Now Write! contributors are extremely prolific. Here is a small sample of books that came out in the last two years.
God: A Human History by Rezla Aslan (Now Write! Nonfiction contributor)
Random House (November, 2017 – hardcover)
The bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this concise and fascinating history of our understanding of God. In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large.
Music Is Power by Brad Schreiber (Now Write! Screenwriting and Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror contributor)
Rutgers University Press (November, 2019 – hardcover)
A guided tour through the past 100 years of politically-conscious music, from Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie to Green Day and NWA. Covering a wide variety of genres, musicians take a variety of approaches to fight for a fairer world. Shines a spotlight on seminal, politicized artists, and offers a new appreciation for classic acts such as Lesley Gore, James Brown, and Black Sabbath, who overcame limitations in their industry to create politically potent music.
Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen (Now Write! Nonfiction contributor)
Riverhead Books (May, 2019)
A novel about what happens when an already sprawling family hosts an even larger and more chaotic wedding: an entertaining story about family, culture, memory, and community.
One of The Washington Post’s ten best books of the year.
A look at one family led by a charismatic, defense attorney father – a lovable, impossible man of gargantuan appetites and sloppy ethics, a criminal defense attorney who loved his drug-dealing clients a little too much and went to prison as a result.
Blood Prism by E.E. King (Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror contributor)
Flying Feline Productions (January, 2018)
Penny Dreadful meets American Gods. Like Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Blood Prism is a blend of history, fantasy, and Americana. A cast of real and mythological traverse the Catskill Mountains, the River Styx and into an alternate San Francisco during the start of the AIDs crisis, where love might just be stronger than destiny…or maybe not.
William Morrow (hardcover and Kindle, August, 2019; paperback August, 2020)
Called “a modern-day Nancy Drew for grownups” by actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people de-clutter their lives and she’s married to man who can’t drive past a yard sale without stopping. She distracts herself from marital problems with new clients who have a mess that might be too big for her to clean up. “Careful what you wish for,” as the old adage says . . . Emily might lose her freedom, her marriage, and possibly her life.
**Find Hallie Ephron’s book Writing & Selling Your Mystery Novel in the Now Write! Contributors updated writing books post.**
Rabid Heart by Jeremy Wagner (Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror contributor)
Riverdale Avenue Books (August, 2018)
Can true love survive the Necro Rabies pandemic that has turned the world into hordes of rabid undead zombies known as “Cujos”?
I was deeply saddened to learn that Jack Ketchum passed away on the morning of January 24, 2018. He left quite a legacy of real-life horror inspired by his deep humanity. See below the conversation I had with him at Center for Fiction and more about his work. He will be missed.
You might think a true-life crime and horror speculative fiction author, who Stephen King has referred to as, “the scariest guy in America”, would be intimidating. But meeting and speaking with Jack Ketchum was quite the opposite. He is a warm and caring person who uses his skill as a writer to exercise (and probably exorcise) his imagination, expose evil in the world and entertain audiences with a fascination for the darker side of life.
He was generous in sharing his insights about craft and answering a lot of thoughtful questions from the audience:
More about Jack Ketchum
photo by Steve Thornton
Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for novelist Dallas Mayr. As a teenager, he was befriended by Robert Bloch (author of Psycho) who became a mentor to him. He supported Ketchum’s work, just as his work was supported by his own mentor, H.P. Lovecraft.
Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a private garbageman, a lumber salesman, a copywriter, editor of the paleontological magazine “Fossils,” and as a literary agent for Scott Meredith, Inc., where he served as agent for author Henry Miller. He also worked in off-off Broadway and summer stock as a reviewer, playwrite and director.
In 1980, Jack Ketchum published his first novel Off Season, about a real-life family that lived in a cave and had a lifestyle of murder, cannibalism, and incest. Mainstream reviewers hated it, but fans felt otherwise.
He concentrates mainly on real-life monsters, but also writes otherworldly and surreal stuff, like a dark Western novella The Crossings, and “The Haunt”, a short supernatural tale.
So far, Jack has won the Bram Stoker Award for his short stories “The Box” and “Gone”, and his collections Closing Time and Peaceable Kingdom.
Some of his most powerful novels have been turned into films: RED, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, THE LOST, THE WOMAN, OFF SPRING.
Two short stories were made into short films: “Mail Order” and “Olivia”. By the way, you can hear Jack read an excerpt from “Olivia”. He also wrote a book that is auto- and biographical of influential people in his life called Book of Souls.
