A new congressional report contends that a North Korean electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the U.S. would ultimately wipe out 90 percent of the population. To date, most discussion concerning the North Korean threat has been on whether the rogue state can accurately hit U.S. cities with its ICBMs. But in an EMP attack, such […]
Read More North Korean EMP Attack Would Kill 90% of U.S.Fleshing out characters with believable human qualities is an art. Indirect characterization is writing that paints in character detail by showing rather than telling. Rather than only tell readers about characters’ personalities and values, you can reveal them subtly through dialogue, actions and appearances. Read these tips and examples from books: Read the full article at NowNovel.com.
Read More Indirect CharacterizationGold: The Final Science Fiction Collection by Isaac Asimov My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read for the Genre Non-Fiction and the Collections! Reading Challenges. This collection represents the last batch of stuff that Isaac Asimov gave to us. Half of it is stories, and the other half is a collection of essays about science […]
Read More Book Review: Gold by Issac AsimovBy Megan Hunter I can chart the progress of my life through the types of apocalypse I have feared. As a child, the endings I imagined were natural, even cosmic: the land swallowed by the sea, the sun swallowing the earth. When I was an adolescent the man-made came to the fore, as I searched […]
Read More The Hopeful Side of Post-Apocalyptic FictionBy Dan Koboldt In some ways, publishing is a zero-sum game. There are only so many slots in the schedule of traditional publishers. Only ten books can occupy the top ten list, and only one can win the Hugo. Yet the most dangerous and pervasive threat to the aspiring author is not another author, nor […]
Read More We Are All AlliesBy Alter S. Reiss “Getting the archaeology right” doesn’t actually matter that much when it comes to fantasy. The fact is, when it comes to secondary worlds, a lot of the absolutely basic assumptions don’t make any sense. Why are there people in this world, whose history—whose natural history—is so different from ours? If dragons […]
Read More Putting Archaeology to Work in Fantasy FictionBy Jordana Cepelewicz RESEARCHERS HAVE CAUGHT their best glimpse yet into the origins of photosynthesis, one of nature’s most momentous innovations. By taking near-atomic, high-resolution X-ray images of proteins from primitive bacteria, investigators at Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University have extrapolated what the earliest version of photosynthesis might have looked like nearly 3.5 billion […]
Read More Scientists Are Rewriting the History of PhotosynthesisThis article is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted. About the Expert Since getting her Ph.D. in Toxicology in […]
Read More Poisons in SF & FantasyFluffy Bunny by Sarah Buhrman My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received an Advanced Reading Copy in exchange for a fair review. I enjoyed Too Wyrd, the first book in this series, thoroughly (see my review here) so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on book 2. I think it’s fair to say I was primed to enjoy […]
Read More Book Review: Fluffy Bunny by Sarah BuhrmanBy Ruthanne Reid Some of you may have noticed that the esteemed Mr. Gaiman is my favorite living author. Even if he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s hard not to notice him: books, graphic novels, award after award—the man is prolific and very good at what he does. So when I realized he had eight rules of writing, you […]
Read More Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing
