Tyler Miller's Blog: The Black Cat Moan

Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again.
— Ray Bradbury

In 1944 a little-known Argentine writer named Jorge Luis Borges published a slender volume of cryptic short stories humbly titled Ficciones. Enigmatic and offbeat, it was riddled with mathematical equations, labyrinthine puzzles, arcane footnotes and references to imaginary encyclopedias. Mostly lacking in t...

RL Stine has the benefit of having written for both teens and young readers during an era of markedly good cover art. Few series have been as blessed by consistently fantastic artwork as Goosebumps, and Stine’s early work for Point Horror hit the market when garish, sleazy covers were still the norm for works of horror and suspense. Stine’s longevity, too, has served him well.

[image error]He is back in the spotlight once again with the launch of Return to Fear Street, just as the 80s have become cool aga...

I don’t know why I’ve avoided Bentley Little for so long. I read his novel The Walking  when it came out, and half of The Town  years ago, but neither novel caught my attention so much that I stuck with him. That says more about me though than it does about Little, because after finally coming around to reading The Store, there is no doubt in my mind that Little is a damn fine writer. And The Store  is an underrated masterpiece of the genre.

The Store  succeeds where many other horror novels...

Baby Driver squealed into theaters last week, debuting as the first great action movie of the summer. Sporting a top-shelf ensemble cast, inventive chase scenes—both on road and on foot—and one of the coolest soundtracks since Guardians of the Galaxy, the newest offering from director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is pleasing moviegoers across the nation.

It is also presenting a new model for filmmakers: the movie-as-vehicle for a bitchin playlist.

Epic soundtracks have long been...

It was announced today that my essay “Did Borges Write  the Sci-Fi Masterpiece of the 20th Century?”  won this year’s Thresholds Feature Writing Competition.

The judges were incredibly generous in their assessment of the piece:

‘This intriguing short essay allows us to explore the brilliance of Borges’ short stories as [image error]well as his uncanny prescience as a writer. The author draws vivid analogies between Borges’ libraries and labyrinths and our own digital worlds and slippery realities. These a...

New Line Cinema finally released the teaser trailer for the remake of Stephen King’s 1986 blockbuster horror novel IT, and what a trailer it is. There’s a fair amount of carping going on around the internet, but let’s be honest here: this is a spooky preview with obvious production values.

It certainly inspires hope that this two-film project will deliver in ways that the original made-for-TV mini-series didn’t. Of course, it also sets up potential disappointment. King is the most heavily-ada...

The history of television is marked throughout by horror anthologies: shows that presented standalone terrors night after night. In spite of a healthy birth and a productive span of decades, the form has–sadly–witnessed a sad decline. That television as a medium is currently booming makes this decline all the more puzzling.

The heyday for televised horror was the 50s and 60s, though the 80s and 90s saw a sharp creative run (the 70s, by contrast, were a freakin snooze). Post 2000, the antholog...

[image error]As part of Read an Ebook Week (March 5 thru March 11) you can download both of my story collections completely FREE at Smashwords.com.Click the link below to be taken to the downloads:

Smashwords Read an Ebook Week

Hope you enjoy! If you do, let me know by leaving a review on Goodreads or Amazon.com. Every review helps!

[image error]“I loved The Other Side of The Door…Aside from being a brilliant story in and of itself I loved how it faintly echoed of Stephen King’s The Shining.”  — Su...

Juvenilia is a term used to define the works of a writer or artist that are produced while they are still young and before their skills have been wholly fine-tuned. For most writers, this work is rather embarrassing. It is all too easy to see the flawed characters, the hackneyed dialogue, the wandering plot of a seventeen-year-old’s work. Many writers burn their earliest work.

Others, lucky enough to be so popular that people will buy anything they write, have it published.

Now let’s get it o...

Years after his death, Michael Crichton is still dominating American culture. Jurassic World  shattered records at the box office upon its release, demonstrating that Crichton’s dinosaurs-run-amok brainchild still holds wide appeal. HBO’s remake of Crichton’s early film Westworld  was met with great fanfare, both from critics and audiences. And in 2017, a newly-discovered Crichton manuscript will be making its way to bookshelves around the world.

In spite of his stunning success (he is the on...