I talk dirty at LitReactor – Palahniuk, Cormac McCarthy, Proulx and more.

ByJSB February 5, 2016February 5, 2016

My professional writing career began as a book reviewer for Time Warner Publications. To qualify for the job I had to review a pot boiler about sleeping your way to the top in Hollywood. I know, right? It had lines like, “Please Tom. I can’t wait any more,” and “His swollen thickness was drawing pleasures out of her she had never imagined existed.” Every sex scene was more or less the same, a kind of caricature of itself. Cue “swollen thickness.” I, um, had a ball with the review and it got me the job and it made me think about sex scenes. A lot.

The Fall, at New Dead Families

Byadmin June 16, 2011

… His flesh hung in folds over his eyes, one of which had a sideways cast to it. His wife, Una, pushed into the center of the pass window behind the bar. Her face red as rubber, a boiling ball of rage and defeat stirred by the rage and defeat she saw in her husband…

Women Writing the Weird: Out Now at Dog Horn Press

ByJSB November 9, 2011December 2, 2011

As promised, WWW launched on Halloween. I don’t have my copy yet, but you can get it here. I’m excited to see my story, “Lion Man,” out and proud and in such great company…am prepared to be amazed by my colleagues. Also out and about is my poem, ‘Some Kind of Monster,’ at Go(b)et Magazine….

Writing Life: Criticism – Constructive or Destructive?

Byadmin August 13, 2010

Almost every writer can vouch for the value of writers groups and workshops. For many, a weekly or monthly session with your group, whether online or in the flesh, can provide a welcome respite from the solitude that comes with the writing life. In addition to sharing ideas and experiences with fellow travelers, deadlines can be surprisingly galvanizing: being forced to prepare your piece for workshopping can provide that much needed motivation and focus.

But along with the benefits of writers groups is the danger of losing your mojo because of some ill-judged feedback on your work in progress. Being able to tell the difference between constructive and destructive criticism is crucial to going the distance in this game…read more here.

Aletheia edit done and gone!

ByJSB August 5, 2016August 11, 2016

I write this in bed. I am reviewing books, having a look at courses I’ve been invited to teach, waiting on a call-back, and on a submitted story. And did I mention that I’m in bed? I mean, specifically, bed at 1 pm, surrounded by cords and open laptops and phones and legal pads and…

New article up at LitReactor: Six Killer Death Scenes

ByJSB April 9, 2016April 9, 2016

in which I talk about Laird Barron, Don DeLillo, Shirley Jackson and others. Here is a taste but you can read more at LitReactor. Image courtesy of LitReactor. When my kids were little we had a family fun game called “Death Scenes.” We’d gather in the back yard or in the playing fields behind our…

Bend Down Over and What??

Byadmin October 11, 2010

‘Why’n’t you just bend down over and suck,’ he says. Then he kangaroo kicks me in the stomach. His Keds against my gut. Hard. I buckle, suck in air or try to, images searing my eleven-year-old brain. Bend down over and—oh, the horror! He stands aside, fists clenched, and somehow I make it past him and the hulking albino driver that we call Shorty and off the bus, half falling on to the snow.

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