Jeremy Szal's Blog, page 7

Book Review: Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, by Paul Tremblay

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It’s easy to see why some dislike this book. It’s much less of a spooky horror novel and much more of a family tragedy as they try to cope with the disappearance of 14 year old Tommy. It eschews a definite supernatural angle or clear plot direction and instead relies on emotional trauma and very acute depictions of grief. Which is why this book (that I’m fortunate enough to have a signed copy of) works.

The emotional ripples that the Sanderson family endures are sharp, subtle, and devastatin...

Traveling, Euro-holiday and Nineworlds

If you haven’t seen me online much, it’s because I’ve been traveling. I had a fantastic six week holiday across Europe, starting at Poland and gradually moving West, to Germany, France, England, Scotland and Isle of Skye (I know it’s not a separate country but hey, neither is Scotland according to some folks). I had a fabulous time, ate waaay too much food, consumed far too much local beer and gin (got to try the local colour!) and bought too many books and movies in the UK. They’re stupidly...

Story release: Traumahead and other sales

Well. I’ve been busy. You know how it goes.

But: a few days ago one of my stories, Traumahead, launched over at Nature magazine. You can check it out over here.

It’s one of the more scientifically denser stories I’ve written, about an alien who’s collecting the memories of his fellow fallen soldiers before their civilization is wiped out by xenocidial humans, and searching for his daughter amoung the wreckage. It’s probably got the highest number of made-up technical jargon I’ve had in a fla...

Freelancing Editing Services: Open for Business

I’m open for business as a freelance editor of genre fiction, specializing in science-fiction, fantasy and horror.

In today’s competitive market, your short story, novella, or novel will need to stand-out and be as thoroughly polished as it can possibly be to stand a good chance at getting published. Having an extra, professional eye cast over it can greatly increase those chances in your favour.

A bit about me and my qualifications: Ongoing since 2014, I am the fiction editor-in-chief and pr...

RIP TotalBiscuit (Jonathan Peter Bain)

This is a hard, hard morning.

According to his official twitter account, the critic, streamer and gaming commentator known as TotalBiscuit has passed away following surgery.

I’ve been following him since I was 13. His candid approach to criticism and media gave me endlessly inspiration, and I wouldn’t be working as a writer and editor for a living if it wasn’t for his criticisms, thoughts, analysis, and critical thinking of media. He was a divisive critic, occasionally harsh commentator. But...

Story Release: What the Darkness Asks in Return

Another story, pulled from my brain and splashed in a gory mess onto the page, has been released into the wild that is the internet. It’s one of the shorter ones I’ve written, and was based on a prompt on a writer’s forum, where we had to write a flash piece revolving around a teleporting door. A little over a year later with some edits, this is the result, published at Every Day Fiction.

It’s about portal to a rip in space-time, disguised as a door, that a 13 year-old boy uses to hide from h...

A Quiet Place (shh, the movie is playing!), and the Death of Player One, Stalin

I haven’t been writing as intensely these past few months, which has left me with some extra free time. Which I’ve been using to spend at the cinema.

The best of which is undoubtedly the per-screening of A Quiet Place, the directorial debut of John Krasinski. It’s a masterfully directed horror powerhouse that’s taut as piano wire and so intense it’s almost painful. This is a film that demands an audience’s attention, and deserves it. Popcorn went cold and chocolate remained uneaten, my audien...

Review: Iron Gold, by Pierce Brown

The fact that I finished this book a week ago and have still been unpacking my thoughts on it should be sufficient indication how much I enjoyed it.

I’m a die-hard fan of the first Red Rising trilogy, so I knew what to expect when diving into Pierce Brown’s latest, 600-page offering. I just wasn’t expecting Iron Gold to so wildly depart from the structure of the previous books, while still maintaining so much of the series’ identity, jacked up on Sevro’s steroids.

Never before has the world f...

New novel, STORMBLOOD, turned in.

…and my year-long project, STORMBLOOD, has finished agent edits and has been turned in. It’s The Wire meets Mass Effect and contains a Japanese-Russian protagonist with attitude, cartels for alien drugs, religious cults, and food porn. Lots and lots of food porn. At 121k it’s my longest project yet, and also my favourite.
Now, time for a whiskey.

 

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Story publication: Dead Men Walking

My first story of 2018, Dead Men Walking, it out from Abyss & Apex in Issue 65, Q1.

It’s not easy to live inside the armor, but between getting my skin peeled away like wet paper by the razorstorms and my bones shredded to chalk, it’s an easy choice. You get used to it after the first two or three months, but only just.

It’s a space opera/military story on the edge of the galaxy, characters who get a little too close to technology for comfort, a bundle of body horror, and an “I Must Scream” e...