Johann Thorsson
WHITESANDS is out on September 24th and to say that I'm excited is an extreme understatement. I've been hammering out the final back cover copy and feel ready to share. Of course, I'm pretty close to the cover reveal and really look forward to showing it to you. In the meanwhile, the question is.... would… Continue reading WHITESANDS Back Cover Text
I recently made a vow to myself to read more books by women, in part to overcome my own bias towards books by white guys (which is, I fear, the default setting for too many of us). In the process I read a whole heap of great books and wanted to share some stories that… Continue reading 5 Weird and Wonderful Short Stories from 5 Outstanding Collections by Women.
Some short stories you just remember. Maybe it's an image you remember, maybe an emotion or maybe the entire story. When it comes to Calcutta, Lord of Nerves, it's a passage for me. A single passage that made me go "Ugh, what the.... are you allowed to write that?" I read the story in John… Continue reading Short Story of the Week – Poppy Z. Brite’s Calcutta, Lord of Nerves
What a fantastic book. Andrew and Eric are on a holiday at a cabin with their adopted daughter, Wen. Wen is playing outside when a man approaches her, the tallest man she's ever seen. He tells her that none of what is about to happen is her fault. Wen then notices three more people behind… Continue reading Book Review – The Cabin at the End of the World
I've been lucky. I started writing 11 years ago, at the time as something to do after my wife fell asleep (she was pregnant and went to bed early). My first story was accepted into the first place I sent it to which is actually a very unhealthy thing for an author to experience as… Continue reading Books I’ve Had Stories In (that you can buy right now!)
Wow.Did not expect a book that is basically the minutes of a meeting to be this good. Granted, the meeting is a group of women in a Mennonite colony that are decided whether to leave or stay after discovering that the hurt they felt in the morning was not, in fact, the devil but being… Continue reading Book Review – Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Blurbs, for those of you who might not know, are the quotes you often see on book covers, praising the book in question, the author or previous books. There is a lot of work that goes into getting not just blurbs but the right blurbs, It wouldn't help much to have a Stephen King blurb… Continue reading The First Blurb for WHITESANDS is in!
The rather lovely fellows over at This is Horror just announced the nominees for this year's This is Horror Awards. The categories are numerous and the books and stories are all very worthy. Also, and I think this is rather unusual for an award, they actually give readers a whole month to get their votes… Continue reading This Is Horror – Best Cover Art Nominees (and covers)
There are a few steps to getting a book out into the world. There's the actual writing, which is slow and uninteresting, but then there are fun parts. Bright shiny parts. Like thinking about possible covers. I remember making a cover myself, long ago, in an effort to help myself visualize the fact that one… Continue reading 10 Book Covers That I Really Like (also, homework)
I am going to tell you something about the plan I have for the book I have coming out in September. But first... some background info. I've been working on a book for a few years, on and off. With work and kids and everything else it was a bit of a slog to complete.… Continue reading The New Journey – Day 1
On Books and Writing 