Originally posted on Notes From The Slush Pile:
So submissions for Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores reopened recently, and I’ve already spotted a trend in the Slush Pile irritating enough to make me jump back into the blog, despite still being on holiday. Unconvincing and poorly written characters and settings can ruin any story. I…
From the Wildspace Spelljammer blog, an excerpt from my fan fiction series that takes place in the Spelljammer D&D setting: Spacefarers everywhere agreed: the Rock of Bral was a wretched den of vice, thievery and betrayal; the midden-pit of the Universe. But everyone came there eventually. That’s what Shaundar Sunfall was relying on. Sooner or […]
Read More Book Excerpt: Between the Rock and a Hard PlaceA good article from my friend A.M. Offenwanger about the unreality of realism and why Princesses need pristine hair.
Read More On Princesses and the Unreality of RealismSo I’ve been kicking around this idea for a steampunk/magicpunk series for a few years (since 2012, it turns out). I was intending to sell a couple of stories to some magazines to build interest, then publish a book that was a collection of short stories. But instead I’ve been collecting rejection slips, and those […]
Read More So I’m Writing a Magicpunk Kindle SerialThe Many-Colored Land by Julian May My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read for the 12 Awards in 12 Months Challenge, the LGBTQ Speculative Fiction Challenge, and the Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge. This novel won the Locus Award and was nominated for a bunch of others. My first acquaintance with the work of […]
Read More Book Review: The Many-Colored Land by Julian May…I apparently read a lot of outstanding books over the course of the year and simply could not pick a top ten list! More than twenty of the 56 that Goodreads tells me I read (my goal was 50,) I gave a rating of five stars to. And choosing which ones stayed with me the most between […]
Read More I Tried to List the Top Ten Books I Read in 2016, But…MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read for the Apocalypse Now! Reading Challenge, the Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge and the Second Best Reading Challenge. Method of the world’s destruction: ecological devastation, corporate greed, and a mad scientist’s bioengineered supervirus. This book was my last hurrah for 2016; I’m not […]
Read More Book Review: MaddAddam by Margaret AtwoodAn excellent article on asexual/ace characters in popular and speculative fiction from Tor.com. Article: Five Books Starring Asexual Protagonists from Tor.com
Read More Five Books Featuring Ace ProtagonistsWeb of the Witch World by Andre Norton My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read for the Women of Genre Fiction Challenge. I think I really like Andre Norton. This is only the second book of hers that I’ve read, the second of the classic Witch World series. I really love what she’s done here […]
Read More Book Review: Web of the Witch World by Andre NortonWitch World by Andre Norton My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read for the Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge and the Second Best Reading Challenge (for sci-fi/fantasy books that were nominated for awards but did not win). Anne McCaffrey, C.J. Cherryh, and Andre Norton – the forgotten triumvirate of women who moulded the science […]
Read More Book Review: Witch World by Andre Norton
