Kevin Singer's Blog, page 4
April 24, 2023
Trope or Choke: Episode 4
The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less following these guidelines: Setting: In a sleazy casino Genres: Noir + Paranormal romance Trope: First alien contact Characters: A space wizard + King Arthur POV/tense: 2nd person/future tense The result: Merlin’s Delight You’ll incarnate savagely, a murderous pain as your spirit merges with another […]
April 13, 2023
Trope or Choke: Episode 3
The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less sticking to these guidelines… Genre: Comedy + Historical Setting: On Gilligan’s Island Trope: Possessed by demons Characters: A star ballerina + a wise old person POV/tense: 2nd person/past tense The result: The Minnow Would Be Lost The way you settled the Exorcist experiment. A […]
April 4, 2023
Trope or Choke: Episode 2
The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less sticking to these guidelines… Setting: An asteroid Genre: Fantasy + Fable Trope: A nasty surprise 2 Characters: A dumb jock and Dracula POV/tense: 3rd person/future tense The result: The Lady in the Rock Not the frog, nor the witch, nor the ball catcher can […]
March 27, 2023
Trope or Choke: Episode 1
The challenge: write a complete story in 500 words or less following these guidelines… Setting: On a train Genre: Sci-fi + Military Trope: Blown cover Two characters: A dumb blonde and a mad scientist POV/tense: 1st person/past tense The result: The Screams of the Acolytes The bards would sing of Asmodeus, the golden capital of […]
January 4, 2023
San Luis Rey by the Hudson
On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travellers into the gulf below. I don’t do good with unexpected freedom. It was a Thursday. I should have been working but a bottleneck ruined my plans. I couldn’t stay idle in my house because my mind would […]
July 13, 2022
The Dirty Little Secret of The Black Phone
The thing I love about speculative fiction (horror, sci-fi, contemporary fantasy) is those stories aren’t just about monsters or spaceships or time travel. They serve as broad canvases to explore different facets of humanity. Dragons and Ice Zombies in Game of Thrones are window dressing for a story about the lust for power. The task […]
June 10, 2022
Rambling on: Tlaloc
Here’s to the bloody gods, the demanding gods, the gods that were forgotten only to be resurrected. One of these: Tlaloc. Reading Juan Villoro’s book Horizontal Vertigo, his ode to his hometown of Mexico City, he recounts the tale of the statue of the Aztec deity called Tlaloc. The statue, which sits in the city’s […]
May 3, 2022
Rambling on: Malgre Tout
I’ve never been to Mexico City. A night in Juarez over the border from El Paso (I remember a scorpion climbing the wall of the bedroom) was the closest I got. I want to go. Someday. Soon, maybe. A friend of mine who’s been to Mexico City loaned me a book, Horizontal Vertigo, a translation […]
April 10, 2022
The Top Hundred Books to Read
Every so often some version of this list bubbles up into my consciousness. Mostly it’s when I guiltily remind myself I’m way behind on my reading (my bookshelves can attest to that). So I did a web search and pulled up a bunch of these lists of the top hundred books you should read. The […]
March 29, 2022
Wait…Gendercide Is a Thing?
I like to consider myself a fan of all things speculative–horror and supernatural and sci-fi books, movies, TV shows, etc., and I believe I know a ton about these genres. Apparently I don’t. The other day I was rabbit holing into the latest of a long line of literary controversies (I won’t go into it […]
