You may have read my earlier post on how not to query agents. Here’s a follow up, using another spam message I got recently. I am genuinely mystified at the thought processes that produce things like this. Spam in general is only effective because it only requires .01% of the Read more…
Is now on Scribd, after being on my website for ages, I made a PDF of it and released it to the world. Plot will follow at some point.
There’s an interesting post on the Feminist SF Blog about aliens in Larry Niven’s Known Space series. Essentially it points out how both the Kzinti and the Puppeteers both have what amount to non-sapient females, and how this amounts to a stealth misogyny. An interesting point that I think goes Read more…
First off: I’ve added “The Heavens Fall” to my Pixel-Stained Technopeasantry. It originally appeared in the DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction Anthology, and was subsequently reprinted in Apex Online. It is a little sf/horror/crime drama. Also, it may be my penchant for irony, but I’ve uploaded my two fictional trial Read more…
Well, I am just about halfway done with the first draft of Apotheosis: Prophets. I have reached a point where I am willing to hazard a prediction. You know most books, in addition to the (usually badly written) back cover copy, there’s almost always some edited snippet of the actual Read more…
. . .and provides an example of a point I was making over ten years ago. You may or may not have visited my home page, which predates this blog by about a dozen years or so, if you have, buried in the writing portion are a couple of essays Read more…
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. wrote a long post on his blog on why he believes the singularity won’t happen. [via SF Signal] According to Modesitt, it won’t happen because such visions are based on technology, not on humanity and they’re based on a western European/North American cultural chauvinism. He goes Read more…
Working on Apotheosis (going well, thank you for asking) I’ve found myself digging in my old notes for Hostile Takeover. And I found a little sketch I made of the character Flower, when I was figuring out what the Volerans looked like. Now I’m not a very good artist (I Read more…
There seems to be two main “movements” in science fiction (and I’m talking about science fiction, not the broader speculative fiction/fantasy etc.) at this point in time. Both were mentioned in the editorial in the October ’07 issue of Asimov’s. The first is the manifesto-wielding vanguard of Mundane SF that Read more…
Following upon my post about the oft-predicted demise of the printed book, and my opinion that it ain’t going to happen any time soon, I come across a blog post by Warren Ellis (via SF Signal) about the tumbling circulation figures of the major print SF magazines, a term that Read more…