Stant Litore

"I just don't care enough about your character." "Write Characters Your Readers Won't Forget" is a toolkit for addressing that issue. Packed with 30 exercises, abundant examples, and practical strategies, this guidebook will help you write unforgettable characters who "come alive" on the page, create compelling dialogue, and chart a more breathtaking emotional journeys for your characters. Stant Litore is the author of "The Ansible Stories, The Zombie Bible, The Running of the Tyrannosaurs, " and "Dante's Heart." Best known for his weird fiction, alternate history, and scifi, he has taught frequent courses for writers across the genres and has served as a developmental editor for Westmarch Publishing. His own fiction has been acclaimed by NPR, has served as the subject of scholarly work in "Relegere" and "Weird Fiction Review, " and he has been hailed as "SF's premier poet of loneliness." He lives in Colorado with his wife and two daughters, and is working on his next book.

A Toolkit for Emerging Writers

Write Characters Your Readers Won't Forget

"There are other worldbuilding books out there; this is the one you want." - Travis Heerman, author of the Ronin trilogy and Death Wind. Like a god, you get to invent a world. Maybe several. But how do you make these worlds that readers want to visit? How do you make them worlds that readers never want to leave? In Write Worlds Your Readers Won't Forget, explore how to create unforgettable environments, creatures, and cultures in 33 intensive exercises. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR WRITE WORLDS YOUR READERS WON'T FORGET: "One of the best worldbuilding workbooks I've ever seen. Litore is inspirational, reveling in the power of imagination and packing his journey with top-notch examples and exercises. A superb resource for beginners and pros alike." - Richard Ellis Preston, Jr., author of Romulus Buckle and the City of the Founders "Stant Litore's book overflows with everything you need to know to build your own worlds from the ground up or the top down, from creatures to ecology to culture. Tons of thought-provoking exercises help create an elegant framework for speculative worldbuilding. With these techniques and your own creativity, you'll be able to create worlds your readers will never want to leave. There are other worldbuilding books out there; this is the one you want." - Travis Heermann, author of the Ronin trilogy and Death Wind "Not only is the advice great, but there's a warmth to the chapters that makes writing inviting rather than intimidating." - Todd Mitchell, author of The Traitor King and The Last Panther "A master class in world building: Litore has created an accessible, comprehensive approach. Covering religion, biology, technology, magic, language, justice, privilege and more, the book ignites the writer's imagination with provocative questions and exercises. Pro tip: read this with a notebook handy. You will be inspired to get down to the business of building your fictional world in ways you hadn't dreamed possible. Litore's passion for well-crafted sci-fi comes through in every chapter." - S.G. Redling, author of Flowertown and Damocles "This is a clear, comprehensive, and beautifully written guide to worldbuilding that will not only help emerging writers to find their voices and build imaginative worlds and characters, but one that will also prove invaluable to experienced writers seeking to spark their creative impulses or deepen the worlds they create. My favorite thing about this guide was how incredibly immersive it is. When Litore says the word 'worldbuilding, ' he's not kidding... Highly recommended. I can't wait to use some of the exercises and questions Litore offers here when writing my next book." - Angela Mitchell, author of Falada and Dancing Days "Stant Litore does an excellent job bringing structure and order to the art of world-building. His book makes the craft easy to understand and is filled with information for beginners and veterans alike." - Milton Davis, author of Changa's Safari "Stant Litore is a wonderful storyteller with a knack for creating nuanced characters and equally nuanced worlds. And this book delivers on its title: it offers a great glimpse at how to write worlds your readers won't forget." - James A. Hunter, author of the Yancy Lazarus series and Viridian Gate Online

Write Worlds Your Readers Won't Forget

"Based loosely on the gospel of Luke and on the legend of the Harrowing of Hell first century AD."

