Year of Hitchcock softcover = RELEASED

Year of Hitchcock softcover = RELEASED

Posted inAlfred Hitchcock, Works by Eric
I know, I know, you're probably as sick of hearing about this book as I am of posting about it! But the long-awaited softcover edition of the book I coauthored with Jim McDevitt is finally out and ready for purchase. If you passed on the hardcover -- and no hard feelings if you did, because it wasn't cheap -- this is for you. It comes in at under 20 clams. Nice price for a nice book by some nice guys, yeah? So check it out and I'll finally shut up about it. Not about my other projects, mind you. But…
Complaining about things I shouldn’t complain about, aka Writing can be boring

Complaining about things I shouldn’t complain about, aka Writing can be boring

Posted inRants, Writing
Leaning forward with a glass of bourbon and ice next to me, hair frazzled. A human drama plays itself out in the background, all loud voices and chaos, but I can't pay attention because I'm under the spell of inspiration, and as those words hit the page each sparkles like a shiny gold coin. Each sentence is a hundred dollar bill constructed with the power of my words. The keyboard is on fire with the rush of my work. It's invigorating. Nah. The above scene is bullshit. Writing for pay is not always interesting. In fact, sometimes it's downright boring.…
FICTION: Storms

FICTION: Storms

Posted inWorks by Eric, Writing
As I blogged previously, this story first appeared in Boston Literary Magazine. Now you can read it here. It's called Storms, and like a piece I'll be posting on Halloween called The Symphony, it's about war. I don't know why I have two flash fiction pieces about war, but I do. I had just got done reading Cormac McCarthy's brilliant The Road, and wanted to see if I could steal elements of its style and make them my own, purely to challenge myself. This is the result. Enjoy. (This also appears in a previously mentioned but as yet unpublished collection…
Do Golden Age sci-fi authors still matter?

Do Golden Age sci-fi authors still matter?

Posted inBooks & Authors, Geek Stuff
Science fiction is great, a genre associated with lasers and spaceships by the general populace but which historically has done a remarkable job of exploring big questions about who we are, why we're here, and what we can accomplish as a species. The "science" part of the equation can be pesky, though. As our scientific understanding of the universe advances, stories that once seemed rooted in a potential reality -- say, the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in our solar system -- can now seem dated, quaint, or downright silly. So with that in mind, this blog post poses an…
J.R.R. Tolkien is the reason why I write

J.R.R. Tolkien is the reason why I write

Posted inBooks & Authors, Geek Stuff, Writing
I've no interest in writing epic fantasy, have gotten past the days when I wanted to construct a complex mythology, and hell, haven't even rolled a 20-sided die in many years. Yet I would not be writing today in any capacity were it not for the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Middle-Earth first entered my consciousness in the sixth grade or so. The Hobbit was assigned reading. Unlike most students, I didn't consider assigned reading a form of torture. (Well, except when the books sucked -- which they often did.) I liked reading, and the books we had to read were…