the Bunnicula series, because by time James Howe finished it, I was definitely an adult. I still enjoy most of the titles I loved as a kid, because I’m still, essentially, the same person. There are some titles that have made me cringe to go back to. There are some things nostalgia just can’t blind you to once you grow up. For the most part, though, it’s always a fun trip back in time. If a book is truly well-written, it doesn’t matter what age it’s meant for or what age you read it at. It’s going to give something to you and make you feel something. I’ve gotten more from Heidi and Laura Ingalls as an adult than I ever did as a child, and reading the Reading Rainbow books now makes me really appreciate how beautiful those stories are, as well as how hard it is to express some of those plots and feelings so succinctly. They give me memories from my childhood, little time capsules of moments that I might not recall on my own.

Lee Houston Jr.: The ones from childhood I still remember, yes. Being older and single, I don't really pick up children's literature unless it's in regards to my nieces and nephews. I have read and enjoyed the entire Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Got involved with that because my sister wanted an opinion on whether or not the books were “safe” for her kids, and finished the series on my own via the public library.

Erwin K. Roberts: There have been any number of books I read to my kids that I've enjoyed, but would not read for myself. However, I still can get a charge out of both Carl Barks & Don Rosa's duck epics. (My kids and I watched the Duck Tales show together. My adult daughter has the DVD's and is looking forward to the new episodes on the way.)

I have not read a Tom Swift Jr book in about forty-five years. But I pull the Rick Brant books out, now and then and truly enjoy them. That speaks strongly to the skills of the main author Hal Goodwin, an island hopping Marine journalist in WW2. He'd usually been where his stories played out. (Anyone remember Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet? That's his work, too.) I also belong to the Rick Brant Yahoo group.

The kids books & comics I still like never talked down to the reader. That's also the reason I can enjoy most of Pixar's films, kids, or no kids. Not to mention the Muppets.

Anybody else remember when Gladstone began publishing Disney comics in the 1980's? They said, in add ition to reprinting good U.S. material, they were bringing in stories published all over the world, with one exception. In the United Kingdom, they said, the local publishers enforced a directive that since no one over ten years old would dream of reading their original stories, absolutely nothing of interest to those over ten would be allowed in their Disney comics. Having downloaded and read a few UK Disney comics, I can tell you that the Suits got their way.

Armand Rosamilia: I rarely read children's fiction. I definitely don't write it.

Kathleen Bradean: I didn't like preachy stuff that was written to be "good" for kids, but I loved well-written YA stuff then and now. I go back to novels I loved as a kid. Some I still like. I didn't like Sherlock Holmes until I read A Scandal in Bohemia. That was the first time I'd ever read a female character who wasn't a good mommy, and I was smitten! Irene Adler still heavily influences the female characters I write. However since I can't view a parallel life where I wasn't a heavy reader as a child, I have no idea if that made me a better writer or not.


Based on your reading history, how important is it for future storytellers to be readers during their childhood?

Mandi M. Lynch: An absolute necessity. We need to start kids on a love of books and reading for reading sake as early as possible. Quit with reading only being over-analytical why is the chair blue type shit. Actually encourage enjoyment. If you're 10 and want to read Asimov or 50 and want to read Harry Potter, then do it. Too many people don't touch books after school. Too many people lack imagination.

Ray Dean:
Literacy is huge! I joke about children's books as gateway drugs, but I guess I'm more serious about it than I want to admit. The books I read showed me it could be done. That you can take a bunch of letters and characters and create worlds!


Rose Streif: I cannot stress how important it is.  And I may get pilloried for this as well, but I believe in a Garbage In, Garbage Out principle: if you read nothing but garbage, you will write nothing but garbage.  And those habits can start early.  Everyone progresses along different lines and may even have barriers to overcome, but you must challenge yourself, or accept challenges.  And that doesn't end with childhood.

Stephanie Osborn: Reading is essential for a writer, at any age. Optimally, I think, the young writer-to-be should be an omnivorous reader; this is when we pick up our foundation of literature. It's when we have TIME to read, ENERGY to read, and it is the best chance we have of absorbing lots of "good stuff" to work into our own writing later, as adults. I've tried to play catch-up on adding some classic literature to my mental library, things that I didn't have access to as a child, and it's much harder now, because I have to make time for it. I simply DID it as a child. But I still read nevertheless, because I get fresh ideas by doing so. I'm exposed to different styles, different ways of utilizing a point of view, and more. And I'm inspired to try 'em out in my own writing, sometimes to good effect.

