Screenplay Wins Award

Over the weekend of February 16-18, 2018, I had the great pleasure of attending the Famous Monsters Silver Scream Festival in Santa Rosa, CA. I’m a monster geek from way back, so it was total thrill to be hanging out with film industry people and geeking out about horror films. I got to meet several icons of horror cinema: Ricou Browning, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, who was celebrating his 88th birthday that weekend; John Russo, the screenwriter on Night of the Living Dead; Jackie Kong, director of the cult classic Blood Diner; Kelli Maroney, actress in such horror classics as ChoppingContinue readingScreenplay Wins Award

Mashing Up the Old West

If you’re of a certain age in the U.S., you were raised with Westerns. John Ford and Sergio Leone filled cinemas and TV screens with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, the dust of cattle drives, the thunder of cavalry, guns, and the war whoops of Indians. By the time of my childhood, Western films were in their declining years, covering ground so well-trodden the genre itself had become cliché, a collection of easily recognizable and increasingly tired tropes. However, the genre never quite made it to the grave. Since the Western film’s heyday, we’ve been graced with some spectacularly goodContinue readingMashing Up the Old West

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – E.C. Ambrose

E. C. Ambrose wrote Elisha Barber (DAW, 2013) the first of “The Dark Apostle” historical fantasy series about medieval surgery. Other published works include “The Romance of Ruins” in Clarkesworld, and “Custom of the Sea,” winner of the Tenebris Press Flash Fiction Contest 2012. She is also the author of The Singer’s Crown and its sequels, The Eunuch’s Heir, and The Bastard Queen, published as by Elaine Isaak. Elaine quite enjoys her alternate identity, aside from a strong desire to start arguments with herself on social media. TH: What writers are some of your biggest influences? ECA: This is aContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – E.C. Ambrose

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson has published 120 books, more than fifty of which have been national or international bestsellers. He has written numerous novels in the Star Wars, X-Files, and Dune universes, as well as a unique steampunk fantasy novel, Clockwork Angels, which is based on the new concept album by legendary rock group Rush. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series, the Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy, and his humorous horror series featuring Dan Shamble, Zombie PI. He has edited numerous anthologies, including the Five by Five series. Anderson and his wife Rebecca Moesta are the publishers ofContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Kevin J. Anderson

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – D.B. Jackson

David B. Coe is the Crawford award-winning author of the Lon Tobyn Chronicle, the Winds of the Forelands quintet, the Blood of the Southlands trilogy, and a number of short stories. Writing as D.B. Jackson, he is the author of the Thieftaker Chronicles, a blend of urban fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. David is also part of the Magical Words group blog, and co-author of How To Write Magical Words: A Writer’s Companion. In 2010 he wrote the novelization of director Ridley Scott’s movie, Robin Hood. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. At DragonCon thisContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – D.B. Jackson

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Cat Rambo

Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in the Pacific Northwest. Her 200+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. Her short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” from her story collection Near + Far (Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee. Her editorship of Fantasy Magazine earned her a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2012. Cat Rambo is as gracious as she is prolific. It’s hard to find an anthology lately that she doesn’t have a story in.  And she has the coolest name. We’reContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Cat Rambo

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Norman Partridge

Norman Partridge’s fiction includes horror, suspense, and the fantastic—“sometimes all in one story” says his friend, writer Joe Lansdale. Author of six short story collections, Partridge’s novels include the Jack Baddalach mysteries Saguaro Riptide and The Ten-Ounce Siesta, plus The Crow: Wicked Prayer, which was adapted for film. His novel, Dark Harvest, was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Books of 2006. Partridge’s compact, thrill-a-minute style has been praised by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and his collections and stories have received both the Bram Stoker and IHG awards. We are totally revved up to haveContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Norman Partridge

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Ken Scholes

Ken Scholes is the award-winning author of four novels and over forty short stories. His series, The Psalms of Isaak, is being critically acclaimed as “a towering storytelling tour de force” by Publishers Weekly. Ken’s eclectic background includes time spent as a label gun repairman, a sailor who never sailed, a soldier who commanded a desk, a preacher (he got better), a nonprofit executive, a musician and a government procurement analyst. He has a degree in History from Western Washington University and is a winner of France’s Prix Imaginales for best foreign novel and of the Writers of the FutureContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Ken Scholes

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Seanan McGuire

Hugo Award-winner Seanan McGuire writes things. Constantly. She cannot be stopped. She will destroy us all. Where is the hero who will save us? Oh. The hero is reading the things she wrote. We are all doomed. To stave off the agony, we recommend reading some of the things Seanan has written, either under her own name, or under the name “Mira Grant.” People seem to like the things she writes, which is nice. Seanan McGuire is the author of eleven novels and dozens of short stories published in places like Lightspeed, Fantasy Magazine, and Apex Magazine. We are thrilledContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Seanan McGuire

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Nick Mamatas

Nick Mamatas is the author of several novels, including the recent Love is the Law and The Last Weekend. His short fiction has appeared in slicks such as the men’s magazine Razor and the music magazine Spex, in leading SF publications including Asimov’s Science Fiction and Tor.com, and in the 2013 volume of Best American Mystery Stories. I first met Nick at one of the big conventions, World Fantasy I believe, and I was already familiar with his work from horror fiction podcast Pseudopod. His book Starve Better has some good advice for writers chasing the freelance life, and hisContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Nick Mamatas

Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Jay Bonansinga

Jay Bonansinga is a New York Times bestselling author of eighteen books, including the Bram Stoker finalist The Black Mariah (1994), the International Thriller Writers Award finalist Shattered (2007), and the wildly popular WALKING DEAD novels. Jay’s work has been translated into nine languages, and he has been called “one of the most imaginative writers of thrillers” by the Chicago Tribune. Jay has won major film festival awards, including a Gold Remi at the Houston International WorldFest and a Best Comedy Feature at the Queens International Film Festival, and his 2005 novel, Frozen, is in development as a major motionContinue readingCars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Jay Bonansinga

CINEQUEST Film Festival: Screenplay Success

About three hours after my blog post yesterday, at the CINEQUEST Film Festival Writers Celebration, the eight finalists in attendance were coming back to the theatre from lunch, and one of the assistants pulled me and Mozhan Marno, one of the other finalists, aside and took us back stage. Internally, I was about to explode with the sense of impending … something. The assistant was very circumspect, trying very hard not to release any cats from bags. Finally, Mozhan and I realized that apparently we were the FINAL finalists. The assistant said, “When we announce your name, come on stage.”Continue readingCINEQUEST Film Festival: Screenplay Success