Lit Savvy by S.K. Salazar

 Okay, so I only briefly witnessed an alleged cult for like, less than a month. And I didn't even sink a lot of time or effort into it. I'm making this sound way more exciting than it really is. But, only because one of my favorite atheist YouTubers, Telltale Atheist, specializes in revealing the truth about famous cults and the tactics that they use to exploit their members. As a result of absorbing a lot of his knowledge, I've come to truly abhor spiritual cults with a passion. I've also never in my life imagined that I'd ever be close enough to one before I realized that it was in fact, an alleged cult.  Well, now that I've riled you up with that information, let's begin this gripping (read: entirely boring, but somewhat entertaining) tale. As I've said in a previous post, I've recently become an agnostic and I've been going strong   on that path for about nine months. Now, I don't know how this transformation works for other atheists and ...

  When I first heard of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, all I knew about it was its title and a depiction of a dark-skinned woman against a gorgeous damask cover. Honestly, that’s all it took for me to take interest in the book itself. But when I was told that it was a story with a Lovecraftian storyline, I had to devour it within days. As many of you know or don’t know, I’m a rabid H.P. Lovecraft fan. Yes, he was a raging racist piece of shit during his life. But even he had standards. Even he refused to associate with actual Nazis and he told them to fuck right off. So, that has to count for something, I suppose. On top of that, the man died alone, young, unfulfilled and with nobody but his old biddy aunts to mourn him. He never got to enjoy his legacy. And on top of that, even, young people of color are defying his racism and enjoying his works, anyways. Garcia-Moreno’s novel is an example of this reclamation, in which she satirizes and criticizes elements that Lovecr...

  Hello, friends and readers. I have returned after nearly a year of not writing. I sit here with a warm cup of cocoa and half a box of macarons, ready to give you some updates. In the past few months, I’ve been hunkering down and social distancing. Until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, I refuse to go to any gatherings or to eat out at restaurants often. Unfortunately, I’ve missed two funerals and I will be missing a wedding. But TRUST that I refuse to fuck around with a disease that has no method of prevention and no method of treatment. So, what have I been doing in the time that I’ve been trapped inside? Let’s start with something big, since it’s something that’s likely to influence my writing voice from here on out. Sometime in April, I finally became an agnostic. After several weeks of resting from the rat race of work, earning a Master’s degree and commuting over 100 miles twice a week, I finally had some time to put my more refined faculties to work. I became dishearten...

Before writing Paradise in Flames , I had written and closeted a YA fantasy novel four years before. So, it's no surprise that chapter one started out a little rusty. The plot points in it were pretty spot-on for a first attempt, if I may say so myself. I introduced Lily as a sheltered Catholic girl who was having her first experience with public education. Then, I introduced her eventual love interest and rival, Blake. Unfortunately, the prose was way too florid and that was something I personally took issue with. But upon taking this chapter to my critique group, they also found that my story started in the wrong place and that Lily's character was somehow too sweet, bubbly and cutesy. I took the suggestion to move the starting place of the chapter. Originally, it started with Lily getting a pep talk from her mother before being dropped off at school. She witnessed Blake in a fight in the school quad and immediately internalized a gut hatred for him. Then Lily met up with...