Tag Archives: stories

A Movable Feast

I had a revelation yesterday that I wrote briefly about, but now I’m going to elaborate a bit more on it. It’s one of those things that creeps up on you, that you don’t realize it’s there until it’s bitten you on the throat and sucked out all your blood (but in a good way). [...]
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Genre Bender

I’m throwing my hat in with a few other pre-pro writers (AKA “wannabees”) over at the new groupblog Genre Bender. The blog will be all about the craft of writing, the frustrations of the amateur writer, with a sprinkle of commentary on specific genres. Sounds like fun, eh? Does to me, which is why I’m [...]
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The Unknown Story of the Day

How many stories are there in a day? Every day, every one of us is a story. Some are boring, but some are fantastic. Every soul on Earth has its own story, set to the cadence of every heartbeat drumming up the words. The most frustrating thing is not knowing the stories of the lives [...]
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Vlad Kahn Application

Recently (a corporation) decided to hire (a departmental manager) and sent out three questions to prospective hires. One of the questionaires fell into my hands, so I filled it out and returned it using the name Vlad Kahn. Would you hire me? Please list your top 3-5 strengths that will make you a strong candidate for this position. I [...]
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Irmth the Eleventh

While I’m thinking about it, I’ve had dreams before that have ended up being incorporated into various stories I’ve written. For instance, one morning I woke up with a clear line in my head, which may not make any sense to you (it didn’t to my wife), but nevertheless I liked it and I thought [...]
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Scalzi’s ARC contest

There are lessons to be learned over at Whatever. John Scalzi announced the winning entrants (two runners up and one grand prize) for his Zoe’s Tale ARC contest this morning and it occurred to me, as I read the entries (many of which were really good), that it might be better to be published on the [...]
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The Greatest Science Fiction Gadgets

What makes science fiction great? Yes, the story, and yes, the characters, but don’t forget all those nifty gadgets! Equipped with this list of goodies, you could go anywhere, create anything, know everything, have a faithful, useful friend, and look really cool the whole time. These are the items that represent SciFi’s greatest imaginings:  Lightsaber Star Wars, by George Lucas It’s a weapon at heart, but so [...]
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Old Man’s War

**Spoiler Alert**  Something I’ve been thinking about lately: SciFi movies, more of them, please? Oh, and try and make them better, k? Here’s an idea: Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi, a book that is utterly primed for adaptation, and I don’t even see much of a way for them to ruin it. Look at the Hollywood history [...]
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The Novella Format

Whatever happened to the novella as a form of prose? Many of the greatest stories of all time were written in the 20k – 50k word range. Stories like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and A River Runs Through It. There are countless others, but it seems the publishing world in general is intent on [...]
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Books I’ve read this year so far…

Desolation Island by Patrick O’brian The Fortune of War by Patrick O’brian The Forever War by John Haldeman Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll Neuromancer by William Gibson Pattern Recognition by William Gibson Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan The Ruins by Scott Smith It by Stephen King Added 4-2-07: Johnny Too Bad by John Dufresne Added 6-1-07 (after getting on a Hemingway kick): The Green Hills [...]
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VidLit

Something to think about, from a book marketing standpoint. You know, if I had a book to market. Anyway: VidLit. It’s like a trailer for a book, that can be sent to a mobile phone or viewed on da interwubby and the book can be purchased with a *click*. At least that’s the theory as [...]
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