Big Idea Category
The Big Idea: B.J. Graf
Posted on November 23, 2020 2 Comments
Do we have destinies? Or are we agents of our own fate? These questions are a mystery, but one thing author B. J. Graf makes certain in her Big Idea is that life isn’t fair. Read on to hear about how these questions play a part in her newest novel, Genesys X. B. J. GRAF: […]
The Big Idea: JD DeLuzio
Posted on November 19, 2020 9 Comments
The word “con” has more than one meaning, and for JD DeLuzio’s debut novel, The Con, this is a very very relevant fact. Read on to discover more. JD DeLUZIO: A woman recalls the arrival of Haile Selassie to Jamaica in April of 1966, and the seven mystic white flying greyhounds that swept down from […]
The Big Idea: James Van Pelt
Posted on November 18, 2020 3 Comments
What would the inside of your head look like if someone went exploring in it? What is behind the closed doors of your mind? In author James Van Pelt’s Big Idea, he invites us to tour the back alleys of his creativity, and tells us of how he tries to fit all that into his […]
The Big Idea: Essa Hansen
Posted on November 17, 2020 2 Comments
When given a choice between adventure and stability, what would you choose? When staring the unknown in the face, do you choose to explore it, or stay in your comfort zone? Author Essa Hansen asks the tough questions in the Big Idea for her newest novel, Nophek Gloss. ESSA HANSEN: Which would you choose: a […]
The Big Idea: Nibedita Sen
Posted on November 16, 2020 1 Comment
In today’s Big Idea, editor Nibedita Sen delves deep into the nature of the anthology she’s worked on, Nebula Awards Showcase 54, to examine what it is, what it means, and how to do honor to the concept. NIBEDITA SEN: What’s the purpose of an awards showcase? For that matter, what’s the purpose of awards? […]
The Big Idea: Kimberly Unger
Posted on November 13, 2020 2 Comments
Do you worry about making a good first impression? How about a first impression with an alien race? Author Kimberly Unger discusses in her Big Idea just what would happen with these first impressions… if our emissaries weren’t necessarily the ones everyone expects them to be. Read on to hear more, and how it involves […]
The Big Idea: Ginger Smith
Posted on November 11, 2020 1 Comment
What does one do with themselves when their purpose is fulfilled? How do you adjust to a life you weren’t built for? In Ginger Smith’s newest novel, The Rush’s Edge, she explores finding meaning in a world so different from the one you’re accustomed to, and finding brotherhood along the way. GINGER SMITH: Sebastian Junger, has […]
The Big Idea: Emily C. Skaftun
Posted on November 10, 2020 1 Comment
In today’s Big Idea, author Emily C. Skaftun is thinking about death… for starters. With a book title like Living Forever & Other Terrible Ideas, perhaps this is not entirely surprising. EMILY C. SKAFTUN: Death! There is no bigger idea. The theme that emerged as I was putting together my favorite stories to create my […]
The Big Idea: Marshall Ryan Maresca
Posted on October 27, 2020 4 Comments
In Marshall Ryan Maresca’s newest novel, People of the City, seven heroes come together for an Avengers-style ultimate team up. Who are these heroes, and how does their chemistry make it all work? Read on. MARSHALL RYAN MARESCA: Five years ago, when my debut novel The Thorn of Dentonhill was released, it was the first step […]
The Big Idea: Elizabeth Bear
Posted on October 22, 2020 15 Comments
Things work… until they don’t. And when they don’t, what then? Elizabeth Bear has thoughts on this, and how they relate to her latest novel, Machine. ELIZABETH BEAR: Hello, everybody! Thanks for this moment of your time. I’m here to tell you about The Big Idea (or at least one or two of the big […]
The Big Idea: Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson
Posted on October 21, 2020 6 Comments
If you’ve ever tried to learn another language, or grew up bilingual (or tri or quad), you know that there are some words in each language that just simply can’t be translated. Author Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson experiences this dilemma in the translation of his novel, Shadows of the Short Days. Read on to see how this […]
The Big Idea: James S. Murray
Posted on October 20, 2020 1 Comment
Have you ever felt the crippling anxiety of being lost? How about the feeling of being watched? Or both at the same time? Author James S. Murray (writing with Darren Wearmouth) explores this fear in his Big Idea for his new novel, Don’t Move. JAMES S. MURRAY: I’ve only been lost in the woods once. […]
The Big Idea: Carrie Vaughn
Posted on October 16, 2020 3 Comments
When the main character is away, the side characters and antagonists will play! Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes in a novel? Read on to hear about Carrie Vaughn’s newest book, Kitty’s Mix-Tape and see what lies beyond the first-person perspective. CARRIE VAUGHN: Sometimes a big idea is the culmination of a lot of […]
The Big Idea: Amanda Bridgeman
Posted on October 15, 2020 8 Comments
Ever feel like your tech knows too much about you? Like it’s literally in your head reading your thoughts? What if it was literally in your head? In Amanda Bridgeman’s newest novel, The Sensation, she explores a world in which neural implants are a reality, but much like the tech we have today, it might do more […]
The Big Idea: C.L. Polk
Posted on October 14, 2020 3 Comments
As C.L. Polk reveals in this Big Idea for her latest novel The Midnight Bargain, the state of affairs in our world can have a significant effect about the state of affairs in a fictional one… even if the connections are not immediately evident on surface of thing. C.L. POLK: When people talk about The […]
The Big Idea: Christen Carter
Posted on October 13, 2020 4 Comments
Few things in this world are as quirky a choice of fashion as a button, and according to author Christen Carter, few things encapsulate a story as well as one, too. This is their power — which might be why the title of the book Carter co-wrote with Ted Hake is called Button Power. CHRISTEN […]
The Big Idea: Sean Patrick Hazlett
Posted on October 7, 2020 12 Comments
It might not surprise you that the stories in the fantasy collection Weird World War III have at least some basis in reality — the Cold War actually was thing, after all. But what might surprise you is which things were based in reality. Editor Sean Patrick Hazlett is here to lay all the weirdness […]
The Big Idea: Jane Yolen
Posted on October 2, 2020 7 Comments
Come one, come all, down to Nebula award-winning author Jane Yolen’s Big Idea, where she will be the ringmaster and show you her dark carnival of short stories that is Midnight Circus. JANE YOLEN: I admit it. I like small pieces of writing. I was a poet first, even as a child. I sold poems […]
The Big Idea: Tom Doyle
Posted on October 1, 2020 5 Comments
The human brain comes in almost infinite varieties, but for the future that Tom Doyle imagines in his novel Border Crosser, his question is: Will all of those brains, and the humans who possess them, be welcome? TOM DOYLE: Does the far future have a place for mental illness? This is a question at the […]
The Big Idea: Rebecca Coffindaffer
Posted on September 30, 2020 2 Comments
Sometimes, despite all your efforts to the contrary, you have to think about being the hero. Or so author Rebecca Coffindaffer might argue, in the context of her novel Crownchasers. REBECCA COFFINDAFFER: I love a reluctant hero. I’ve loved them ever since I sat, wide-eyed, as my dad read The Fellowship of the Ring out […]
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