Biology of Story

A while back I did a wide-ranging interview with the screenwriter and professor Amnon Buchbinder for his massive, collective online project about narrative called The Biology of Story.  The whole project is now up and available now, and you should check it out.  My page is here (at the link), but you can easily navigate to other topics, people, tips and approaches not only to novels and written stories but TV and filmmaking.

The Biology of Story

Cover Reveal! Paperback of THE DAMNED

Here’s the trade paperback cover design of The Damned that Simon & Schuster has come up with for Canada and the U.S.  I really like it.  But then again, I’m the sort who can stare into a fire for hours, seeing faces and figures jump out from the flames.  Which makes this cover a treat both for those pondering the underworld and pyros.

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Walk Down Memory Desk Lane…

Finally going through the nest of stuff in my office’s cubbyhole and came across a photo of me at the desk where I wrote The Wildfire Season.

This was in the summer of 2004, in a 12×12 apartment (room? closet?) we rented in the Log Skyscraper (google it to see) in downtown Whitehorse, Yukon.  An amazing summer: paddled down the Yukon River, wrote a book, proposed marriage.  Best of my life, come to think of it.

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The Demonologist a Horror Must-Read

I like lists.  Best Ofs and Most Oftens and Worst Evers.  They don’t necessarily bear great meaning, but they provoke conversation, and the creation of more lists.

The Demonologist made a list the other day, so naturally I thought I’d share the news (and perhaps provoke conversation).  The BuzzFeed Community voted on and created “23 Under-rated Horror Novels You Have to Read ASAP.”  Check it out and see what you think.

23 Underrated Horror Novels You Have to Read ASAP

The Damned in The New York Times!

I’m honored to see The Damned right next to Clive Barker’s new book in Terrence Rafferty’s roundup of recent horror novels in The New York Times.

“Smart, inventive….this is what demons—living or otherwise, human or not—do best: they mesmerize, they seduce, they stop us in our tracks.” — New York Times Book Review

Check out the whole piece here:

The Damned – The New York Times review

NOW Magazine cover!

NOW Magazine, the alternative culture bible of my town, Toronto, has been around a long time.  And this week, my bloody mug is on the cover!

It’s an honest-to-god thrill, as is the idea that tomorrow morning, the good people of Toronto will be looking at my face and wondering “What’s with that guy?”

NOW Magazine – Cover Profile

The Daily Mail (UK) on THE DAMNED

The Damned has just been published in the UK and here’s a particularly nice notice I wanted to share from the Daily Mail:

“An intense and satisfying supernatural story…The novel underlines Pyper’s growing reputation as one of the most talented successors to the inimitable Stephen King…Creeping dread infuses every page.” – Daily Mail (UK)

The Damned – Daily Mail (UK)