The next book in my reading journal is “Stephen King: The Art of Darkness”, by Douglas E. Winter. Winter’s book is a critical look at King’s work up to the mid-80’s mixed with biographical information. Chapter 1 - Introduction: Do the Dead Sing? The first chapter and …

There are two aspects of this piece I find as valuable models for a writer. The first is the idea of death by inches. In my experience with horror, death come as a relatively swift blow - maybe there’s some torture, definitely some pain, but it is usually played out by a lot of tension and a …

Dialog like this is a challenge. Matheson’s main character, David Millman, is ultimately having a conversation with himself. He’s the crazy guy who hears voices in his head. I’ve written a couple of pieces that have this happen in them, but I haven’t been able to pull them …