The Antenna

finding signal in the noise

writing

An experiment in personal news aggregation.

writing

(date: 2024-10-13 09:42:44)


The Dark, Uncanny, Apex, and Weird Horror Fall: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran

date: 2024-10-13, from: Locus Magazine

The Dark 6/24 Uncanny 7-8/24 Apex #145 Weird Horror Fall ’24

The Dark #109 features two originals. “The Aban­doned” by Jack Klausner is a haunting story that begins with a little girl finding a box in the schoolyard. It takes us through tragic mystery and ends in resignation. The protagonist in Beth Goder’s interesting “Labyrinth” visits the infa­mous Winchester Mystery House in a story that …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/the-dark-uncanny-apex-and-weird-horror-fall-short-fiction-reviews-by-paula-guran/


Leonard Riggio (1941-2024)

date: 2024-10-12, from: Locus Magazine

Longtime Barnes & Noble head LEONARD RIGGIO, 83, died August 27, 2024 in Manhattan. He had Alzheimer’s.

Leonard Stephen Riggio was born February 28, 1941 in New York, and attended Brooklyn Technical High School. After graduating in 1958, he took night classes at NYU for a while before dropping out. He founded a small book­shop, the Student Book Exchange, in 1965. In 1971, he purchased New York bookshop Barnes …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/leonard-riggio-1941-2024/


Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine: Review by Gabino Iglesias

date: 2024-10-12, from: Locus Magazine

Your Shadow Half Remains, Sunny Moraine (Nightfire 978-1-25089-220-1, $16.99, 176pp, tp) February 2024.

If you look at someone, you’re dead. Not just dead, but dead in some horrible, violent way. That’s the premise at the core of Sunny Moraine’s Your Shadow Half Remains. Yes, readers familiar with Josh Malerman’s Bird Box may see a similarity to that novel in that premise, but Your Shadow Half Remains is very different, …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/your-shadow-half-remains-by-sunny-moraine-review-by-gabino-iglesias/


Paul Di Filippo Reviews Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

date: 2024-10-12, from: Locus Magazine

Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit 978-0316578974, trade paperback, 432pp, $19.99) September 2024

If Michael Bishop and Tom Disch had collaborated to script an episode of the Aliens franchise, and then the result had been filmed by Toho Studios, the result might have well come to resemble Adrian Tchaikovsky’s newest kick in the pants, Alien Clay. This is one of three great books Tchaikovsky has released in 2024; similar …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/paul-di-filippo-reviews-alien-clay-by-adrian-tchaikovsky/


📦 #220 - Trapped!

date: 2024-10-11, from: Interesting, a blog on writing

There’s nowhere to run.


https://inneresting.substack.com/p/220-trapped


Zoe Kaplan (1996-2024)

date: 2024-10-11, from: Locus Magazine

Writer and publishing professional Zoe Kaplan, 28, died October 9, 2024 of complications from diabetes.

Kaplan began publishing short fiction of genre interest with “Pink Marble” in 2021, and published several other stories in magazines and anthologies. She also worked in publishing, spending time at Tor before joining Simon & Schuster in 2021, first as a member of the production team, and later as a managing editorial associate, working extensively …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/zoe-kaplan-1996-2024/


2024 SKRIVA Short Story Competition Winners

date: 2024-10-11, from: Locus Magazine

Results of the 25th Fantastiknovelltävlingen, a Swedish “Fantastic Short Story Competition” organized by writers’ email list SKRIVA, have been announced.

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Honorable Mentions

Winners were awarded prizes including cash, shares

…Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/2024-skriva-short-story-competition-winners/


10 Great Novels You Can Read in One Sitting

date: 2024-10-11, from: Literature & a Latte blog


https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/10-great-novels-you-can-read-in-one-sitting


THE SUBSTANCE and how to write Body Horror

date: 2024-10-11, from: Final Draft blog

Hormones. Puberty. Weight gain. Cancer. Aging. Menopause. Mental decline. 


https://blog.finaldraft.com/the-substance-and-how-to-write-body-horror


date: 2024-10-11, from: John August blog

Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we look at the many ways writers have imagined our future, and the astonishing new technology, fashion, problems and ethical dilemmas that might come to pass. Our collection includes: 2001: A Space Odyssey by […] The post Featured Friday: Sci-Fi Futurism first appeared on John August.


https://johnaugust.com/2024/featured-friday-sci-fi-futurism


Flash Fiction Online, Strange Horizons, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

date: 2024-10-11, from: Locus Magazine

Flash Fiction Online 6/24 Strange Horizons 6/9/24, 6/24/24 Beneath Ceaseless Skies 6/27/24, 7/11/24