Bobby Nash: I don’t know if you have to be an avid reader as a child to be an effective storyteller later. Obviously, it helps to be a reader because you’re exposed to a diverse set of storytelling methods and styles, but there’s more to being a writer than being a reader. That said, I like to think my reading choices as a kid helped ignite my interest in mysteries and adventures, which informs much of my writing.

H. David Blalock: Reading is critical to the intellectual development of children. Without it, the imagination is stunted, crippled. In an environment that does more to indoctrinate than educate, learning to read is essential to critical thinking. If you cannot read, you cannot form your own informed opinions of things. Then again, if all you read are books on the best-seller lists, you restrict yourself to the same formula over and over. Children's minds need to be stretched, challenged, encouraged to break boundaries of ideas and concepts. Young minds are the future, and the future must not be limited by the past.

Robert Krog: I'm not saying that it's essential. I've known a few authors whose work is good who have confessed that they read less than was required as children and didn't start reading for pleasure until they were adults. That being said, it can't hurt, and it surely can help. The adults who finally picked up books and found a new love are few and far between, and those whose interest in reading died aborning are as common as flies. Everyone I know who enjoys reading now but didn't as a child wishes that he had read as a child. They think they missed out on something, and they surely did. In some ways though, they get to have a second childhood, so God bless them and their newfound love of books.

Selah Janel: You can’t perform a craft unless you’re experiencing it, and the best way for a true storyteller to learn is from the very beginning. Children’s stories are really good ways to get the very basic mechanics of story: plot development, characters you can relate to, building of tension, etc. They also have a way of connecting with young readers, infusing them with that soul that not all adult titles are really capable of delivering. There needs to be some foundation, some appreciation of story and the written word if a child wants to grow up to write and tell stories of their own, or else they’re probably approaching it for all the wrong reasons. Think of how many childhood memories come from stories: the books you were read at bedtime, the weird things that supposedly happened to a friend’s friend that you were told on the playground, the memories and family legends that your parents and grandparents recalled around a dinner table. Stories of all sorts are important to children because they give them a foundation for the world and their lives, something to hang onto when things get tough or if they need a reference for the way they’re feeling.

Lee Houston Jr.: I feel it is very important. While many claim writing is a teachable subject, in the end you only learn the basics (like subject, noun, verb) and must develop the skills and passion to write on your own. One can learn not only what makes good writing from the books they enjoy, but what creates bad writing from the ones they didn't like.

Erwin K. Roberts: I wanted to be a writer, early on. For comics, not prose. I read bunches of both comics and books. As soon as I had an opportunity, for a reasonable price, I bought a copy of Stan Lee's Secrets Behind the Comics, written the year I was born.

Today I do not think it is as important to just be reading huge numbers of books. Reading books is still very important, but with the various new formats  and delivery systems for entertainment other things have become important, too. Those that think they want to write for non-traditional print and other media should also be looking under the hood of the media they enjoy and want to target.

Jeff Hewitt: By reading, we get a look at the building blocks of effective story telling, and that, in turn, should help us in our practice, art, and love.

Armand Rosamilia: It is so important to be an avid reader as a kid and read everything you can get your hands on you have even a passing interest in. I read mostly nonfiction books now to keep learning, and for future stories.

Kathleen Bradean: Some I don't like as much. But that doesn't change the impact they had on me. Did that influence me as a writer? Maybe.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

[Link] Are You Reading The Wrong Books? What Science Is Saying About Fiction Readers

by Will S.

For most, the love of books starts in childhood. For others, this love blooms later, eventually revealing the vibrant colors of a true bibliophile! But science has started looking into the effects of reading on the brain. They’ve done experiments, ran MRIs, polled, and surveyed, all to what end? Studies have been released in the past several years that have given scientists some interesting data about fiction readers and what type of fiction they should read!

What has science concluded? Studies are showing that readers of fiction are more empathetic towards others. By engaging with a story, readers are temporarily placing themselves in a character’s shoes, therefore, the more stories you read, the more shoes you’ve tried on. It’s a fascinating insight into the world of reading.

Read the full article: http://blog.theliteracysite.com/fiction-readers/#F4bzk7udmaHUPPdC.99

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Nugget #57 -- Mixing Fiction

Mixing the "high ideals" of literary fiction, with 
its focus on characterization, meaningful symbolism, 
and grand themes, and putting those ideals into the 
"common writing" of adventure fiction, likewise, really 
gets me motivated. There's nothing in the rule book 
that says a genre writer should write poorly 
or ignore the history of classic fiction.