Archive for August, 2007
August 21st 2007
Summer Rejects
This summer, I decided to send out two of my short stories to professional markets (i.e.: they pay professional rates of about .03 cents/word or higher). One is a SF story and the other is Fantasy. Both of these stories won me $500 in scholarship money for Seton Hill, and they were also critiqued by […]
August 20th 2007
Revision and critique
A little while ago, when I was commenting on my blog about how unsure I am about the book I just finished, someone asked me how I would respond to my editorial letter when it comes. Would I stick with my vision? Would I change things? The question seemed to me to be […]
August 18th 2007
The Disposable Woman
At 17, I experienced a revelation while reading Robert Heinlein’s A Stranger In A Strange Land. I realized I didn’t have to finish a book just because I had started it.
August 17th 2007
School visits
Or ‘what you want vs what they want’
Every now and then I’m invited to do a school visit, usually during National Literacy Week, Childrens’ Book Week, or one of the other events where kids are encouraged to pack up the Gameboys and Xboxes and pick up a slab of papery goodness instead.
First, I don’t see […]
August 16th 2007
Tough women, and facsimiles thereof
I know The Bourne Ultimatum hasn’t been out remotely long enough for it to be fair game for spoilers, so I’ll try to keep this general. (I’m really just using it as a starting point, anyway.)
If you’ve seen the first two movies, you’re familiar with the characters of Nicki Parsons and Pam Landy. […]
August 15th 2007
Making It Fun
Had lunch on Sunday with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. A great guy, he was the star writer at my high school, among other things. (Yes, I actually attended a high school that could have a star writer.) He’s a painter now because, in his words, “It’s much more relaxing.” An […]
August 14th 2007
The Middle - Neglected Filling or Main Course?
I was on an interesting panel at Readercon last month discussing the merits of The Middle - that oft neglected part of the novel that falls between The Opening Hook and The Climactic Ending. I must admit that when I first started writing I too subscribed to the view that The Middle was the bit […]
August 13th 2007
Can you learn to write creatively?
One of the other hats that I wear is Professor of English at the University of Montana Western. Among other things, I teach creative writing and fiction writing. So it should be clear from the get go that I do believe you can teach creative writing (and therefore learn it). But. […]
August 10th 2007
Cat Herder
Here it is, Friday August 10th, and time for my first blog post here at SFNovelists. I was going to do some writing neepery but evidently that is not required so instead I am going to talk about my cats.
You know how there are dog people and cat people? I grew up in a […]
August 9th 2007
Milestones and Playing for an Audience
I bumped into myself the other day–the child me that is.
On Tuesday I went to a concert in the park with my wife and her parents. It was a typical small town affair held at our bandshell with a bunch of enthusiastic amateur musicians sharing their joy and talents. The audience paid intermittent attention to […]
Author Information
Maria V. Snyder
Maria V. Snyder has been writing fiction and nonfiction since 1995. She has published numerous freelance articles in magazines and newspapers. Her first published novel, Poison Study appeared on the shelves in 2005, and chronicles Yelena’s challenges in surviving her dangerous job as a food taster. Magic Study follows with Yelena’s efforts to learn about her magic while searching for a rogue magician turned serial killer. Fire Study chronicles Yelena's adventures with a Fire Warper and was released in March 2008. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology at Penn State University. Much to Maria’s chagrin, forecasting the weather wasn’t one of her skills. Writing, however, proved to be more enjoyable and Maria earned a Master of Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. As part of her research for her Study novels, Maria signed up for a glass blowing class to learn how to shape molten glass. The first thing she learned is it is considerably harder to sculpt glass than it looks. Maria now has an extensive collection of misshapened paperweights, tumblers, and bowls. When she’s not traveling, Maria lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, son, daughter and yellow Lab. She is working on her next MIRA novel, Storm Glass, due out Spring 2009. Readers are welcome to contact Maria by e-mail at maria@mariavsnyder.com, or they can find more information on her Web site at www.mariavsnyder.com. Visit site.
Diana Pharaoh Francis
Diana Pharaoh Francis has written the fantasy novel trilogy that includes Path of Fate, Path of Honor and Path of Blood. Path of Fate was nominated for the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award. Recently released was The Cipher, first of The Crosspointe Chronicles, which will be followed by The Black Ship in November 2008. Diana teaches in the English Department at the University of Montana Western, and is an avid lover of all things chocolate. Visit site.
Kate Elliott
Kate ElliottKate Elliott is the author of multiple fantasy and science fiction novels, including the Crown of Stars series and the Novels of the Jaran. She's currently working on Crossroads; the first novel, Spirit Gate, is already out, and Shadow Gate will be published in Spring 2008. Visit site.
Simon Haynes
Simon is the author of the Hal Spacejock series, featuring intergalactic loser Hal and his junky sidekick, Clunk. His website contains a number of articles on writing and publishing, and he's also the programmer of several freeware apps including yBook, BookDB and yWriter. In his spare time(!) he helps to run Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Visit site.
Marie Brennan
Marie Brennan is the author of several fantasy novels and short stories, including the upcoming Elizabethan faerie spy fantasy Midnight Never Come. Visit site.
S.C. Butler
Butler is the author of The Stoneways Trilogy from Tor Books: Reiffen's Choice, Queen Ferris, and The Magician's Daughter. Find out what Reiffen does with magic, and what magic does with him... Visit site.
Chris Dolley
Chris DolleyChris Dolley is an English author of SF mysteries, a pioneer computer games designer, and the man who convinced the UK media that Cornwall had risen up and declared independence. His novel Resonance (2005, Baen) was the first book to be plucked from Baen’s electronic slush pile. His second novel Shift (2007, Baen) has just come out. He now lives in France with his wife, a dolmen, and a frightening collection of animals. Visit site.
Diana Pharaoh Francis
Diana Pharaoh Francis has written the fantasy novel trilogy that includes Path of Fate, Path of Honor and Path of Blood. Path of Fate was nominated for the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award. Recently released was The Cipher, first of The Crosspointe Chronicles, which will be followed by The Black Ship in November 2008. Diana teaches in the English Department at the University of Montana Western, and is an avid lover of all things chocolate. Visit site.
Sarah Prineas
Sarah lives in Iowa City, Iowa with her mad scientist husband and two kids. Author of the Magic Thief series; the first book is coming in summer 2008 from HarperCollins and a bunch of other publishers around the world. Visit site.
Kelly McCullough
Kelly McCullough's first novel, WebMage, was released by Ace in 2006. Three sequels, Cybermancy, Codespell, and MythOS are slated for release in '07, '08, and '09. He lives in Western Wisconsin with his physics professor wife and a small herd of cats. Visit site.
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