No Lasting Burial

The ancient Greek word for "truth" means unconcealing or unforgetting. Yet today many ideas and stories that were once critical to how early Christians understood, practiced, and defended their faith often remain "hidden in plain sight" in our Bibles. These ideas are concealed from us by the distance between languages, between eras, and between cultures-yet they are so worth unconcealing and unforgetting. In this book, discover: The forgotten women who co-founded Christianity Whether the first-century church thought there was a hell What happens when you realize that in Greek, faith is a verb Why gender in the Bible is more complicated than we think Which concepts our modern tradition takes for granted that would have been alien to the original readers (like homophobia) We have also forgotten that to read the Bible is to receive an invitation to adventure-to encounter the impossible, to move mountains, to walk on water. Instead, we have been taught to read the Bible tamely, to make no choices, to risk no questioning of our tradition. What would happen if we took the adventure? If we readers walked out into the wilderness toward God, leaving home far behind? If we stepped out of the boat of our received tradition, out onto the crashing waves? Let's find out.

What We Lose in Translation When We Read the Bible, and A Way of Reading the Bible as a Call to Adventure

Lives of Unforgetting

"When you see another's face -- the face of a child, or of someone hungry or hurt, someone pleading for your love -- their eyes look back. You look at them. They look at you. Only the dead don't look back." It is 1160 BC. For years, the prophet Devora has blamed other tribes for the hunger of the dead and the gruesome death of her mother. But this day will bring her both tidings of a swarm of the dead greater than any she has ever known and a supplicant who will shatter every hard shell she has formed around her heart: Hurriya, who has carried her infant across the length of ancient Israel in search of a miraculous cure. Hurriya, a refugee from the tribes Devora has hated. Hurriya, who is receiving terrifying visions of the future-like Devora's own. In the nights to come, all strangers in the land must stand together if they are to survive. "To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I could not put it down." - "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer" "Beyond the rich historical background and the desperate fight for survival, Strangers in the Land is a story about otherness, what it means to be a 'stranger' ... Far from being 'just another zombie book', it is a remarkably clear look at what it means to impose a system of inequality among a culture." - "Examiner.com" "Stant rebuilds the zombie mythology from the ground up." - Rob Kroese, author of "Mercury Falls" and "Schrodinger's Gat"

Strangers in the Land

Biblical tales retold as episodes in humanity's battle with the ravenous dead. Now, get five novels in a single volume: Death Has Come up into Our Windows What Our Eyes Have Witnessed Strangers in the Land No Lasting Burial I Will Hold My Death Close (and an exclusive excerpt from By a Slender Thread) DEATH HAS COME UP INTO OUR WINDOWS (Book 1) It is 587 BC. A vast army lies encamped about Yirmiyahu’s city, and a rebellious king has closed the city gates, locking in the living and the dead together. Now, the things Yirmiyahu sees and the things he must do will call into question every promise he has made, every duty he has sworn -- to his wife, his God, and his city. WHAT OUR EYES HAVE WITNESSED (Book 2) Regina endures a death-in-life as a sex slave in the Subura, the ancient world's most terrible ghetto -- until a strange man sees her suffering and gives her a coat, a new name, and a new life. The man is Polycarp, and he has the Gift of gazing into the eyes of the hungry dead and granting them rest -- a Gift that comes at a terrible cost. And ancient Rome may burn him for it. STRANGERS IN THE LAND (Book 3) Four must stand against the dead: The aging prophetess Devora. Hurriya, the slave girl. Zadok, a legend among warriors. And the widower Barak, who has sworn to defend his homeland from a migration of walking corpses greater than has ever been seen. In this retelling of a tale from Judges, the strangers in the land must stand together if they are to rid the land of its blight. NO LASTING BURIAL (Book 4) A man wanders out of the desert one day and finds a village in ruins after a night of the walking dead. The survivors have thrown the snarling corpses into the Sea of Galilee, only to starve as the ghoul-haunted sea yields no fish. Will the stranger's coming bring back the fish, or the hungry dead? I WILL HOLD MY DEATH CLOSE (Book 5) Marked for sacrifice by her own father.... A young woman must rely on only her wits and troubled memories of her mother’s faith to survive. Jepthah's daughter flees to the hills, knowing her father and his stone blade may appear at any time to claim her -- while the unburied dead of her people also hunt her in the low ravines. The centuries to come will not remember her name. But generations of young women will climb those hills to remember her. "Heartbreaking and wonderful." - Conflictium "Stant Litore has been doing fascinating phantasmagorical things with zombies in biblical times." - Jeff Vandermeer, author of Annihilation "I find myself riveted to Stant's prose, not only because I'm eager to find out the characters' fate but because his words are so beautiful. The story has stayed with me days after reading it. I highly recommend." - Denise Grover Swank, author of The Curse Keepers "The Zombie Bible is philosophy played out in bleak landscapes. It's psychology set to the harsh strains of Prokofiev. Litore's prose is lean and hungry; his characters are faceted all-round like various colored stones; his scenes pulse with blood and life, ring with metal or reek of sweat and undeath." - Marc McDermott "Litore’s vibrant writing rips the lid off of the King James version and reveals to us a world of intense human hopes, dreams and pathos. You’ve never seen anything like this before." - Richard Ellis Preston, Jr., author of Romulus Buckle and the City of the Founders "To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I could not put it down." - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Zombie Bible

