Tyler Miller's Blog: The Black Cat Moan, page 3
June 11, 2016
7 Memoirs to Give Your Son As He Heads Into the World
The memoir is a unique genre of literature. Unlike its brother, the biography, it relies more heavily upon reflection than fact. And while biographies are most successful when they relate the adventures of truly epic lives, memoirs can be powerful even when they record the existence of the most humdrum individuals.
All of us need a little inspiration, especially as we leave home and, as Huck said, light out for the territory. Memoirs are strong guides, if not for the specific life we want to...
June 4, 2016
The Beginning, The Middle, and the Twist: Writing Lessons from RL Stine
RL Stine is often acknowledged as the 90’s horrormeister for children, but he is rarely given much credit as a competent and (yes) talented writer. Stine himself often derides his work with humble criticisms, claiming that he is a hard-working wordsmith with little literary talent.
Say what you want about the quality of Stine’s prose. It is, I’ll argue, better than the critics give it credit for. Regardless, Stine is in a rare boat: author of two wildly successful series (Fear Street, aimed a...
May 21, 2016
The Many Covers of John D. MacDonald
Recent years have seen the re-release of a vast number of novels by the great (and currently under-appreciated) John D. MacDonald. Most of these have been from MacDonald’s oft heralded Travis McGee series.
Manyof the new McGee covers are excellent. Sharp photography, compelling images, great use of color and mood. They certainly catch the eye, and if there is a God in His Heaven, they’ll re-introduce McGee and MacDonald to a wide new readership.
But, good as these new editions are, it would...
May 15, 2016
The King of Television: Stephen King on the Small Screen
In a co-appearance event in 2012 the novelist Tom Perrotta said that Stephen King was the one author in America that everyone–readers and non-readers alike–had heard of. Regardless of how you felt about King or his work, you knew his name and you knew his works.
Few critics anymore dismiss King’s output, which has been prodigious and profound. And more than one commentator has acknowledged that King’s rise as America’s Favorite Boogeyman on the page coincided with a rise as America’s Favorite...
April 9, 2016
Oh the Horror! 10 Cloverfield Lane, It Follows and The Resurgence of Horror Film
Is horror finally making a comeback?
Horror film has always had a bit of a spotty record. Known more for cheap slasher flicks that appeal to a narrow but aggressively devoted audience, the genre has struggled to produce outright masterpieces. Earlier eras saw ebbs and flows, giving us the consistently brilliant John Carpenter and the creative but uneven Wes Craven, as well as artists who seemed to do their best work in the boundaries where horror overlapped into science fiction or fantasy (Ja...
April 8, 2016
Bradbury Essay Takes Runner-Up in International Essay Competition
Thresholds, home of the international short story forum, has announced that my essay“The Radical Horror and Loneliness ofThe Martian Chronicles” has taken runner-up in the Thresholds International Short Fiction Feature Writing Competition!
The judges noted that the essay was:“A lucid and fresh discussion of the groundbreaking work of Ray Bradbury. It’s reminder of a story’s metaphorical force was, in itself, powerful”.
The essay will be published in its entirety at Thresholdson Monday, April...
March 23, 2016
Backstabbing, Shagging and Petty Hate: The Casual Vacancy on HBO
Watching the HBO adaptation of JK Rowlings fabulous novelThe Casual Vacancyis a very particular kind of pleasure. There is a wincing kind of beauty in the attempt to accurately and honestly portray the most odious and despicable of human behaviors. You want to look away, but only because the arrow lands too close to home.
Rowling’s novel received a lukewarm reception in 2012, both heavily praised in certain quarters and decried in others. Too bleak. Too unrelenting. Too dark. There is a great...
March 14, 2016
Story of the Week: “Til Death Do Us” Selected By Horror Novel Reviews
HorrorNovelReviews.com has selected “Til Death Do Us” from my collectionThe Other Side of the Door: Dark Storiesas their Story of the Week for March 14 through March 18.
You can read the entire story here: Til Death Do Us.
Opening Lines:
The box arrived Thursday morning without any kind of label. It was small and plain, and Kenny Perkins left it on the edge of his desk until just before noon. When he finally opened it—he heard a wispy scratching from inside the box as he did—he discovered his...
February 28, 2016
Hemingway’s Library: The Books Papa Bought and Read
Inevitably, every writer is eventually asked what they like to read. Who are the favorite authors? The most beloved books? What would they suggest other writers read?
It’s a fine opportunity to lie.
Having spent a fair amount of my life around writers and English majors, I can attest to the desire to want to appear learned, erudite, and well-read. There’s something particularly appealing (to English majors anyway) to admitting that yes, you readWar and Peace. Every word. Even the sections in...
February 7, 2016
The Uncanny Shirley Jackson
Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the writingof Shirley Jackson, whose most famous works–the short storyThe Lottery and the novelThe Haunting of Hill House–are well-known classics. Jackson wrote primarily in the short form, publishing stories, tales, essays and reviews in the magazines of her day. Some of these stories found their way into her debut collection,The Lottery and Other Stories,though most of them did not.
Over the years, Jackson’s husband and children have collected an...
