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Posts By Caleb J. Ross

began writing his sophomore year of undergrad study when, tired of the formal art education then being taught, he abandoned the pursuit in the middle of a compositional drawing class. Major-less and fearful of losing his financial aid, he signed up to seek a degree in English Literature for no other reason than his lengthy history with the language. Coincidentally, this decision not only introduced him to writing but to reading as well. Prior this transition he had read three books. One of which he understood.

Following is a guest post from David Baboulene, author of The Story Book. He is currently preparing to defend his Ph.D. thesis at Brighton University that subtext is the defining substance of story, and by measuring subtext presence, depth and extent, he can tell you in advance how successful a story is likely to be. If you are like me, you are unlikely to understand the next two paragraphs, but by the end of this article we will visit them again and hopefully you willunderstand them and your life will be all the richer for it and you will love me. Here we go, then: Plot is character, and character is plot, because as soon as a character takes a meaningful action, his action is driving your plot (whether you like it or not). Conversely, as soon as an event happens which elicits a meaningful reaction from your character, then his true character is developing in…

The wonderful guys at Booked Podcast are conducting a marathon series of interviews with the contributors to Warmed and Bound story collection. I am lucky enough to have appeared at their podcast once before, so coming back feels more like a stop back to hang out than an actual interview in which I am trying to sell a book. They've got an enormous number of authors lined up, so please check back there often for more Warmed and Bound-ery.

The day of attrition is upon us. Also, coincidentally, the day that Warmed and Bound is released is also upon us. For those of you not yet in the know, prepare to be baptized. Warmed and Bound is an anthology of short stories stitched together by the people at The Velvet and edited by the beautiful and talented Pela Via. I've stated already the huge amount of talent crammed inside this amazing noir collection, so I won't do that again. For those with an tendency toward great noir fiction, this collection simply will not disappoint. In fact, the amazing Steve Erickson has offered his own view words to this effect: "The writers of The Velvet are contemporary fiction's most effective and least self-conscious aesthetic guerrillas...the result is fiction at once conceived from high artistic intent and executed with depraved populist energy." Head over to the Warmed and Bound site for all the purchase information. Currently…

Today I squeeze into the (rightfully) crowded seats of Monkeybicycle once again, this time to express my sadness that I never truly got to experience the wonder that likely was the Penny Universities. Click here to read the guest post. Also, don’t forget that if you comment on all guest blog posts, you will get free stuff. See all tour stops here

Pablo D'Stair returns with his second installment of his Six Personal Investigations of the Act of Reading, this time with my novel, Stranger Will, as the article's referent object (with a focus on Genre). I simply could not be more delighted. He's already tackled Stephen Graham Jones' The Bird is Gone: a manifesto and is prepping investigations of Goodloe Byron's The Wraith (which I am currently reading), Amelia Gray's, AM/PM, D. Harlan Wilson's Peckinpah: an ultraviolent romance, and Brian Olu's So You Know It's Me. This guy could run his own online psychology classes, I swear. I'd enroll (mostly so I could shoot virtual spitballs at his touchscreen whiteboard). Here's a bit from Pablo's Stranger Will investigation: There can come a point where the magnetism of the internal conflict of a central character can be abandoned or toned down for "the reveal" the exposition of the superficialities of the plot…

Today I stop by Simon West-Bulford's blog to drop a bit of humbling knowledge on would-be authors about the real life cycle of a novel. Click here to read the guest post, The process of Stranger Will: from done, to done, to really done, to seriously done, to “I’ve got to write another one?!”. Also, don’t forget that if you comment on all guest blog posts, you will get free stuff. See all tour stops here

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