Branching out
I was at a dead-end in my genealogy research. I knew my great-grandmother’s name, date of birth, and when she married my great-grandfather, but nothing else. Her name was so generic (the local equivalent of Jones) it was difficult to track anything else down. I found a message board that dealt with family histories from [...]
Cleaned off the coffee table
When I’m done reading a book I intend to review, I leave it on the coffee table. It’s a way of nagging myself. Sometimes the stack starts to get out of hand, as it did recently, so I devoted my weeknights to clearing the table. Last night I wrote my review of The Reapers by [...]
The Blue Hammer
I posted my review of Ken Bruen’s Cross last night. A decent book, though relentlessly bleak and hard to orient to because he doesn’t recap what’s gone before.
I’m halfway through The Blue Hammer by Ross MacDonald. An intricate book with involved and interconnected family histories. People who may or may not be dead. Affairs and [...]
Fewer holes in my head
I picked up The Blue Hammer by Ross MacDonald last night in its new Vantage trade paperback incarnation. Every time I read him, I want to sit right down and write noir. Nothing but noir. I can’t hold a candle to him, though. I know that. When I read a sentence describing his first impressions [...]
The Brass Verdict
I finished the new Michael Connelly novel last night. It had some decent surprises in the finale. There’s one thing to keep in mind when reading this book: Everyone lies. Connelly’s Haller repeats this over and over, and still he is caught off-guard by some of the lies he’s been told. Even confessions can be [...]
Whipped into submission
I wrote my first Cemetery Dance column in over a year this weekend. This one is for issue #60. My column for #59 was written after I returned from visiting the set of The Mist. The online version helps address the issue of time-sensitive material, allowing me to use the column for more leisurely matters. [...]
A good week for rejection
Editors like to gang up on me. It’s a conspiracy. They send e-mails back and forth to establish the timing. And then…whammo. Four rejections in four days. The response times range from three weeks to eight months, so the colluders really have their shit together. I’ve been remiss in getting stories back into circulation, so [...]
I think I’m at the end
In fact, I know I am — because I bumped up against the words “THE END” at the bottom of the manuscript. This is with respect to the new short story I’ve been working on lately. I still have a couple of things I want to thread into the story before I’m officially ready to [...]
Midnight
The next episode of Doctor Who is “Midnight.” It is an interesting study in contrasts as it begins in a very leisurely style, lulling the viewer into a false sense of complacency (perhaps a little too much lulling) and then it suddenly becomes very tense. The last half of it is as stressful as anything [...]
Shoulda listened to ‘em
My new Storytellers Unplugged essay is up: The Suspense is Killing Me.
I had last week’s episode of Fear Itself on my DVR. I skimmed the comments I encountered about it online, and gleaned the general negativity toward it, but I decided to give it a look-see for myself. Geez, what a train wreck. It’s been [...]
About
Bev Vincent is the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award nominated companion to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, which was nominated for a 2010 Edgar® Award and a 2009 Bram Stoker Award.
His short fiction has appeared in places like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, From the Borderlands and The Blue Religion. He is a contributing editor with Cemetery Dance magazine and a member of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging community. He also writes book reviews for Onyx Reviews.
