A story born out of a miserable commute, a lesson from Ray Bradbury, and an easy way to get noticed as a writer

A Letter from the Editor
by Timothy Pike

Edo van Belkom

Edo van Belkom steered his car through the pouring rain. It was 2 a.m., and honestly, he was annoyed. He liked his job well enough, but this hour-long commute between Brampton and Cambridge, Ontario, had been getting on his last nerve. He didn’t want to do it at all, let alone every single day. And especially not in the dead of night.

The windshield wipers, bless their hearts, were giving it their all, but it wasn’t enough. He eased off the accelerator, knowing how slick the ten-lane highway could get.

The tractor-trailers on this route, however, didn’t seem to be taking any such precautions. A pair of headlights appeared in his rearview just then, and within seconds grew so bright in his mirrors that Edo had to shield his eyes. As the truck whooshed past, Edo looked over—and did a double take.

There was no driver behind the wheel.

What the … ? His mind searched for an explanation. Even though he was at a loss about what he had seen, the incident got him thinking. What if, he mused, it had been Death himself driving?

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“Death Drives a Semi” was born. “It didn’t take much to put Death behind the wheel and create a scenario in which the truck passing a motorist three times would result in Death taking your life,” Edo, now an accomplished, award-winning author, tells me. “It could almost be a classic Twilight Zone tale.”

In 1998, Death Drives a Semi, a collection which included that story and many others, was published. Now, he’s bringing out a new edition—with even more stories—for the 25th anniversary.

And Edo—whose impressive, decades-long resume includes a young adult novel called Wolf Pack that inspired a Paramount+ series—is on the cover this month!

How did this author achieve such success?
You’ll love our interview, where Edo talks about the writing routine that helped him produce several books and stories a year, how a string of rejections and a five-year setback gave him a hard shove into the next phase of his writing career, and his best advice for turning your book into a movie or TV show.

Learn from this seasoned pro →

There’s a lot to read (and learn) in the January 2024 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine. Let’s take a look:

Give your readers what they want, but be careful

“You need to write stories an audience is willing to pay for,” author Brad C. Anderson tells us. “But if it feels like grinding over broken glass, you’re probably going in the wrong direction.”

Brad happens to know this firsthand, because at a time in his career when he was getting one rejection letter after another, he decided to write what he thought the market wanted. Trouble was, it made writing feel like a chore.

That’s when Ray Bradbury—or rather his book, Zen in the Art of Writing—stepped in. The lessons it contained inspired Brad to ditch all of his works-in-progress and start on the novel he truly wanted to write. Now, whenever writing feels like work, he’s always able to find his way back to fun.

Make writing a joy →

If you can’t read your truth, write it

It wasn’t until Alethea Lyons, science fiction and fantasy author, really dug deep into her characters’ minds that she realized the truth about who she was.

“As a child, I often wrote characters that would now be termed non-binary, in that they didn’t want to be referred to as boys or girls,” Alethea says. “At eight, I didn’t have the language to adequately describe this, even to myself, but I felt it in my heart.”

What Alethea discovered about herself—in her mid-thirties, no less—is nothing short of astonishing. Her personal journey is one that turned everything she thought she knew about herself onto its head. But in the end, it brought a raw truth to her writing, and it all started with taking a closer look at her characters.

Hear about Alethea’s incredible discovery →

How do new authors get noticed?

“As I grew more comfortable with the craft, anthologies were an amazing way to add exposure for my works,” says D.C. Gomez. “New projects gave me opportunities to create stories outside of my genre and pushed my boundaries.”

The more stories you can crank out, the better, as D.C. explains: even stories that aren’t accepted into anthologies can be used as freebies to encourage new readers to subscribe to your newsletter—which gives you an easy way to stay in touch with your followers.

D.C. recommends joining a holiday anthology because they’re so popular. The fact that the holiday season just ended means that now’s the time to get started. Polish up that story and start submitting to anthologies for later this fall!

Get your foot in the door →

Enjoy this month’s issue of Books & Buzz Magazine!

To your success,

Timothy Pike
Editor of Books & Buzz Magazine