Archive for July, 2008
July 13th 2008
the year
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve measured the year in terms of the academic year. Fall begins when school does (and I also have a knee-jerk urge to go shop for clothes, paper, pencils and binders). Winter starts just before Christmas. Spring starts in January. Summer starts in May. Now sometimes the months shift […]
July 11th 2008
On Beginnings and Planned Obsolescence
I started writing a new novel recently. I delivered my last contract book a couple of months ahead of deadline, and as a reward I’m giving myself permission to work on a spec book just because I love the story. It’s actually the second book in a trilogy I’ve been working on in the interstices […]
July 11th 2008
On the Importance of Having a Life
There seem to be two kinds of writers. (And my apologies for starting off with what is certainly a false dichotomy that is way overused).
Check out the author bios in the backs of the books. One type reads like a random sampling of jobs listed at an employment agency, showing a writer who has supported […]
July 10th 2008
Real People, Unreal Worlds–Are you Liable to Libel?
A friend of mine who’s not a writer recently asked me if I would get in trouble with using real people in my novel. In my first book, coming out in August, I have walk-ons by a few dead-but-famous people (P. K. Dick, Carl Jung, Eisenhower), as well as a few famous-but-not-dead people. Notably, I […]
July 7th 2008
Making Cross-Promotion Fun
Back in 2006, mystery writer Joe Konrath and I were talking about websites. He asked me a very important question:
“Why will people come back to your site after the first visit?”
So I thought long and hard about it. And what I thought was this: I would interview other authors.
Not different enough, though; lots of people […]
July 5th 2008
For the love
I had found myself in a strange place.
For some years now I have been writing to contract. It was a heady thing - someone BOUGHT my stories before they had been written, somebody paid me advances for dreams yet undreamed. There was an exhilaration to it - and there were two other things, too. One […]
July 1st 2008
The Novel is Done, Long Live the Novel
Around a week ago, I finished up The Turning Tide, the third in my Crosspointe series. Finishing a book is always rather a strange thing for me. There’s a certain amount of jubilation and awe at myself–I finished a whole, entire book! And then there’s this period where my body starts to completely freak out–apparently […]
Author Information
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.
Kelly McCullough
Kelly McCullough's first novel in the WebMage series, WebMage, was released by Ace in 2006 to considerable critical praise. Cybermancy, and CodeSpell followed in '07 and '08. His 4th, MythOS, is slated for late May '09. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues including Weird Tales, Writers of the Future, and Tales of the Unanticipated. His illustrated collection, The Chronicles of the Wandering Star, is part of a National Science Foundation-funded middle school science curriculum, Interactions in Physical Science. Visit site.
Mike Brotherton
Professional astronomer, science fiction novelist (Star Dragon, Spider Star). Visit site.
Daryl Gregory
Daryl GregoryDaryl's a science fiction writer who lives in State College, PA. Several of his short stories have appeared in "Year's Best" anthologies, and his first novel, PANDEMONIUM, will appearing in Fall 2008 from Del Rey Books. Visit site.
Jackie Kessler
Alma Alexander
Alma Alexander is a Pacific Northwest novelist whose new YA trilogy, "Worldweavers", debuted with "Gift of the Unmage" in March 2007 ("Spellspam" follows in 2008, and "Cybermage" in 2009). Her other books include the internationally acclaimed "The Secrets of Jin Shei". 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.
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