Are Villains Good Bad Guys? We have five of the best! It may sound like an oxymoron, but there’s something about a good bad guy that draws me into a story every time. Maybe it’s because a well-crafted villain often has some redeemable facets woven into their very fibers. Maybe it’s the morally gray […]
Category Archives: Blog Article
“Were You Scared of the Dark?”
“Were You Scared of the Dark?” Alex North Explores the pathology of fear with Steve Cavanagh Anybody who’s met Steve Cavanagh will tell you the same: it’s difficult to imagine him being frightened of anything. Steve has worked both as a bouncer in Belfast and as a highly-respected human rights lawyer, and he’s the […]
Sarah Pinborough on Fear
Sarah Pinborough on Fear When I first started writing The Whisper Man, all I really knew was that it would be about fathers and sons and that I wanted it to be scary. The story emerged gradually as I wrote. I found myself in a similar situation when asked to guest edit Strand’s blog. […]
Detectives and Their Food
Detectives and Their Food By Carla Neggers You are what you eat, or so the saying goes, but is that true for our favorite fictional detectives? Does their food reveal character or create character? After all, even a detective hot on the trail of a determined killer has to eat. For some, food is merely […]
“The Amiable Fleas” and John Steinbeck in Paris, 1954
“The Amiable Fleas” and John Steinbeck in Paris, 1954 In 1954, living in Paris with his third wife Elaine, John Steinbeck was a comfortable man. He had recently completed difficult work: the film treatment for Viva Zapata! (1952); his third play/novelette, Burning Bright (1950, where characters struggle with notions of fatherhood—as did the man himself); […]
6 THRILLERS THAT FEATURE TOXIC PERFECTIONISM
6 THRILLERS THAT FEATURE TOXIC PERFECTIONISM It’s never been easier to appear perfect, all it takes is the right angle and filter. Yet, the pursuit of perfection doesn’t always push one to greatness, but rather to commit all kinds of ugly. My novel, The Retreat, is set on a wellness retreat where my characters are […]
Does The UK Music Scene Have a Dark Underbelly?
Does The UK Music Scene Have a Dark Underbelly? British rock music still, hopefully, holds a place in your American hearts. And if you like both British noir AND rock music, here are a seven excellent crime fiction books set in and around the UK music scene that all give you glimpse of music’s darker […]
My Top Ten Psychopathic Crime & Thriller Characters
My Top Ten Psychopathic Crime & Thriller Characters Everyone loves a story with a terrifying villain, as long as in the end justice is done. Psychopathic characters fascinate readers because while they can appear just like the rest of us, underneath the surface lurks an alien and dangerous creature. You might be surprised to […]
Revisiting Paris: The Story Behind Hemingway’s Previously Unpublished “A Room on the Garden Side”
Revisiting Paris: The Story Behind Ernest Hemingway’s Previously Unpublished “A Room on the Garden Side” Fans of Ernest Hemingway books well know the importance of Paris to his work. Arriving in the “City of Light” in late 1921 along with his new bride, Hadley Richardson, the aspiring writer immersed himself in the Left Bank’s expatriate […]
H.G. Wells’ “The Haunted Ceiling” published for the first time in The Strand Magazine
H.G. Wells’ “The Haunted Ceiling” published for the first time in The Strand Magazine (We had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Patrick Parrinder who discussed the recently published short story by H.G. Wells titled, “The Haunted Ceiling.”) Gulli: When do you think that Wells wrote this story? It seems like a very old manuscript. Parrinder: […]
Tennessee Williams’ previously unpublished “Crazy Night” and the Echoes of Later Works
“Crazy Night” and the Echoes of Later Works (Tennessee Williams scholar Augustin J. Correro was given access to a copy of “Crazy Night” by Tennessee Williams and writes a detailed analysis of the short story for strandmag.com.)Tennessee Williams wrote a lot. Describing him as prolific would be an understatement. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to […]
Five things that Foreign Writers get wrong when they write about Russia
Five things that Foreign Writers get wrong when they write about Russia This blog post was born in trauma. Never miss an opportunity to write for money, they said. So when an assignment came out of the blue to read through a newly-written novel set in Russia and makes corrections on authenticity for a […]