blatant self-promotion
Guess what came in the mail?
And our wonderful UPS guy decided to leave the package out in the rain, on top of a trash can next to the house. . . But I got this to cheer me up. Go there, you may win a book.
internet
If you’re thinking about TV writing. . .
There’s a marvelous post over at Io9 that you really must read. It’s titled, “Inside the writers room: Top scifi TV writers reveal tricks of the trade,” but it really isn’t about genre writing, and it really isn’t about tricks of the trade. What it is, is an in-depth exploration Read more…
internet
So, Tropes. . .
If you’re a writer populating these here interwebs, and you don’t know about the site TV tropes, you should do yourself a favor and rectify that right now. What is it? It is a wiki that deals with, well, tropes in fiction: character types, situations, plot devices and so on. Read more…
blatant self-promotion
Me, elsewhere
I melded my mind on the SF Signal blog again. My contribution re: underrated fantasy series: Ok, I’m going to cheat a little here, because there was once a time when if you were talking a fantasy series, you were not talking “novels.” From the pulps up through the 1970s, Read more…
internet
Fan Fiction is Evil!
At least that’s the conclusion that Diana Gabaldon has come to. OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I _know_ it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters. Of course, I have some different Read more…
internet
Apocalyptic SFnal Nightmare Scenario of the Day
(with thanks to Instapundit) Thanks to an NPR article we have a concept worthy of a Phillip K Dick novel, with Orwellian commentary that should scare the crap out of you if you have any imagination— or remember the CIA’s history dealing with other chemical substances. The money quote: Does Read more…
blatant self-promotion
Robotic Melding
I’ve be asked again to provide mental melding on the SF Signal blog. The topic this time is “The Coolest Robots in SF.” I’ve cross-posted my entry here, but you should go see the rest: The coolest robots in SF? That’s a tall order. The field is vast, including everything Read more…
asshat
Idiot Authors (or, just because you’re published doesn’t mean you’re not a douche)
UPDATE: (3/31/2011) Fixed a typo someone pointed out on Reddit. I’ve written enough about authors that have shown very public displays of ill judgment that it seemed to be almost mandatory that I talk about Mr. Patrick Roscoe (his name is not a link because you absolutely must hear the Read more…
internet
A glimpse at the future of narrative
It is the nature of prose that it is linear. There’s a beginning, a middle and a end. That has been a fact of life for storytellers since the beginning of time, and the rules of drama have been around since the ancient Greeks, and are still taught in scriptwriting Read more…
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Random things
Computers in cars are not always a good thing. Porn Stars and Dungeons & Dragons. History is strange. Do you trust buildings made with slave labor? P. G. Wodehouse does Batman. Howard Stern is fed up.