Speculative Fiction That Asks Big Questions
You’ve written a novel, a handful (or a boatload) of short stories, flash pieces or essays. You’ve queried, suffered rejection, and maybe been published. You’ve enlisted beta readers and participated in critique workshops. Others (not just your mom) have complimented your work. So why do you still sometimes feel like a fraud? Turns out Imposter…
Back in the early 80s I took a college class taught by award-winning writer Robert P. Arthur. I remember Bob as a big guy, not just in a physical sense with his tall, broad-shouldered self, but with his overall presence. He filled a room, that man. He expected—and inspired—a lot from his students, and to…
Looking for a critique group, but can’t find one in your area? Try Critters Workshop. I found them online several years ago and became enamored of the concept. Critters is an online critiquing community wherein writers submit their own works (mostly short stories or short segments of longer projects) for critique by other writers. Members…
By R.F. Kuang Harper Voyager, ISBN: 0062662562 Paperback, 549 pages. © 2018 Rather than be married off by her opium-dealing stepmother, war orphan Fang Runin (Rin) studies for—and passes—the Keju, an empire-wide exam known to identify the most promising youths, and secure her place at the prestigious Sinegard Academy, a military school filled with the…
Now that the Pitch Wars submission window has closed and the pressure is eased a bit, I’ve turned my attention to other projects. One of those, a short story entitled “29 Langwood Street,” has been lying around waiting to find a home. I admit I don’t like to write something and “trunk it” (put it…
By Lydia Netzer St. Martin’s Griffin; ISBN: 978-1250047465 Paperback, 368 pages. ©2015 Irene, a pragmatic astronomer who believes only in science, makes tiny black holes in a device of her own design. George, a dreamer and an astronomer, hallucinates goddesses and gods who reveal to him a marvel in the universe, one that will make…
If you read my post from last week, you’ll know (or at least suspect) that I’m a Pitch Wars hopeful this year. Since the submission window opens in SEVEN DAYS, I’m not doing anything else but shining up my work-in-progress. That means I don’t have a long, witty or educational post for you today. I…
I think I said in one of my blog posts earlier this year that I hoped to self-publish my work-in-progress by the end of 2018. Of course as we all know, plans are made to be changed, and mine was no different. Once I discovered Pitch Wars and the PW community, I decided I’d enter…
By Michael Mammay Harper Voyager; ISBN: 978-0062694669 Paperback, 384 pages. ©2018 When the son of a powerful politician goes missing on the front lines at Cappa Three, General Serata calls Colonel Carl Butler to investigate. Butler protests; he’s semi-retired, done years in cryo already, and besides, he’s got ugly history with that planet. But Serata…
Most of the writers I know aren’t only writers. They work day jobs, raise families, do volunteer work, have a life that requires tending. You know how those everyday pressures are sometimes enough in and of themselves to make you want to scream. Add deadlines (self-imposed or otherwise), long hours in front of the computer…