Following on from our discussion What is New Pulp and why do we want one? , Andrez Bergen offers up a genuinely intriguing insight in to the varied definitions of New Pulp amongst a wave of writers all engaged in writing it. The excitement of pulp, its working class roots, and the digital revolution all play aContinue reading “Guest Post : A New Pulp think tank”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
What is the New Pulp and why do we want one?
Some weeks back I penned a column on the phenomenon of the New Pulp, and since then I’ve enjoyed watching the term continue to emerge as a zeitgeist from the group mind of genre fiction. David Barnett, author of the upcoming Gideon Smith novels, talks here about the Nu Pulp. Geek Syndicate provide a niceContinue reading “What is the New Pulp and why do we want one?”
The battle for geek culture
As a fan of fantasy fiction, it’s been entertaining watching mainstream cultural critics’ baffled responses to Game of Thrones, which has surprised many by becoming the biggest show on TV this year. Gina Bellafante of the New York Times was among the first to come a cropper when she made the rash statement that noContinue reading “The battle for geek culture”
7 signs you are ready to self-publish (a checklist)
For my work at The Guardian I spend a lot of time looking at new books, and I’ve gone out of my way to look at new books by indie published writers. And my conclusion has been that the vast majority of independently published writers aren’t ready. The books aren’t ready and their authors aren’tContinue reading “7 signs you are ready to self-publish (a checklist)”
What neuroscience tells us about the art of fiction
Jim Worrad is a founder member of The Speculators, Leicester’s most bad ass SF writing group, Clarion workshop graduate and a BAMF of a writer to boot. Find more of the man here. Under discussion in this guest post is what neuroscience can contribute to the craft of fiction. Read on! One of the veryContinue reading “What neuroscience tells us about the art of fiction”
Look after your brain. They don’t issue new ones.
Bobby Fischer was arguably the greatest chess player of all time. American chess champion at 14, grandmaster at 15, world champion at 28. A brilliant but brief career cut short by schizophrenia. By the time of his death in 2008 Fischer was a ranting, anti-semetic caricature of insanity. There are a number of possible reasonsContinue reading “Look after your brain. They don’t issue new ones.”
How to bend the masses to your will with words alone
The internet, being composed of 50% text and 50% raw naked ambition, is full of how-tos and guidelines on ways to manipulate the written word to achieve your raw naked ambitions. They are called things like How to Write Compelling Content for the Web or 73 Ways to Manipulate the Weak Willed With the PowerContinue reading “How to bend the masses to your will with words alone”
All hail the New Pulp
Imagine a scale of literary productivity. At one end, place current darling of the American literary scene Jeffrey Eugenides, bating a steady average of one book per decade. At the other, put Jack Vance – at 95, perhaps the last of the great pulp fictioneers – who has produced 60 novels across the SF, fantasyContinue reading “All hail the New Pulp”
Who profits in the creative economy?
A Bookseller article today reports that ‘less than 10% of self published authors make a living‘, based on a survey of around 1000 self-published authors. But the remarkable thing about this story is the intensely negative spin it gives to the data it presents. It could easily read “Holy Fuck! A percentage of self-published authorsContinue reading “Who profits in the creative economy?”
First person in The Great Gatsby
If you’ve picked up some corrupted ideas about 1st person narration from bad urban fantasy writing, The Great Gatsby is a good restorative. @damiengwalter Reading The Great Gatsby today, I’ve been struck by how well F. Scott Fitzgerald writes, and in particular how well he writes first person narrative. The Great Gatsby was first publishedContinue reading “First person in The Great Gatsby”
Why the same arguments repeat endlessly online
The internet opens up all forms of discourse to all kinds of people. Just a few decades ago, the dialogues of literary criticism were held between only a small handful of ‘qualified’ experts. Now, for better or worse, tens of thousands of people debate literature online. When a discourse is conducted within a limited community,Continue reading “Why the same arguments repeat endlessly online”
Fantasy must be a struggle with life
The more experienced I become as a writer, the more I realise I was closer to the soul of the art when I started out than after a decade and some lose change years studying its craft. Jonathan Franzen is a writer I discovered through The Corrections some time in the last year or so.Continue reading “Fantasy must be a struggle with life”
Damien Walter 