Yes!

Remember, writers, always use active prose! Never say 'the crack of dawn' when you could say 'Dawn's crack'

The Reflecting Skin (1990) is a damn weird movie. But it's one of those ones where you think you didn't like it, and then days go by and you keep thinking about it until you realise that actually you did like it after all.

Writers always talk about writing a minimum amount of words every day, but sometimes I also think it's good to limit yourself. I know if I let myself write more than about 1500 words I'll be burned out the next day and not want to write. If you stop when you want to keep going, the fire stays lit.

I know I can't really complain, but why must the coolest and most exciting story ideas occur to me at 3am just as I'm trying to get to sleep?? Anyone else have this problem?

5 Authors I've read 5+ Books by:

Christopher Buehlman
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Dennis Lehane
Joe Hill
Joe Abercrombie

Finished 'A short stay in hell' last night and was up for hours thinking about it. What a concept! I only wish it was longer. It could have been five hundred pages long. No, a thousand!

It's not that I dislike AI books, it's just that I don't care about them. Want to write an AI book? Enjoy! Want to read one? Go ahead! In both cases I think you will find yourself bored and unfulfilled, but that's your choice. I'll be over here, happily immersed in delicious human stories.

You ever keep reading a book despite its many flaws because you enjoy the 'flavour' so much? Like, this is not great but it reminds me so much of X movie/book/song/general vibe that I now love it?

Writing for fun is like Pizza: even when it's bad, it's still pretty good

The struggle of going online while dodging Stranger Things spoilers because I haven't caught up yet is crazy. I don't normally binge shows but this might be the exception

"I can't watch you killing yourself like this! It's me or the books!"

"Shut up and give me back my Tolkiens, bitch!"

"Can't you see you're tearing this family apart? Enough is enough!"

"I'll tell you when I've had enough!"

I don't know how many pages or exactly how much time I spend reading every day. I just... like to read? I do it when I can? I don't care if it improves me as a person. Probably I'd still do it if it was unhealthy, like some kind of delicious cigarette. I'd have books stashed in bags under the bed

I read somewhere that the pagans used to hang the organs of animals they sacrificed for yule on pine trees, and that this is where the idea of Christmas tree ornaments originated. Bring back the old traditions I say!

1. leather jacket 2. sunglasses 3. existential dread and nihilism 4. move really slow and talk in a quiet but smooth voice. 5. buy motorbike. 6. have a stockpile of cool lines to say before you drive off, like: 'If I'm not back by dawn, call the president'

I don't like making goals about things I can't control. Instead of: 'my book will be read and loved by the masses', I prefer to think: 'For my next book I will write the most unique and interesting characters I can.'
Or at the very least: 'I will not prioritize nachos over writing today'

The cool thing about books is you can just buy as many as you want every time you pass a bookstore and they will sit, happily on your shelf like so much wine in a cellar, waiting for when the time is right for you to read them. And then they can be given away. It literally can't go wrong

"I may be bad... but I feel good"
- Army of Darkness, classic

get to know your mutuals! list 10 random things you like

1. Mezcal
2. Chess
3. Hyenas
4. Brazillian Jiu Jitsu
5. Cold, Dark, Stormy Weather
6. Surfing, and big scary waves
7. Very hot Vindaloo
8. The DOOM games
9. Supernatural noir horror
10. Lana Del Rey music

Nice, yeah I've heard good things!

Books I just bought:
Coffin Moon - Keith Rosson
Rest Stop - Nat Cassidy
Necroscope - Brian Lumly
Crypt of the Moon Spider - Nathan Ballingrud
Darkness that Comes Before - R.Scott Bakker
A Game in Yellow - Hailey Piper

Will prob get King Sorrow and Tom's Crossing in hardcover

I think what people mean when they say they 'hate' writing is that they are putting so much pressure on themselves to write a masterpiece that it becomes almost painful to try.

If you remove that pressure, it stops being hard.

Horror and Noir are such a great blend. Who does it best? Besides Silvia Moreno Garcia of course - I'm already reading everything of hers...

Today in writing: No words. Stared at screen for 10 minutes, then wall for 15. Then realised there is a much better way to start the final act of this novel. Deleted last scene, then made a rough plan for what comes next. Smiled at ceiling and thought for 25 min.
Total of minus 1250 words. Satisfied

Damn this is actually great. I might start failing to learn spanish again

Dancing for the Gods officially released! Enjoy my latest 'slice of horror'...

"Pienaar shackles you to his story with razor-wire tension... This page-turning slice of horror will keep you at the mercy of his tale. Zachary Ashford - author of Polyphemus.

shorturl.at/qP0qm

I am sick, but writing stops for no man! Even one with a sore throat. I have noticed though that being sick can make me loopy, and i pursue weird story developments i wouldn't normally.
Hmm, maybe i'll give myself 1 strepsil per 500 words. Seems reasonable

I've been working at the same liquor store for almost twelve years, and in that time I wrote 10 horror novels and published the last 3. Selling delicious poison is fun, but it's stories that feed my soul, and one day, that will be all I do. Here's to 10 more!

I have not! Hellhouse is my favourite found footage so far, so if you think origins is even better I'll have to check it out!

I have many from childhood, but recently it's been Hellhouse LLC, Oddity, and I Saw the TV Glow. That last one was more of an existential dread rather than jumpscare but I think it still counts