What to Read – the Novella Edition
by Maria HaskinsFor the last few months, Ruadán Books has been open to novel and novella submissions. (We’re still open for submissions until August 31st, and if you have a…
Credit:Victoria Gnatiuk 
An Essay That Tried to Escape Me
by Fendy S. TulodoThey said it was just a power cut. But I swear—when the lights blinked off that night, the blinking cursor on my screen started typing back.It happened…
Art by mikkelwilliam What to Read – the Nordic Dark Speculative Fiction Edition
By Maria HaskinsI grew up in northern Sweden, and even though I’ve lived over half of my life in Canada by now, I still miss the summer nights up there….
Missing Mythologies: On Westernization in Diasporic Storytelling
by P.H. LowWhen my father is a child in Malaysia, he walks into a bookstore.Or rather—I am not sure if it is a store, or a kind of hawker’s stand…
What to Read – the Pride Month Edition
by Maria HaskinsIf there is one thing I want you to take away from this list of reading recommendations for Pride Month, it’s that you should read queer all year….
Do Good Work
E. Catherine ToblerWhen my mother discovered that I wanted to be a writer, she told a friend at work. I do not know if she told this friend out of…
What to Read – the Monster Edition
by Maria HaskinsWhere there are humans telling stories, there are monsters. From the very beginning, monsters have taken center stage in our myths, fairytales, and fiction.The vampire is one of…
On the Symbiosis of Writing and Community
By J.A.W. McCarthyWriting is a solitary art.We’ve all heard it. We’ve all lived it. It’s one of those things that can be true and false at the same time.When I…
What to Read (and Watch) – the Ecohorror Edition
by Maria HaskinsIt’s only natural that ecological horror, ecohorror, is so prevalent in popular culture. With Earth entering the Anthropocene, a time when humans are having a substantial impact on…
Setting
From: Yours to Tell – Dialogues on the Art & Practice of Writing“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”But if you are in Kansas, show us Kansas. Take us to Kansas, too.STEVE:…
What to Read – The Women in Horror Month Edition
by Maria Haskins, Sr. ColumnistIt’s March, AKA Women in Horror Month, and as always, my main recommendation for Women in Horror month is to read horror by women all year…
Writing When Life is A Lot (or Too Much)
I’ll start this writing advice essay by pointing out that giving writing advice is an iffy proposition. What works for one person might be useless or even detrimental for another,…
How I Edit an Anthology
I don’t typically swing an axe around my apartment while editing an anthology, but this time, I did. For my latest, 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era, one…
The First Draft
Much has been made of Ernest Hemingway’s judgement that ‘the first draft of anything is shit’. But why? It’s such a crass truism, one that, thanks to the profanity of…
Some Thoughts on Beginnings
Without the right beginning, a successful creative piece is impossible. This may sound self-evident, and yet the process of working through a story or novel is such a chaotic and…
Ideas
If you’re a writer, it’s the classic interview question (or even the one that just occurs in general everyday chat.) ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
