More Melusine Books Coming
SCI FI Wire just published a story I wrote about Sarah Monette’s new book deal with Ace, which will include the third and fourth books in the series that began with Melusine.
Archive for January, 2006
Writing the Other
I received a press release the other day about a new writing book that I thought sounded interesting:
Writing the Other: A Practical Approach by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward is now available from Aqueduct Press for $9 a copy. Based on the acclaimed “Writing the Other” workshop, this important book includes essays and exercises that help authors create believable characters with diverse backgrounds. Race, religion, and age are among the differences covered in the book’s hands-on approach.
Both established professional writers and talented beginners have benefited from attending “Writing the Other” workshops. Now these valuable techniques and concepts are accessible to the public in a concise and highly readable, step-by-step guide.
Writing the Other: A Practical Approach (ISBN 1-933500-00-X) can be ordered via your local bookstore, or online. Details about the book can be found here. You can find out more about the “Writing the Other” workshop, and read student testimonials, at www.writingtheother.com.
KGB: 1/18/06
Just got back from the monthly KGB Fantastic Fiction reading. As usual, I hung with my peeps–Andrea Kail, Doug Cohen, Chris Cevasco, the one we call E., and Amy Goldschlager. New to the crew this month was a paralegal named Evan, who, though not a writer or editor could totally hold his own talking about SF; and Jenny Rae Rappaport (an agent-in-training–so start sucking up now) and her boyfriend Chris. Also present was Tempest, who, while not a part of the regular crew, is always welcome. Nick Mamatas also loitered in our area (there were no chairs to be had). Also met Mary Robinette Kowal, which was cool, since we’d exchanged numerous emails but hadn’t actually met until tonight.
It was a really good event tonight. Marly Youmans and Jeff VanderMeer read. Marly started the night off with a fun story, and then VanderMeer rocked the house with some seriously funny stuff–an excerpt from his forthcoming novel, Shriek: an Afterword, and selections from a new book which was spun off from his collection, Secret Lives. The excerpt from Shriek was great, especially for us writerly types–it was about a guy going to visit his editor only to have the publisher tell him how truly terrible and loathesome his latest book is. Although VanderMeer says that that excerpt is not emblematic of the novel–the novel isn’t a comedy throughout–it was a great excerpt to read, and I think it probably sold a few pre-orders.
Rusch Wins Spanish SF Prize
SCI FI Wire just published a story I wrote about Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s recent win of the Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficcion, the largest cash prize in the SF field (6,000 euros).
STRONG MEDICINE: Jan. 2006
The latest installment of my book review column, STRONG MEDICINE: Books That Cure What Ails You, has just been published at Intergalactic Medicine Show.
In this column, I review Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick, Shadow Touch by Marjorie M. Liu, The James Tiptree, Jr. Award Anthology 2 edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, et al., and Don’t Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis.
‘Shambhala’ Based On Art
SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about “Shambhala,” Alex Irvine’s new story for F&SF, which was written based upon existing cover art.
UPDATE: Here’s what the cover art looks like.
The Ultimate Genre Crossover Challenge
In response to an amusing comment in the talkback of the Ain’t It Cool News review of her book, His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik announced the * The Ultimate Genre Crossover Challenge! *
To play, you must write a story containing: vampires, dragons, AND spaceships. The winner will get a signed copy of the UK hardcover of Temeraire (a/k/a His Majesty’s Dragon in the US).
There are other rules too. Read more here. Just don’t send them all to me after you’re done with them.
Review: Wild Things
Shocked and dismayed that Charlie Finlay’s collection, Wild Things, had no customer reviews at Amazon, I whipped one up, which I shall reproduce here:
If this book only contained Finlay’s brilliant Nebula and Hugo Award-nominated reinvention of space opera, “The Political Officer,” it would be worth buying for that story alone. But fortunately, the book’s also got thirteen other compelling and finely-crafted tales, which run the gamut from humor to alternate history to swords-and-sorcery. This variety makes for an interesting reading experience, as if Finlay wanted to take the reader on a tour through all of what science fiction and fantasy has to offer. And Finlay seems equally adept at each of the subgenres he explores, so it’s not a matter of him trying new things until he finds something that works; it’s more like having written a great story in one subgenre, he goes looking for new kingdoms to conquer.Technorati Tags: books, science fiction, fantasy
Preserving Websites
Check out this cool post on MetaxuCafe. It explains how you can capture the entirety of a website and save it to your hard drive easily by downloading a small program. This could be very useful, say, if one of your favorite webzines suddenly had the plug pulled and you’re worried that you won’t be able to read it anymore after the corporate parent decides to delete it from their server. I just tried using it, and the damn thing works like a charm.
Van Vogt’s Slan Sequel Lives
I forgot to post this one earlier, but SCI FI Wire recently published a story I wrote about the forthcoming sequel to A. E. van Vogt’s Slan, Slan Hunters by Kevin J. Anderson.