The June Flash Fiction Online features a range of rather grim stories about char­acters caught in oppressive situations. Perhaps the most surprising is Kurt Pankau’s “A Pin Drops”, which imagines bowling tech­nology advancing to the point where pins are made intelligent and sentient in order for them to protect one another and form familial …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/flash-fiction-online-strange-horizons-and-beneath-ceaseless-skies-short-fiction-reviews-by-charles-payseur/


Complete 2024 Hugo Voting

date: 2024-10-11, from: Locus Magazine

Glasgow 2024, the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, received 3,436 valid ballots (3,431 electronic, five paper), up from 1,674 at Chengdu Worldcon. There were an additional 377 ballots disqualified as fraudu­lent or ‘‘not cast by natural persons.’’ There were 1,720 nominating ballots (1,715 electronic, five paper), down from 1,847.

The procedure for counting nominations re­mains the E Pluribus Hugo, or EPH, system. The rather complicated system gives a single point …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/complete-2024-hugo-voting/


date: 2024-10-11, from: Author’s Union blog

The final outcome of the case: the plaintiff was ordered to cover $102,404 in fees and $165.72 in costs for the defendant. This should serve as a cautionary tale for would-be plaintiffs: copyright lawsuits, like any other type of litigation, are primarily meant to address the damages plaintiffs actually suffered, and the final settlement should make plaintiffs whole again—that is, as if no infringement has ever occurred. Copyright lawsuits (or the threat to sue) should not be undertaken as a way to create brand new income streams. 


https://www.authorsalliance.org/2024/10/11/artist-left-with-heavy-fees-by-copyright-troll-law-firm/


How to Create Your Own Solo Writing Retreat

date: 2024-10-11, from: Literature & a Latte blog


https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-to-create-your-own-solo-writing-retreat


Weekly YouTube Video Is Up For 10/08/2024!

date: 2024-10-10, from: Locus Magazine

Looking to add to your TBR pile? Come by and watch this weeks new video on the top new releases! We’ve got a fantastic collection of Fantasy, SF, and Horror books for you to have a look at! Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe to support what we do!

…Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/weekly-youtube-video-is-up-for-10-08-2024/


Han Kang Wins Nobel Prize

date: 2024-10-10, from: Locus Magazine

South Korean author Han Kang has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Her novel The Vegetarian was the first Korean language book to win the International Booker Award. The 2024 prize amount is 11 million Swedish kronor, just over $1 million US.

For more information, see the Nobel Prize website.

While you are …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/han-kang-wins-nobel-prize/


Why Joker is the Greatest Comic Book Movie Character

date: 2024-10-10, from: Final Draft blog

What makes Joker, the Clown Prince of Gotham, the best comic book movie character of all time? Not just villain. Character. He’s evil, maniacal and misunderstood – and yet, he’s the greatest comic book character to consistently appear in movies. 


https://blog.finaldraft.com/why-joker-is-the-greatest-comic-book-movie-character


The Deadlands : Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

date: 2024-10-10, from: Locus Magazine

The Deadlands Spring ’24

The Slave Boy” by Denzel Xavier Scott in the Spring 2024 issue of The Deadlands looks at dif­ferent forms of captivity and freedom. A young boy contemplates his own imprisonment and the imprisonment of the talking animals he’s forced to care for, pitying them, but also resenting them and the way they mock and torment him. He meets a strange man who offers him …Read More


https://locusmag.com/2024/10/the-deadlands-short-fiction-reviews-by-a-c-wise/


Co-Writer of REZ BALL Talks Writing Sports Drama And Embracing Tropes

date: 2024-10-10, from: Final Draft blog

It can be incredibly difficult to venture into an established genre like the sports drama.

It’s a tried-and-true narrative with some equally tested—and beloved—tropes. Sometimes the team is a ragtag group of misfits, the underdogs no one believes in. Sometimes the coach has taken on this post after failing in the big leagues. Often, the most dramatic moment comes down to the last play in the big game.

