By Ruth Harris We all come face to face with them, those pesky glitches, oopsies, OMGs and WTFs that ruin a story, turn a reader off, guarantee a slew of one-star reviews—and kill sales. Beta readers will often point them out. Editors are professional fixers, always on the lookout for booboos. You will realize them […]
Read More Plot Holes & Pot HolesBlood Red Road by Moira Young My rating: 3 of 5 stars Read for the Women of Genre Fiction Challenge and the Apocalypse Now! Challenge. Method of the world’s destruction: ??? (not a clue) I ended up with this book because I bought it (and its two sequels) for my stepdaughter, who gave it back […]
Read More Book Review: Blood Red Road by Moira YoungThe Super Hugos by Isaac Asimov My rating: 5 of 5 stars This collection was an outstanding tour of some of the very best science fiction of all time. If you can lay your hands on this book, if you’re a science fiction fan, you really must read it. I have reviewed most of the […]
Read More Book Review: The Super Hugos, Presented by Isaac AsimovBy Shaun David Hutchinson I tell stories because the real world sucked for me when I was a teen. No. Sucked doesn’t even begin to cover it. The real world nearly killed me. The real world told me that I was going to hell because I was gay. It told me I would die of […]
Read More Representation MattersI Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge and the Apocalypse Now! Reading Challenge. This story won the 1967 Hugo Award. I cannot tell you how brilliant, and how deeply disturbing, this post-apocalyptic horror story is. I imagine it […]
Read More Story Review: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan EllisonWhen it comes to crossing the vast gulfs between the solar system and other stellar systems, SF writers turn to two main solutions: small and fast1 or big and slow. Perhaps the best known example of “big and slow” is the generation ship, large enough to qualify as a large town or even a small nation, […]
Read More Generation Ships“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge. This story won the 1965 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story. In a dystopian future, the forces of order have managed to gain control over everything, including our time. Lateness is punished […]
Read More Story Review: “Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman by Harlan EllisonBy Mod Colette We discussed the issues describing People of Color by means of food in Part I of this guide, which brought rise to even more questions, mostly along the lines of “So, if food’s not an option, what canI use?” Well, I was just getting to that! This final portion focuses on describing skin tone, with […]
Read More Writing with Colour: Description Guide for Skin TonesThe Big Front Yard by Clifford D. Simak My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge and the Big Fun in a Little Package Novella Challenge. This story won the 1959 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. This story is a fun speculation about what happens when ordinary folks in a […]
Read More Book Review: The Big Front Yard by Clifford D. Simak
