This was published in 1997, so no surprise that parts are outdated— especially the marketing advice. Other parts remain relevant, and I learned things I believe will help me write better. However, the book seems padded. An appreciation of Forrest J. Ackerman (for instance), though deserved, is not useful. Neither is Harlan Ellison’s jeremiad on the state of horror.
Reviews and Comments
Writer and software engineer in the US Midwest. I enjoy poetry, horror, some f/sf, some mystery, some literary fiction (but not the kind where the main character is a professor and nothing happens).
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caracabe rated Amphigorey: 4 stars
caracabe rated Writing horror: 3 stars
caracabe reviewed Writing horror by Mort Castle
caracabe rated Writing horror: 4 stars
caracabe rated Women's Weird: 4 stars
caracabe finished reading Women's Weird by Dr Melissa Edmundson
13 tales of weird horror by women, all originally published between 1890 and 1940, and only one I’ve read before. (“Unseen - Unfeared,” by Francis Steven’s.) All are excellent. Editor Melissa Edmundson’s introduction is interesting, but full of spoilers, so I suggest you read it after reading all the stories. You might want to read the end notes for each story first, though, to get a handle on unfamiliar terms.
caracabe rated Dance Into the World: 3 stars

Dance Into the World by Michael Dylan Welch
Celebrate the Tanka Society of America's twentieth anniversary with tanka by 175 poets in seven themed sections: "The Earth Is …
caracabe rated Dance Into the World: 4 stars

Dance Into the World by Michael Dylan Welch
Celebrate the Tanka Society of America's twentieth anniversary with tanka by 175 poets in seven themed sections: "The Earth Is …
caracabe commented on Women's Weird by Dr Melissa Edmundson
caracabe rated I, six nonlectures: 3 stars
caracabe rated The Between: 4 stars
caracabe commented on I, six nonlectures by E. E. Cummings
caracabe commented on I, six nonlectures by E. E. Cummings
caracabe commented on I, six nonlectures by E. E. Cummings
I admire the poetry of Edward Estlin Cummings, but his Charles Eliot Norton “nonlectures” make me think less of him as a person. It’s easy for a Harvard grad who grew up in a family that owned not one but two summer homes to speak scornfully of (his scare quotes) “security.” A child whose parents regularly had to choose between rent and groceries might see a closer relationship between security and the freedom EEC so valued.