Yerusalem City is dying, and the king's fear of invasion renders him blind to the starvation and plague ravaging his people. Only Yirmiyahu the prophet can see the truth only he can hear God weeping behind her veil in the temple. He knows the locked citygates will keep no one out they will only keep the dead in. Fearful that God has abandoned her city, Yirmiyahu wrestles with the hunger of the living and the hunger of the dead as he struggles to hold onto his last vestige of hope.

Death Has Come Up Into Our Windows

One day, homo sapiens will burn half the universe—and after, our descendants will cross billions of light years to atone and forget. In the pages of Dante's Heart, join Mara the naiad, the monster-hunter Dante, Fang Yu the cyborg knight and her lover Siwatu the necromancer, and Azar Almasi the intergalactic geneticist (and deity) as they search the universe for the secret of violence. From a foot-trek through forests made of glass, to the pools where the tadpoles of dragons are born, from alien planetscapes to pitched battles in the silent dark between the stars, who will survive humanity's last pilgrimage? This lavish, full-color edition includes 20 illustrations and 9 sketches by artists Roberto Calas, Chaz Kemp, and Frankie Serna. EARLY REVIEWS FOR DANTE'S HEART "Dante's Heart is like Clive Barker, Octavio Paz, and Dante Alighieri are playing D&D together. Lush stuff and more imaginative than most fantasy fare." - Marc McDermott "Dante's Heart isn't as much a story as it is an epic poem. Visually and emotionally evocative, it seems to be this gifted author’s heartfelt rumination on pain, loss, and the human propensity toward violence. To read it is to step through an oil painting into another world. But beware: Once there, you may have trouble finding your way back out. Not that you'll necessarily want to, because Dante's Heart is both terrifyingly and achingly beautiful." – Michael Whiteman Jones REVIEWS FOR STANT LITORE'S PREVIOUS FICTION "Heartbreaking and wonderful." – Conflictium "I find myself riveted to Stant's prose, not only because I'm eager to find out the characters' fate but because his words are so beautiful. The story has stayed with me days after reading it. I highly recommend." – Denise Grover Swank, author of The Curse Keepers "To say I loved this book would be an understatement. I could not put it down." – The Seattle Post-Intelligencer "Stant Litore may be SF's premier poet of loneliness." – Jason Kirk, author of Reverb and The Other Whites in South Africa "Litore's stories aren't only entertaining. They are stories invading our lives, unexpectedly. You encounter them, as you might encounter people. They are those random elements in life that happen to you, like a mugging, like childbirth, like falling in love and marriage, like death and the funeral that follows. They are moments that leave a mark, and leave you changed." – Andrew Hallam, Ph.D., Metropolitan State University of Denver "Stant eloquently writes passages that are so moving, full of passion, fury, loneliness, blind drive … He takes us to places of amazing beauty, awe-inspiring, as well as places where the implications in the story can leave you almost in despair for the human race." – Nikki Ebright, Director, Shiny Garden

Stant Litore

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