I recently received a donation request from the Fandom Association of Central Texas. Since it’s for a good cause, in addition to sending them a few titles of mine, I thought I’d pimp it here on the blog. If you’re a writer, consider shipping them some donations. If you’re a Read more…
Since I think I have to turn in my SFWA card if I don’t express an opinion on this movie, I went this weekend. And well, IMHO, it rocks. That is probably old news to everyone, and my opinion is probably no surprise to anyone who knows my history as Read more…
Just caught myself up, and I am still in near awe of how meticulous Lost is with its continuity. Not just in how the writing itself doesn’t slip into the stupid contradictions that almost every TV show slips into after a few years, but how they choose to reveal stupid Read more…
What is it about “sense of wonder” that seems to set some people’s teeth on edge. We have a recent rant on io9 that pretty much gives the distillation of the argument in the title: Is “Sense Of Wonder” Just A Code For Returning To Childhood? To quote said rant: Read more…
I have on my shelf of writing refrences, an interesting cultural artifact from the early 70s. The title is Writing Popular Fiction, and is a hardcover published by Writer’s Digest back in 1972. The author, according to the back cover copy, had sold 24 books since 1967 (yes, that’s only Read more…
Today we’re interviewing a friend of many years and head of the mysterious group I refer to in these pages as the Hamsters. I’m talking to Nebula winner Mary Turzillo about what the Hamsters are, how they came about and what it is that they do. This is the point where I normally introduce my subject, but I think Mary does a better job than I would have. . .
GW: So, why don’t you tell us about yourself?
Okay, who am I? I’m this nutcase who loves science fiction, has loved it her whole life, and just wants to hurt people.
Emotionally, I mean.
That sounds bad. Let’s try again: I won a Nebula for my 1999 novelette, “Mars Is no Place for Children” and my 2007 short story, “Pride,” was on the final Nebula ballot. My novel, An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl, was serialized in Analog. My recent books include Ewaipanoma, Dragon Soup, with Marge Simon, and Your Cat & Other Space Aliens, a Pushcart nominee which appeared on the preliminary Stoker ballot. My work has appeared in Analog, Asimov’s, F&SF, Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Cat Tales, Fast Forward 1, and other anthologies and magazines in English, Italian, and German.
My “Steak Tartare and the Cats of Garibabakin” is in the April Analog, and, upcoming,“Chocolate Cats from Mars”is in the revived Space and Time. I’m working on Isidis Rising, a novel set on colonized Mars. (more…)
I just wanted to post a head’s-up on this a little in advance while there is still time for people to sign up. I will be teaching a class at the 18th Annual Western Reserve Spring Writers Confrence at Lakeland Community College on Marh 28th. The confrence runs between 8:30 Read more…
Remember when I said I might have good news about Valentine’s Night? Well despite a little tease, the people who were looking at the MS weren’t as into it we thought they were. (Too bad AT&T isn’t into publishing.) Anyway, no one’s comitted to the book yet, so if you’re Read more…
Welcome to my second interview. Today I’m pestering another local Ohioan, Paul Melko. Paul has written over two dozen short stories and two novels. Singularity’s Ring, his first novel (Tor Books, February 2008) postulates a future of group-conscious humans, telling the tale of one such quintet learning to be a starship pilot. His collection, Ten Sigmas and Other Unliklihoods (Fairwood Press, March 2008) compiles his short science fiction, including the novella “The Walls of the Universe” which was nominated for the Sturgeon, Nebula, and Hugo Awards in 2007. This novella became the basis for his second novel, The Walls of the Universe (Tor Books, February 2009) which is the inspiration for this interview:
Just wrapped up the draft of Heretics, YEA! Something over a hundred thousand words of epic destruction as I continue in my apocalyptic deconstruction of the Hostile Takeover universe. I’ll be doing some fixing up of the draft this week (a few retroconned scenes here, some backfill there, epigrams everywhere) and should get a copy off to DAW by Monday. Doesn’t mean I’m done with it, for good— I always have editorial revisions— but I’ll be done with it for now.