Education and Inspiration for Writers of Speculative Fiction
Next weekend (Jan. 27-29) is the 2017 Genre-LA™ Creative Writers Conference in Culver City, California, (location details) where more than 30 published masters of the genre, literary agents, editors, publishers, best-selling authors, industry experts, Hollywood veterans, educators, and publishing professionals will share their experiences and secrets to help take your writing to the next level and guide your career on the path to success. Save up to $100 on a Single Registration:http://www.wcwriters.com/club.
Now Write! Panel: Special Techniques of Expert Speculative Fiction Writers and Filmmakers
Get inspired and learn how to take your writing to the next level with this Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror panel, Friday, Jan 27, 5:45-6:45 immediately followed by networking cocktail party at the Conference. Have fun taking your imagination where it needs to go to write effectively in these mind-bending genres.
Filmmaker/educator/former studio exec and two-time Now Write! contributor Devorah Cutler-Rubenstein will discuss intriguing ways to give sentience to ordinary objects.
Acclaimed writer/producer/director Pen Densham (Outer Limits, Twilight Zone TV Show revivals) will talk about his unique approach to creative mashups “Writing Into the Spiritual Unknown.” (Check out Pen’s FREE Creative Person’s Success Manual and his awesome screenwriting book Riding the Alligator.)
Special guest Pamela Jaye Smith, award-winning producer/ director/author and mythology expert. She will discuss how to use myth, magic and metaphysics in your stories. Let her be your guide into the geography and psychology of these other realities and learn ways to use them to give your stories internal integrity and unique power.
It’s the Chinese Year of the Monkey – the Yang Red Fire Monkey. Education, building businesses and following creative dreams are highlighted.
So the Year of the Monkey is truly a perfect time to start working with a Now Write! book to practice and improve your writing in general or find inspiration for a specific project.
The Chinese edition of Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror has a yellow cover. The bird perhaps refers to Edgar Allan Poe’s crow-? While the Korean cover art remind me of Polish versions of American movie posters. Pretty cool, huh?
Chinese and Korean editions of Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
There’s already a Chinese edition of Now Write! Screenwriting. a Korean edition is on the way in June, 2016.
Chinese edition of Now Write! Screenwriting
Chinese editions of Now Write! Screenwriting and Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror are published by China Remnin University Press, available at crup.com.
The Korean editions of Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror,Now Write! Mysteries and Now Write! Screenwriting are being published by Darun Book Publisher.
Now Write! has the pleasure to be involved with the Greater Los Angeles Writers’ Society (GLAWS) conferences. Now Write! hosted lively panels with contributors from several of the Now Write! books at the last 3 conferences. These are friendly, affordable writers’ conferences with a lot to offer writers at various levels from beginning to professional.
The upcoming conference June 26-28, 2015 is the biggest of the year and takes place at L.A. Valley College.
Participation by Now Write! contributors and editor:
Friday, June 26, 2015
2:00pm: Now Write! Screenwriting contributor Marilyn Atlas will be on a panel: “How To Pitch a Literary Agent or Publisher.”
5:45pm: Now Write! editor Laurie Lamsonwill moderate a panel: “Techniques for Editing Your Own Work and When to Hire a Pro.”
5:45pm:Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror contributor Steven Barnes offers a class: “The Professional Writer’s Tool Kit” (Laurie wishes she could be in both places at once!)
Sunday, June 28, 2015
1:45pm Laurie and 2-time contributor Brad Schreiber will present a creative writing workshop featuring Brad’s exercise in Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror: “Metamorphosis.” Laurie will also share her top 10 favorite exercises selected from all of the books in the Now Write! series.
1:45pm Steven Barnes participates in a panel: “After the TV Pilot – What it Takes to Write a Successful Series”.
by Rezla Aslan (Now Write! Nonfiction contributor)
Music Is Power by Brad Schreiber (Now Write! Screenwriting and Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror contributor)
Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen (Now Write! Nonfiction contributor)
Criminals: My Family’s Life on Both Sides of the Law by Robert Anthony Siegel (Now Write! Fiction contributor)
Blood Prism by E.E. King (Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror contributor)
Careful What You Wish For: A Novel of Suspense by Hallie Ephron (Now Write! Mysteries contributor)
Rabid Heart by Jeremy Wagner (Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror contributor)
Happy Chinese New Year!
