Thoughts
I write a lot. Essays. Articles. Blog posts. All of them sharing what I’m thinking about. Maybe you think about these things, too.
Censorship is so 1984. Read for Your Rights
I’ll be honest: some of these books do contain scary or uncomfortable material, but that does not mean they should be kept away from the public. Life is full of scary and uncomfortable circumstances. People go through unpleasant, tragic, and downright terrifying experiences every day, and these characters, stories, and situations mirror the experiences that people have. And help us learn how to cope with those experiences.
Facts May Be Dead. The Truth Isn’t.
We’re called to make something of the here and now, to make something that approximates truth out of the fear and the confusion and the lies, if for no other reason than to leave a record.
Just a Frivolous Interview
I did this interview a year or so ago for a publication whose name I’ve forgotten… but it was frivolous and fun and I feel that maybe sometimes something a little lighter would do us all some good! Enjoy!
Beyond this be dragons
I don’t know how to live on the borderline between what was and what will be, in the current shadow world of secrets and lies and abominations.
Know Them Before You Break Them
But essential to any of these options is an understanding of both the rule’s original intent and its current application; in comparing these two aspects, we can proceed with genuine wisdom.
Why AI Can’t Do Poetry
A bot executes algorithms, and does so perfectly every time. There is no space there for the experience of failure, or the yearning for something transcendent.
The Loneliness Crisis: Words to the Rescue
I feel I’m leaving friends, or acquaintances, or a whole community behind when I close the book. How on earth could I ever be lonely?
Enough is Enough
For us in the West, “enough” often means “not quite what I want, but it will do.” But what if enough were actually—enough?
The Story of My Stories
And I realized something I may have known before, but certainly never articulated: that for me, the plot is the last thing I worry about. (Strange admission for a mystery writer to make!).
Real or Robot? Who Can Tell?
Ludwig Wittgenstein says that we form language as part of human activity, and that we then shape that activity through language. But both parts are necessary; and, so far, AI can’t manage the “human activity” part of the equation.
Why We Write in Dark Times
Art is never neutral—it holds power, shapes culture, and carries history. Keep making it. Keep making light.
In Times of Darkness, Artists Make Light
This country and this world need the light now more than ever. Together, we can find it, and nurture it, and embody it.
How Many Times Can (Should) You Tweak Your Work?
Do you edit as you go, or are you more disciplined than I am and step away from it?
Do You Care? Here’s How
But, importantly, they do not make any of those feelings or situations about you: they create a reality in which you are part of the characters’ lives, emotions, and cares.
Why do the Arts Matter?
In ancient Greece, art and music were deemed the only channels to communicate with the gods. I think they were on to something.
Moving Beyond Disaster-Think
Our new role: conservationists of the paintings and symphonies and books and performances that express humanity’s greatest ideas and emotions, protecting the ones that exist and creating more, no matter what the difficulty, no matter if it breaks our hearts.
The Morality of Crime Fiction
Moral crime fiction, on the other hand, is steeped in reality. It holds up a mirror to the reader and posits that under the right circumstances, we could all be a victim—or a killer.
Good-bye to a storyteller
Best known for a crime fiction series with supernatural elements set in the Welsh borders, he wrote what I think of as multidimensional stories—stories you can read and enjoy on a superficial level, but which can also draw you in deeper to consider your own beliefs and values.
What happens when you get a bad review?
Every book, at one time or another, gets a bad review.