Writer/director Sydney Freeland (Diné) knows all these tropes. And instead of fighting against them during the writing process, she embraced them, flipped them, gave them a unique spin, and made them work for the story. 


https://blog.finaldraft.com/co-writer-of-rez-ball-talks-writing-sports-drama-and-avoiding-tropes


The Oracle Mouths Off, Part One

date: 2024-10-09, from: Margaret Atwoods Substack

Be careful what you wish for.


https://margaretatwood.substack.com/p/the-oracle-mouths-off-part-one


How to sell Big Fish

date: 2024-10-09, from: John August blog

This afternoon, I came across the letter I wrote in 1998 trying to convince Columbia Pictures to option the rights to Daniel Wallace’s novel Big Fish for me to adapt. It’s strange seeing this letter now. In it, I describe the very broad shape of the movie, but at the time I didn’t know so […] The post How to sell Big Fish first appeared on John August.


https://johnaugust.com/2024/how-to-sell-big-fish


Long takes and calculated decluttering

date: 2024-10-09, from: Interesting, a blog on writing

The tension in making a scene feel real, but not “too real.”


https://inneresting.substack.com/p/long-takes-and-calculated-decluttering


How to Describe Characters in Fiction

date: 2024-10-09, from: Literature & a Latte blog


https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-to-describe-characters-in-fiction


Why Horror Never Dies

date: 2024-10-08, from: Final Draft blog

Scary is in. Fear is fashionable. Horror is hot. That’s what we’re told. Judging strictly by box office returns and critical acclaim—not to mention the occasional Academy Award® for best screenplay—horror does seem to be having a moment in the zeitgeist.


https://blog.finaldraft.com/why-horror-never-dies


Moneyball

date: 2024-10-08, from: John August blog

John and Craig welcome back Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fleishman is in Trouble) for a deep dive on 2011’s sports drama Moneyball. What makes Moneyball work? Is it a traditional underdog movie, or does it break all the rules? Is Billy Beane a hero or a villain? What advantages do sports movies give you, and how much […] The post Moneyball first appeared on John August.


https://johnaugust.com/2024/moneyball


Scriptnotes, Episode 654: How to Watch Bad Movies, Transcript

date: 2024-10-08, from: John August blog

The original post for this episode can be found here. John August: Hello and welcome. My name is John August. Craig Mazin: Bloop, bloop. My name is Craig Mazin. John: And this is Episode 654 of Scriptnotes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Now, often on this podcast, we talk […] The post Scriptnotes, Episode 654: How to Watch Bad Movies, Transcript first appeared on John August.


https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-654-how-to-watch-bad-movies-transcript


Scriptnotes, Episode 653: Multi-Cam Comedies and WGA Dollars, Transcript

date: 2024-10-08, from: John August blog

The original post for this episode can be found here. John August: Hello and welcome. My name is John August, and you’re listening to Episode 653 of Scriptnotes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Today on the show, we discuss a giant area of television writing we’ve barely covered over […] The post Scriptnotes, Episode 653: Multi-Cam Comedies and WGA Dollars, Transcript first appeared on John August.


https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-653-multi-cam-comedies-and-wga-dollars-transcript


Scriptnotes, Episode 652: Rituals, Transcript

date: 2024-10-08, from: John August blog

The original post for this episode can be found here. John August: Hello and welcome. My name is John August. Craig Mazin: My name is Craig Mazin. John: You’re listening to Episode 652 of Scriptnotes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Today on the show, what things are characters doing […] The post Scriptnotes, Episode 652: Rituals, Transcript first appeared on John August.


https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-652-rituals-transcript


HOLD YOUR BREATH Writer Explores Dark Side of Motherhood in Horror Tale

date: 2024-10-07, from: Final Draft blog

Hold Your Breath is an achingly beautiful film that resonates in many powerful ways. While hitting many of the necessary tropes of psychological horror, it’s the incredible acting performances that hook you and won’t let you escape – even when it’s hard to breathe. 

Set in Oklahoma in the 1930s Dust Bowl, famine, disease and death abound. But for Margaret (Sarah Paulson), and her two daughters, 12-year-old Rose (Amiah Miller) and 7-year-old Ollie (Alona Jane Robbins) who’s deaf, it’s not just the pervasive dust that’s threatening their lives, but something much more sinister. Even when the mysterious stranger Wallace (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) shows up menacingly in the night, the film asks: could the mother-daughter bond be the most dangerous threat of all? 

Written by Karrie Crouse, best known for TV’s Westworld, and directed by Crouse and Will Joines, the movie seems like a dark fable inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic, when just breathing the air might put your life at risk. But surprisingly (and eerily), the screenplay was written before the pandemic even started. Crouse says the inspiration for the film actually came from watching the Ken Burns documentary The Dust Bowl


https://blog.finaldraft.com/hold-your-breath-writer-explores-dark-side-of-motherhood-in-horror-tale


What is “Derivative Work” in the Digital Age?

date: 2024-10-07, from: Author’s Union blog

Ideas and concepts, including “derivative works,” are only important to the extent they elucidate our understanding of the world. When the use of “derivative works” leads to more confusion than clarity, we should be cautious in adopting the new meaning being superimposed on “derivative works.”


https://www.authorsalliance.org/2024/10/07/what-is-derivative-work-in-the-digital-age/