Seton Hill, Spring 2010

If you've ever applied to an MFA program, chances are you've been told that they only encourage litterary fiction.  They usually don't allow genre fiction, by which they mean the things that most people read.  Genres like Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Romance, Fantasy and Horror do have a place, however, for the burgeoning novelist of the future.

By now, most folks know that, in addition to working for Texas State University-San Marcos as a computer nerd, writing, and teaching Kajukenbo, I also teach in the innovative Masters in Writing Popular Fiction MFA program at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania.  At this moment, I'm gearing up to fly there for a week to teach three modules, four workshops, and meet with my mentees (I'm a mentor...So what else do you call students of mentors?).  I'll also be teaching an online class on readings in the genre, specifically my favorite genre, HORROR.  So here's a list of the classes I'm teaching, and what the Reading in the Genres reading list looks like:

Modules

• Critiquing and Clarity - How to help your fellow students and writers improve their work without coming off as a tool.
• Evolution of the Species:  Creating Other Races - How to create other creatures, alien species, and monsters that don't suck.
• The Language of Fear - How to create tension and scare the crap out of people with your writing. 

Readings in the Genre (Horror) Reading List

• The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
• The Best of H.P. Lovecraft:  Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre - H.P. Lovecraft (Pickman's Model, The Music of Erich Zann, The Thing on the Doorstep, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Dreams in the Witch-House)
• Hell House - Richard Matheson
• Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin
• The Shining - Stephen King
• Cabal - Clive Barker
• On Writing Horror - Mort Castle, Ed.