Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving, John Darnielle's audacious and gripping debut novel Wolf in White Van is a marvel of storytelling and genuine literary delicacy. Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move. Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. His primary creation, Trace Italian, is an intricate text-role playing game that enables participants far and wide to explore a dystopian America, seeking refuge amidst the ruin. However, when two high school players, Lance and Carrie, extend the game into their reality, the consequences are horrifying, leaving Sean to account for it. Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van invites us to comprehend the depth and intricacy of Sean's life. Told in reverse, the story draws us back to the moment that fundamentally altered Sean’s life as he knows it.

This book tells you what kinds of movies have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 8 moods, 31 subgenres, 9 genres, and 63 antagonist types were randomly combined; one for each page for a total of 300 dark writing prompts. Titles of existing movies belonging to each mood/subgenre/genre/antagonist combination are listed to further inspire the reader when available.

Meet Nigel: digger of latrines, shoveler of poop, and the single greatest threat to all the humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings of Esteria. Desperate to escape from military school and return to his carefree life as the village no-goodnik, Nigel sees the king's declaration of war on the gorks as the perfect opportunity to flee, since he's pretty sure his latrine-digging skills aren't going to do much good on the front line. But his escape efforts have a habit of backfiring, and by the time he and his arch-frenemy are banished from the kingdom and sent on an impossible quest for a (probably bogus) magical artifact, the humans of Amerigorn find themselves longing for the good old days when they were merely being annihilated by Lord Smoron. The Dragon Squisher is a fantasy novel for teens that spoofs the tropes of the genre and will appeal to teens, young adults, and adults who love the humor of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. If this is the kind of book you've been searching for--and who hasn't?--look no further than Book One of the Nigel Chronicles: The Dragon Squisher. Funnier than Lord of the Rings! Shorter than Harry Potter! This coming of age fantasy novel is an epic fantasy treat for all fans of humorous fantasy.

This book tells you what kinds of movies have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 8 moods, 31 subgenres, 9 genres, 33 characters, and 63 antagonist types were randomly combined; one for each page for a total of 300 dark writing prompts. Titles of existing movies belonging to each mood/subgenre/character/genre/antagonist combination are listed to further inspire the reader when available.

In this comprehensive textbook devoted to the craft of writing horror fiction, award-winning author Tim Waggoner draws on thirty years' experience as a writer and teacher. Writing in the Dark offers advice, guidance, and insights on how to compose horror stories and novels that are original, frightening, entertaining, and well-written. Waggoner covers a wide range of topics, among them why horror matters, building viable monsters, generating ideas and plotlines, how to stylize narratives in compelling ways, the physiology of fear, the art of suspense, avoiding clichés, marketing your horror writing, and much more. Each chapter includes tips from some of the best horror professionals working today, such as Joe Hill, Ellen Datlow, Joe R. Lansdale, Maurice Broaddus, Yvette Tan, Thomas Ligotti, Jonathan Maberry, Edward Lee, and John Shirley. There are also appendices with critical reflections, pointers on the writing process, ideas for characters and story arcs, and material for further research. Writing in the Dark derives from Waggoner's longtime blog of the same name. Suitable for classroom use, intensive study, and bedside reading, this essential manual will appeal to new authors at the beginning of their career as well as veterans of the horror genre who want to brush up on their technique.

This book tells you what kinds of action films have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 8 moods, 31 subgenres, and 63 antagonist types were randomly combined; one for each page for a total of 100 dark writing prompts. Titles of existing movies belonging to each mood/subgenre/genre/antagonist combination are listed to further inspire the reader when available.

This book tells you what kinds of adventure films have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 8 moods, 31 subgenres, and 63 antagonist types were randomly combined; one for each page for a total of 100 dark writing prompts. Titles of existing movies belonging to each mood/subgenre/genre/antagonist combination are listed to further inspire the reader when available.