The world in Crystal Rain manages to seamlessly blend steam-punk with fantasy and high-tech sf. It’s a pretty impressive feat. I kept having trouble sleeping because I was staying up waaaay too late to find out what happens next. Tobias S. Buckell has written a ripping page-turner, for sure.
Crystal Rain – mini review Read More »
I read the discussion on Miss Snark, the literary agent about Sock Puppets and I’m saddened to see puppets once again taking a bashing. Back in the early days of the blog I’d surf around the net to see what people were saying about me. One of the recurring themes I found both hilarious and
Puppets getting a bad name, again. Read More »
30,525 / 50,000(60.0%) Today I discovered the perfect writing combo. Facial plus timed writing sessions. I had a facial kit lying around that I’d been meaning to use. Moisturizing is good, but there are times when the winds here have stripped all the moisture out of one’s skin calling for more intensive measures. Each phase
The face value of writing Read More »
28,014 / 50,000(55.0%) First: Jacques’s hand-paws shook as he picked up the shoe and brought it to his nose. Last: Nausea twisted her, pulling the migraine through her body. “I have to go.” 2476 words today
As you might recall, last year I decided to stop writing Good Housekeeping during NaNoWriMo after two weeks and 25,000 words. I stopped because we were moving to Iceland and decided that it would make me crazy to get the wordcount done, plus pack, plus go to Woodthrush Woods for the holidays. At the time,
Woo-hoo! From our first issue of Shimmer, “Nobody’s Fool,” by Ed Cox, got an honorable mention in the 2005 Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror! This is the first story we picked for the first issue. We are very, very proud of Ed. We also got shout-outs in the Summary section. Ellen Datlow says we’re “worthwhile”
Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror Read More »
Check out the latest review at sfrevu.com The new issue of Shimmer is an excellent one with a very good crop of stories. It is also very nicely designed for a small press publication.
First of all, know that not all microphones are created equal. There is a huge, I mean, huge range in what they are designed to do. There are some basic things that you can do to enhance performance in a recording though. Sibilant and plosives. An “s” is a sibilant sound. Plosives are any sound, like a
Reading Aloud 5: Working with microphones Read More »
Narrating is at once the easiest part of reading aloud and the hardest. It is the easiest because you don’t have to worry about character voice or distinction–or do you? You do. That’s why it’s one of the hardest parts. The narrator is a character in your story and is the one that needs to
Reading Aloud 3: Narrating Read More »
I spent some time revising one of my novels. It felt really good. I haven’t touched it in a year and I was happy that the story held my attention still. What makes me even happier is that I’m a better writer now. That’s nice. I had a chapter, which I’ve known for a while
Shimmer The Summer 2006 issue of Shimmer: Available August 1. Heat makes the air shimmer. It’s too damn hot to write marketing text. Buy a copy of the Summer 2006 Shimmer. Read it. Why? 8 new stories, art, and an interview with writing team Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. Angela Slatter, Tom Pendergrass, Paul
Shimmer Summer issue on sale Read More »
I’ve just finished reading John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. I understand why the reviews have compared it to Heinlein, beyond the obvious nods, the book is like Heinlein for grownups. Don’t get me wrong, Heinlein is one of my favorites. Once I discovered him, I devoured all of his books; some I loved, but some
Found this on Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Not a journal. 13 – In 20 Epics there is some rain. We sold all the copies we had at Readercon. It was an epic job of salespersonship by interns, friends, us, others. Finding the epically designed books was a long sordid tale of hidden icons, misdirection, and
I just spotted this on mini-review of Twenty Epics on Chris Gerrib’s live journal Mary Robinette Kowal’s Icelandic-inspired Bound Man is a gem, featuring derring-do, swordplay and time travel. Well worth the price of admission.
A Breath of (Epic) Fresh Air! Read More »
I was off today and the weather was actually warm enough to sit outside and write. Amazing. I didn’t even need a coat, although I did have on a fleece. I spent some time working on revisions for Ginger Stuyvesant and the Case of the Haunted Nursery and think I have a clear plan of