Archive for June, 2011

David B. Coe June 23rd 2011

Finishing a Puzzle

My apologies for this post going up late.  I am in the throes of finishing a book, which is always a good place to be, but which always leaves me tunnel-visioned and addle-brained.  So I’m late with the post and I have absolutely nothing to say.  And I feel badly about that. Finishing a book [...]

James Alan Gardner June 21st 2011

The Skill List Project: Avoiding Viewpoint Mistakes

This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Last time around, we talked about Viewpoint Selectivity. This time, we’ll dig into viewpoint again because I want to talk about something that really makes beginners look amateurish: [...]

Chris Moriarty June 20th 2011

The Book is Dead, Long Live the Book!

I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of it, but here it is: I don’t buy books anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I love books. I love the feel and smell of the paper. I love the pretty pictures on the covers. I love the sight of all my books lining the walls [...]

Marie Brennan June 16th 2011

If you wave your hands hard enough, dragons can fly

Last month I posted about my adventures in worldbuilding for a series which, while fantasy, will attempt to be pseudo-scientific — by nineteenth-century standards of science, anyway. As the phrase “A Natural History of Dragons” might alert you, I face one very central problem in this task. Namely, the dragons. Or more specifically, the fact [...]

S.C. Butler June 15th 2011

Do You Prefer Adventure, or Politics, in Your Epic Fantasy?

Or maybe both? The best epic fantasies tend to have plenty of both.  Without political context to frame the conflict, an adventure has little meaning.  And without the characters placing themselves at personal risk, politics is just so much talk.  The best example of a book with plenty of both is Dune, especially given the [...]

Alma Alexander June 6th 2011

Alma Impersonates The White Rabbit

I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!   My SFNovelists day is usually the 5th of the month, but this time things got way from me in a major way – but part of my excuse is that was down in Portland, Oregon this past weekend, at JayCon, Jay Lake’s annual birthday bash, and having an [...]

Mindy Klasky June 1st 2011

Summer Time… And the Reading is Easy

When I was a kid, I loved summer vacation – those long, uninterrupted days, just perfect for reading book after book after book.  Sometimes, I worked through the recommended books on my school’s so-called grade-appropriate list.  Sometimes, I indulged in re-reading favorites, well below my grade.  Sometimes, I stretched to “grown-up” books, using the extra [...]

Author Information

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.

James Alan Gardner

James Alan Gardner got his M.Math from the University of Waterloo with a thesis on black holes...and then he immediately started writing science fiction instead. He's been a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award as well as the Aurora award (twice). He's published seven novels (beginning with "Expendable"), plus a short story collection and (for street cred) a Lara Croft book. He cares deeply about words and sentences, and is working his way up to paragraphs. Visit site.

Chris Moriarty

Chris Moriarty has been making a living writing science fiction and fantasy for over a decade. Chris's books include SPIN STATE, SPIN CONTROL (winner of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award), and THE INQUISITOR'S APPRENTICE. Chris also has a regular review column with the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. 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.

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.

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