By G. S. Norwood I was a surprised when I learned my novelettes, Deep Ellum Pawn, and Deep Ellum Blues fall into Amazon’s “Occult Horror” category. Sure they deal with the supernatural, but Horror? I don’t think so. I am not a horror fan. While I deeply respect Stephen King, and am happy to recommend his memoir/advice book, On Writing, I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t read many of his other works. I don’t enjoy being scared. It’s…
By G. S. Norwood We live in crazy times. At a time when most of us are just trying to stay safe from the coronavirus pandemic and stay afloat in an unstable economy, we have seen armed counter-protesters turn out to threaten peaceful protesters in a quiet town like Weatherford, Texas. How can this be legal? Protesters and militiamen have died in places like Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon, due to the presence of heavily armed militias. The President of…
By Jan S. Gephardt “We can’t market this” is a reason for rejection that I’ve heard for decades. It says “your book/story doesn’t fit into our pre-made boxes.” Innovation is sometimes the stuff of new bestsellers, although I’d argue that a book’s worth isn’t always or only revealed by its sales figures. But it admittedly is much harder to sell square pegs when your marketing is solely designed to appeal to round holes. Gatekeepers The literary world is famously full…
By G. S. Norwood In my novelette, Deep Ellum Blues, rising blues guitar player Mudcat Randall performs a song called Deep Ellum Blues as one of his encores. He dedicates it to Ms. Eddy Weekes, who embodies the spirit of this old Dallas neighborhood, at least for him. But what, exactly is the song, Deep Ellum Blues? “The song isn’t really the blues at all, but an up-tempo string band number,” according to Alan Govenar and Jay Brakefield, in their…