2009 November at SF Novelists

Archive for November, 2009

Stephanie Burgis November 26th 2009

A Literary Thanksgiving

Today it’s Thanksgiving in America, one of my favorite holidays. I’ve talked on my own blog about some of the things I’m grateful for in my personal life, but for this entry, I wanted to talk about something a little different: the writers I’m thankful for, as a writer. You know what I mean: the [...]

Jim C. Hines November 24th 2009

SF/F Humor Roundup

My first professional sale was a sword and sorcery piece about a magic dagger with a hilt carved in the shape of a rabbit. And like rabbits, if you left this weapon alone with another dagger, you’d soon find yourself overflowing with cutlery. It was a light, silly story that hopefully earned some laughs, but [...]

David B. Coe November 23rd 2009

Fathers and Masculinity

All right, I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb here, and pick up on Marie Brennan’s post and Kate Elliott’s post, to write about fathers and how we are portrayed in books and media. Maybe there’s something to be gleaned here as well, as we at SFNovelists explore gender stereotypes and tropes. I’m a [...]

Kate Elliott November 18th 2009

Fighting for Spawn

Aliens is one of my favorite films. I like it partly because it is a superior science fiction adventure thriller (as opposed to Alien which I have never seen and will likely never see because it is a horror film and I get scared very very easily), but mostly because it is a film about [...]

Marie Brennan November 16th 2009

A woman’s place is not in the refrigerator

Several of my recent posts have addressed the issue of writing female characters, with me defending the position (which I do generally believe in) that it isn’t quite the minefield some people fear. Having said that, it occurs to me that I’m being a bit disingenuous: there are certain pitfalls that can ensnare the unwary [...]

S.C. Butler November 15th 2009

The Future of Bookstores?

In December, a few authors (we call ourselves the Magnificent Genre Seven) will be doing a signing at a Waldenbooks in western New York. We’ve signed there before – it’s a great bookstore with a great manager who’s a friend of several of us. Unfortunately, our signing will be the store’s last. The parent company [...]

Alma Alexander November 5th 2009

What do we know and when do we want to know it?

Spoilers. The rude, the uncouth, the unwary who let slip the fundamentally important pivotal core detail while talking about some recent book or movie to someone else who has not yet read or seen it. The reviewers who, in absence of an opinion on a piece, trot out a plot synopsis complete with spoilers embedded [...]

Diana Pharaoh Francis November 3rd 2009

Writing the Sequel

So my new book Bitter Night came out last week. I’ll indulge in a little bit of Shameless Self Promotion below, but before that, an actual post. I’ve been working on the sequel to this book, and it’s one of the hardest books I’ve written. I know where I’m going, but I’ve rewritten the beginning [...]

Mindy Klasky November 1st 2009

Writers Behaving Badly

I am getting ready to launch a feature on my website – writing advice for new and continuing writers. Of course, there are tons and tons of sources for writing advice out there, so I figured I’d try a slightly different approach. I’d try focusing on the Bad Things That Writers Do (all the while, [...]

Author Information

Stephanie Burgis

Stephanie Burgis is an American writer who lives in Yorkshire, England, with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their son "Mr Darcy", and their crazy-sweet border collie mix, Maya. Her Regency fantasy trilogy for kids, The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, will be published by Atheneum Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, beginning with Book One: A Most Improper Magick. She has also published short stories in a variety of magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, including Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Escape Pod. You can find out more, or read/listen to her published stories online, at her website. Visit site.

Jim C. Hines

Jim C. Hines' latest book is THE SNOW QUEEN'S SHADOW, the fourth of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie's Angels twist. He's also the author of the humorous GOBLIN QUEST trilogy. Jim's short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, and Sword & Sorceress XXI. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He's currently hard at work on LIBRIOMANCER, the first book in a new fantasy series. Visit site.

David B. Coe

David B. Coe is the author of eleven fantasy novels, including the books of the LonTobyn Chronicle, Winds of the Forelands, and Blood of the Southlands. He has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe, that is due out in May 2010. In 1999 he received the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually by the IAFA to the best new author in fantasy. He has a Ph.D. in United States environmental history and lives on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with his wife and daughters. Visit site.

Kate Elliott

Kate 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.

Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan is the author of more than thirty short stories and the Onyx Court series of historical fantasy novels, concluding in the upcoming With Fate Conspire (due out September 2011). 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.

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 Turning Tide, third in her Crosspointe Chronicles series (look also for The Cipher and The Black Ship). In October 2009, look for Bitter Night, a contemporary fantasy. Diana teaches in the English Department at the University of Montana Western, and is an avid lover of all things chocolate. Visit site.

Mindy Klasky

Mindy Klasky is the author of eleven novels, including WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD and HOW NOT TO MAKE A WISH in the As You Wish Series. She also wrote GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL, and MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL, about a librarian who finds out she's a witch. Mindy also wrote the award-winning, best-selling Glasswrights series and the stand-alone fantasy novel, SEASON OF SACRIFICE. Visit site.