Welcome to the Ember Chasm blog section. Craft articles, book reviews, and so much more. New content always incoming: We’re striking matches and building new fires as you read.
Craft Articles
Review of Past Lives, Future Bodies by Kristin Chang
Past Lives, Future Bodies by Kristin Chang is a sharp and vivid poetry collection. Each poem feels like a fishContinue Reading
Review of Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
Like its title implies, Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney encourages us all to speak, share our feelings, and delveContinue Reading
3 Ways The Last of Us Can Improve Your Writing
Videogames tell stories—unique stories, ones that are far more interactive than films or books, and that have the potential toContinue Reading
Review of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
In The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake a young girl named Rose is suddenly able to taste her mother’s feelingsContinue Reading
7 Books To Read to Support Black Lives Matter
With the murder of George Floyd by police, protests have sparked all over the world. All fifty states, more thanContinue Reading
Citizen by Claudia Rankine – A Must Read
“I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” One of many powerful quotes in Citizen, Claudia Rankine’s heart-wrenching,Continue Reading
Review of Knots by Gunnhild Øyehaug
Øyehaug’s collection of short stories—the shortest being one page and the longest twenty two—is an odd and anxious experience. EverythingContinue Reading
Review of The World Isn’t the Size of Our Neighborhood Anymore by Austin Davis
Austin Davis’s poetry collection, The World Isn’t the Size of Our Neighborhood Anymore, is an intricate and honest love letterContinue Reading
Marlon James: “Reclaiming the Fantasy Novel”
Image credit to Megan Potter, ASU Now Marlon James has made waves in the Fantasy world for a while now.Continue Reading
Five Ways to Create a Complex Character
Being alive is weird. It comes with emotions, experiences, societal placements, and upbringings. We each have different cultures, hobbies, beliefContinue Reading
The Correspondence of Existentialism and Feminism in Virginia Woolf’s To the Light House
In her book The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir describes a woman’srelationship to creativity: “when she does not find love,Continue Reading
Review of No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
This book was a mix that felt both familiar and absolutely incredibly wrong. It was a bit like drinking aContinue Reading
Review of Story of Your Life, and Others by Ted Chiang
I’d heard of Ted Chiang; in the city of science fiction, he is the architect always erecting the newest marvelContinue Reading
Eight Tips to Be a Better Writer
You’re here because you want to write. You want to write good things. Things that resonate. Things that matter. ButContinue Reading