Monthly Archives: March 2011

The Big Idea: Douglas Hulick

Some say that dictionaries are descriptive, some say they are prescriptive — but how many say that they are inspirational? Douglas Hulick is one of the (I assume) relatively few in that last category, and he’s here to explain how a chance encounter with one eventually led to his debut fantasy novel Among Thieves. The […]

Read More

826

That was the number I had in mind for yesterday’s contest, and this was the fellow who picked it first. Congratulations, Mike, and thanks everybody for playing. I will probably give away at least a couple more ARCs of Fuzzy Nation before the release date, so be ready. Because it could happen at any time.

Read More

Did You Know March 30 Is International Give Away an ARC of Fuzzy Nation on Whatever Day?

It totally is! I have a proclamation from the United Nations and everything! Actually, it’s not from the UN, it’s from my cat. And he didn’t so much proclaim it so much as stare at me unblinkingly with his implacable predator eyes. But that’s not important now. What is important is that I’m giving away […]

Read More

Science Fiction Film, Briefly

This week at FilmCritic.com, I decided to let other people do my work for me leverage the synergistic possibilities of social media by having people ask me science fiction and fantasy film-related questions on Twitter, to which I would respond, at Twitter lengths, in the column. How did it work out? The answers, in 140 […]

Read More

The Big Idea: Derryl Murphy

They say travel broadens the mind, but for Derryl Murphy, it did more than that: It helped to write his newest novel, Napier’s Bones, and did so not just on a practical level (that is, of allowing him to research information) but also on an inspirational level as well. It’s an argument that being there […]

Read More

Yes, I’ve Seen the Latest Author Review Implosion

And so will you, if you follow this link. It’s starts in the first comment, and then doesn’t so much go downhill as plunge rapidly, as if down a mineshaft. Authors, aspiring and otherwise: See what this author is doing here? Yeah, that’s the thing not to do when it comes to your reviews.

Read More

iPad Glitchery

I was alerted by a reader that for some reason the site wasn’t coming through on iPads. I told her to check her iPad browser cache, but then I checked my own iPad and had the same problem. I think I’ve identified the culprit — WordPress has incorporated a flashy new widget that displays site […]

Read More

My Coke Zero Methadone

People have been asking me how I’m dealing with my Lent-esque commitment to keep from drinking Coke Zero through Easter. The answer is that it’s been going pretty well. The commitment was to stop drinking Coke Zero, but I took it as an opportunity to also scale back the amount of caffeine I was drinking. […]

Read More

Diana Wynne Jones

News is coming across the Twitter that writer Diana Wynne Jones passed away in the night; I imagine it will be confirmed by official sources soon enough. I have no connection to Jones other than as a reader, but I think that’s enough to celebrate her life and mourn her passing. My favorite book of […]

Read More

Just Arrived 3/25/11

Look! Books! Here’s some of what’s been sent to me recently: * The Physics of the Future, by Michio Kaku (Doubleday): The subtitle to this pop science book proclaims “How science will shape human destiny and our daily lives by 2100.” Finally! Someone will tell me when I get my flying car! No, really, there’s […]

Read More

I Like Amanda Hocking

She just seems so darn sensible, that’s why. For example, when she talks about why, even after she made a name for herself self-publishing electronically, she took a $2 million advance from St. Martin’s Press for an upcoming book series, over on her blog. It’s worth reading in its entirety, but what it boils down […]

Read More

The Big Idea: Jesse Bullington

In some ways, writing a novel is as much about giving your characters space to introduce themselves — especially to you, their author — as it is giving them a plot so they will have something to do. In The Enterprise of Death, author Jesse Bullington had a particular character which he had been trying […]

Read More

%d bloggers like this: