{"id":6311,"date":"2019-04-05T21:16:14","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T01:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=6311"},"modified":"2019-04-05T21:16:35","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T01:16:35","slug":"book-review-its-alive-bringing-your-nightmares-to-life-edited-by-eugene-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-its-alive-bringing-your-nightmares-to-life-edited-by-eugene-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: It’s Alive! Bringing Your Nightmares to Life edited by Joe Mynhardt and Eugene Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life\u00a0<\/em>by Eugene Johnson<\/p>\n

Crystal Lake Publishing (December 14, 2018)<\/p>\n

ISBN-13:\u00a0978-1684545452<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are books on writing that inspire, ones that feed the muse, ones that teach, but rarely has there been one that encompasses all three aspects, resulting in a must-read, must-have companion for the writer\u2019s lair.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s\u00a0Where <\/em>Nightmares <\/em>Came<\/em> From<\/em>\u00a0came pretty close, with articles and essays on the horror genre from a writer\u2019s perspective.\u00a0It\u2019s Alive<\/em>\u00a0continues that journey, but burrows deep within the authors\u2019 psyche to where the story lives and breathes, and pushes its way out into the world. The massive collection of articles and interviews has something for every fan and everyone who has ever thought of writing, in this genre or others. Yes, it\u2019s a book on horror, but its knowledge can easily be transferred to other genres as it focuses on the true ART of storytelling, something most reference books fail to acknowledge.<\/p>\n

The following pieces are highlights for this reviewer, but in no way do I mean to diminish the others. Wherever the writer is in his or her career, or whatever stage of the story they may gravitate towards, any chapter could hit the bullseye for them. Tomorrow, a new favorite may emerge, which is the beauty and accessibility of the book. Some chapters at first appear to cover similar material, such as the age-old \u201cshow versus tell\u201d argument, yet how it\u2019s approached varies in style and application. Reading how so many greats in the field carve into their imaginations and create something from nothing proves there are infinite paths to travel to arrive at the story\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Maberry kicks off the book with his recollections of learning from two of the greatest writers of the the twentieth century, Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson. His experiences as a child playing the \u201cWhat If\u201d game with these giants sounds simple but delves into the crucial questions that every storyteller must answer.<\/p>\n

Yvonne Navarro tackles the \u201cto outline or not to outline\u201d in a sensible manner that doesn\u2019t demonize either and shows how both can aid the writer in distress. For the artist who abhors one method or the other, this should be mandatory reading as it can redirect a story over the roughest terrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Horror Writer\u2019s Ultimate Toolbox\u201d by Tim Waggoner at first looks simple for the seasoned writer but when read \u00a0thoroughly, it takes on different meaning. There exists here a trio of articles on characterization that all bring something special to the table,even though the initial premise is similar.<\/p>\n

Paul Wilson, Brian Kirk, and Kealan Patrick Burke pen intelligent, easy to apply tutorials on how to craft the characters that will stand out in a short story or novel. Creating empathy, conveying the true heart of that main protagonist or villain, or simply adding layers to an existing person that will keep the reader engaged is something every writer strives for yet often comes up short on. The applications by Wilson bring to mind his iconic \u201cRepairman Jack\u201d character, who could have been a terribly bland player on the page, but by utilizing the suggestions in the chapter, force the writer to dig deep and give the characters life in ways he or she likely had not even considered. Kirk and Burke delve further into this, stoking empathy for even the toughest characters to love.<\/p>\n

Delivering the writer\u2019s voice onto the page is something that\u2019s been written about in countless books, yet Robert Ford almost makes it sound easy. Del Howison\u2019s interview with Heather Graham, Mick Garris, Steve Niles, Maria Alexander, and Mark Anderson unravels their methods of getting the idea stuck in the writer\u2019s head onto the page or screen.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s the interview with the elusive, but legendary, Clive Barker, by Tim Chizmar. While several pieces can be pointed to as the pinnacle of the book, this one hits home with just one bit of advice from the master. Barker\u2019s insight into the macabre art of creating is worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Alive<\/em>\u00a0creates something special here. Crystal Lake continues to prove why they\u2019re at the top with this.<\/p>\n

Highly recommended reading for anyone who feels the need to create\u2014it should be required reading for the anyone starting out in the field.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by David Simms<\/p>\n

Editor’s note:\u00a0It’s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life<\/strong> is on the final ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life\u00a0by Eugene Johnson Crystal Lake Publishing (December 14, 2018) ISBN-13:\u00a0978-1684545452   There are books on writing that inspire, ones that feed the muse, ones that teach, but rarely has there been one that encompasses all three aspects, resulting in a must-read, must-have companion for the writer\u2019s lair. Last year\u2019s\u00a0Where<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[216,3437,396,3735,3425,1520,3667],"class_list":["post-6311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-creative-writing","tag-eugene-johnson","tag-horror-writers","tag-its-alive-bringing-your-nightmares-to-life","tag-joe-mynhardt","tag-nonfiction","tag-stoker-awards-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6311"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6382,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6311\/revisions\/6382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}