I write regular pieces for The Odyssey (sometimes called The Odyssey Online). You can find links or posts about my Odyssey articles here.
Sometimes the best children's authors are the ones who trust kids enough to include some scary elements in their stories. In a recent article for the Odyssey, I talk about 6 authors, from Maurice Sendak to Roald Dahl, who wrote popular but dark children's stories. You can read the article here: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/6-authors-who-wrote-dark-childrens-stories
Some time ago, I took a college course where one of my assignments was to re-tell a Bible story. I picked the story of Elijah meeting a widow in Sidon. I recently took that assignment and reformatted it as a story for The Odyssey. You can find it here: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/eilijah-and-crazy-weird-faith
(This article previously published by The Odyssey on May 3, 2017) He can’t possibly be warm enough. I watched from the living room as my teacher and the other five students moved around the tiny kitchen, getting chai tea or coffee. The teacher spoke softly, but his strong Australian accent carried his voice farther than …
Superhero movies adapted from comics tend to work. Superhero movies based on original ideas (stories people created without basing them on other media) tend to be hit or miss. I decided to look at a few "original idea" superhero movies that worked, to see what they did well. I'll include each review in this post as they come …
Sometimes you write a story and then realize it has a flaw that you really can't get rid of. How do you make that work? Her'es a look at 4 highly successful movies, including Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars, that made their plot holes work: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/how-to-hide-plot-holes
(This article first published by The Odyssey on November 8, 2017) Sometimes forgiveness isn’t about the other person at all. Sometimes it’s about taking the weight you can’t carry any longer off your chest. I started learning this in sixth grade. This was only my second year in public school, my family had recently moved …
When you watch a movie with a monster in it (be it King Kong, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or even the Beast in Beauty and the Beast), you assume that character is the true monster in the story. In a recent article for the Odyssey, I analyze some classic monster movies and explain why that …
Last month, I promised in a blog that I would analyze a classic Universal Monter movie around October's end. Here, I discuss the 1931 movie Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi as the fanged prince of darkness, and how the movie actually says something very positive about good and evil. Here it is: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/what-dracula-shows-about-evil
If you enjoyed my blog about how to survive a 1930's horror movie, you may enjoy this new article I wrote for the Odyssey, listing things that strangely never happen in James Bond movies: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/30-lines-youll-never-hear-james-bond-movie
Someone else played James Bond before Sean Connery did in Dr. No. Someone else played Hannibal Lecter before Anthony Hopkins did in Silence of the Lambs. In a recent article for the Odyssey, I talk about these actors and others who played early versions of famous characters: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/5-actors-you-didnt-know-played-famous-roles
G. Connor Salter 