The first stories I learned to tell were ghost stories, and ghost stories have remained one of my favorite types of stories. I tell a lot of them, particularly in October. And so people often ask me why ghost stories? Why are we drawn to them? Why tell them? In thinking about that question, I … Continue reading Why Ghost Stories?
Author: alanirvineblog
Professional Storyteller, writer, playwright, director
The Apocalypse Ain’t What It Used To Be
I don’t mean to turn StoryStuff into a blog just about stories of the Apocalypse, but my last couple of posts did get me thinking about the various post-apocalyptic stories I have enjoyed in print, film and TV over the years. Thinking over them, pulling them down from the book shelves and out of the … Continue reading The Apocalypse Ain’t What It Used To Be
A Peaceful Apocalypse?
Shortly after finishing my previous post on the post-apocalyptic comic book Dark Age, I read When the English Fall by David Williams (from Algonquin Books.) The focus here is firmly on telling a realistic story of a community surviving an apocalypse. Williams starts out with an entirely plausible (and likely) event: a solar … Continue reading A Peaceful Apocalypse?
An Apocalypse is a Terrible Thing to Waste
I love a good post-apocalypse story. Back in high school in the 70s, I eagerly read the post-nuclear war novels like Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, Maleval by Richard Merle. In grad school, I loved George Stewart’s Earth Abides, about a world where 98% of the population dies in an epidemic. I’ve always been intrigued … Continue reading An Apocalypse is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Strange God in a Strange Land: Struggling with Heinlein’s Classic, part 2
In my previous post (Reader in a Strange Land), I discussed Robert Heinlein’s classic SF novel Stranger in a Strange Land and how I struggled with the novel’s view of the future until I realized that it is really a view of the past. But even as I worked through that difficulty, I wrestled with … Continue reading Strange God in a Strange Land: Struggling with Heinlein’s Classic, part 2
Reader in a Strange Land: Struggling with Heinlein’s classic. Part 1
I sat in front of the cart of books, looking for one to claim as my Summer Reading Club prize at my local library. A big, blue spine caught my eye: Stranger in a Strange Land. Although I’ve been a fan of Science Fiction most of my life, I have never read Heinlein’s classic. Maybe … Continue reading Reader in a Strange Land: Struggling with Heinlein’s classic. Part 1
Welcome to Story Stuff. I love stories. All kinds of stories. Novels, short stories, comic books, movies, TV shows, radio dramas and podcasts, plays, storytelling, and probably some others I have forgotten. I make my living with stories - as a storyteller, a director, a writer. And I love talking about stories. That's what this … Continue reading
It’s the Little Things: Days and Dates
When I read for pleasure, I gravitate to fantasy, historical fiction, and some science fiction. I like these genres for many reasons, including the fact they allow me to experience other worlds, whether a newly created imaginary world, as in fantasy and SF, or a world that once existed, but has passed away in the … Continue reading It’s the Little Things: Days and Dates
Why Thanos Flunked Sociology
(Spoiler Warning: the following discusses key plot points of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.) Avengers: Infinity War gives us something unusual for a super-hero movie: a villain who is not striving to conquer the world or simply fighting the good guys because that’s what villains do. Instead, we have Thanos, who is trying to … Continue reading Why Thanos Flunked Sociology
