Interview with Ralan Conley, creator of Ralan.com
By Flames | February 7, 2008
Whether you have tried to publish one piece of fiction or 100, chances are you visited Ralan.com’s SpecFic and Humor Webstravaganza for better listings of publishers than the Writer’s Market has to offer. In this interview, we hear from Ralan himself about his work and the thoughts behind offering free information for all writers to access.
If you’re not familiar with the site, Ralan does offer this invaluable information for free and survives off of donations and the kindness of others. This massive source of publishers, webzines and contests features everything from Weird Tales to Ralan’s Flash Fiction Contest. So sit back and hear from the man behind Ralan.com about his fiction, freelancing and other projects.
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Taking a Bite Out of Horror: A Guide to Reviewing Horror Films Like the Pros
By Monica Valentinelli | January 7, 2007
Horror-genre lovers (like you and me) can’t resist sharing our love of the macabre. If we tell our friends about a dog of a film, they probably won’t go to see it. How then do we write a film review that finds the happy medium between gushing over the latest hit and bashing that worthless dud?
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On Reviewing Fiction
By Monica Valentinelli | February 3, 2005
These days almost everyone with a home computer at some point or another wants to be a writer. As a consequence the fiction market has been flooded with new authors: some good, some bad. But what makes a piece of fiction “bad”? How does the average reader know what’s worthwhile to read and what isn’t?
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How to Write Reviews of Role Playing Game Books
By Flames | December 7, 2004
The purpose of a review is to provide readers with enough information to decide whether they would like to spend their time or money on reading the book, watching the film or, in our case, playing the game. Whether or not the reviewer enjoys or is enthused by the game is of less importance. The reader must come first.
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Horror Plot Devices
By Flames | November 29, 2004
Plenty of articles deal with setting the mood for a horror RPG. As a result, I’m not going to tackle that topic. Instead, I’d like to talk about plot devices that, when in operation at a level of generality above specific mood elements, set the stage for creating a truly horrific RPG.
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Interview with Matt Forbeck
By Flames | May 3, 2004
Matt tells us about his work in RPGs, video games, comics, fiction and other projects. We talk a little bit about Brave New World, Deadlands and freelance writing as well.
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Interview with R. K. Post
By Flames | December 14, 2003
In this interview we talk to the artist about his work on Obsidian: the Age of Judgement and other RPGs. Mr. Post also gives a little break-down of the art development process that goes into books he has worked on.
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Deeper: Getting More from your Character
By Flames | August 7, 2002
Have you ever noticed how some types of characters seem to lend themselves naturally to stereotype? In Vampire you can easily find multiple-personality Malkavians, limp-wristed über-goth Toreador, street-punk Brujah, and so on; in Changeling (which I play the most often) there’s big, dumb trolls and horny satyrs, and so on. Every clan or kith or tradition or group has a stereotype.
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