There’s this writerly meme going around. The rules: to share five facts about the main character from my current work-in-progress. I got tapped for this on Facebook, by the amazing Ally Malinenko, author of one of my favorite stories ever in Jersey Devil Press. Ally has a book coming out (very!) soon, the beautiful-sounding ThisContinue reading “5 character facts: the “special features” part of Hagridden”
Category Archives: writing
New publication — it’s an article!
I talk a lot about place in fiction: setting, a sense of home, checking your maps…. Mostly in my classrooms, bit also online here is the blog, in writers forums, or in casual Facebook chats. Now I’ve written an article about the interplay of place and character in fiction. It’s part craft, part Francine Prose-likeContinue reading “New publication — it’s an article!”
A sneak preview of Hagridden
Apologies to people following me on Twitter or on my Facebook page, for whom this is repeated news. But my advance review copies of Hagridden came in the mail today. Please excuse me while I do a happy dance. It’s still the rough copy — it doesn’t yet have cover art, the blurbs are all stillContinue reading “A sneak preview of Hagridden“
People die around the Jersey Devil — but at least there’s an afterlife
The June issue of Jersey Devil Press is live. And full of death. Seriously. Everything from sweet old ladies in hospice care to suicides and, ultimately, nuclear destruction. For our own good, of course. But don’t worry! You can still get cell phone reception in Heaven. Okay, so the news out of JDP looks a littleContinue reading “People die around the Jersey Devil — but at least there’s an afterlife”
On making a book trailer
I wanted a book trailer for Hagridden. I don’t know what good they do, really, and I might not have really worried about it at all, but just about the time my publisher and I were going over the initial proof of my novel, I saw the trailer for Leesa Cross-Smith’s Every Kiss a War.Continue reading “On making a book trailer”
Reading from Hagridden at Lit Demon
A while back, I announced that I’ll be doing an online reading from Hagridden. That’s online, as in streaming video, live on your computer while you trim your fingernails and pick your nose (don’t worry — you can see me, but I can’t see you). This all goes down on Thursday, June 5, from 6-7 pmContinue reading “Reading from Hagridden at Lit Demon”
HAGRIDDEN is all over the interwebs and all over the nation
So, gang, it’s official: Hagridden is coming out August 19. To celebrate, Columbus Press has launched both a website for the novel and a page on their own publisher website, and I’m now officially announcing the release party, to take place at the public library in my own hometown back in Boerne, Texas. Come findContinue reading “HAGRIDDEN is all over the interwebs and all over the nation”
My favorite writers (who happen to be women)
A few days ago, author Mary Miller published a piece in Vol. 1 Brooklyn called “My Problem with VIDA: A Report from the Field.” In it, Miller expresses how “uncomfortable” she is with the gender statistics that the VIDA Report gathers and distributes — or rather, with the way in which such statistics gender our considerationContinue reading “My favorite writers (who happen to be women)”
The jobs we work
The jobs we do become the stories we write. That old axiom, “Write what you know,” might as well be “Write what you’ve done.” I’ve been thinking about that as I work on an essay about setting in fiction, because part of that essay talks about how the places I’ve worked become places in myContinue reading “The jobs we work”
The Jersey Devil is afraid of nothing!
The May issue of Jersey Devil Press is out, and it’s a pretty scary one. But that’s mostly because the whole issue deals in fear — phobias, to be specific. Arachnophobia, which I think we can all identify with. Unless you’re Gwen Stacy. And thanatophobia, for those of you not yet ready to quit thisContinue reading “The Jersey Devil is afraid of nothing!”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 