In addition to straightforward, regular, mundane blogging, I wanted to intersperse articles that adhered to certain themes, like featured columns in a magazine. Some of the features that I came up with are described below.
Writing Tips
As often as I can, I post a writing tip. Sometimes they’re tips about the craft of writing. Sometimes they’re tips about the business of writing, including…marketing (that dreaded word). I hope they help others as much as they’ve helped me. Check them out!
- Amazon Kindle Tiers
- Marathons vs. Sprints
- Signing Books
- Your Amazon Author Page
- The Blog Ratio
- Tech Levels
- The Logline
- Getting Paid for Events
- The Reactive Net: A Strategy for Writing Series
- Story Diagramming Example
- Immerse or Die: Most Common Writing Mistakes
- The Perils of the Indie Road
- Neil Clarke on Producing Ebooks
- How to Get Your Speaking Proposal Accepted
Inspiration
Are you stuck for ideas for your next story? Well, I’ve got just the thing for that. Each week, I post interesting images to set your brain on fire.
- Worst Cities in a Zombie Apocalypse
- Olympus Mons and Arizona
- Prague, the Charles Bridge, in Fog
- You Are Here
- Galloping Crocodiles
- Traveling in Snow
- Solar System Necklace
- A Ruin in the Forest
- Galaxy’s Edge
- Sunset on Mars
- Road Trip
- Immersive User Interface
- Hidden Paradise
- Belt Structure
- Lucky Strike
- Orbital View
- Alien Creature
- Icarus Flyby
- Ocean House
Mashups
Most of my stories end up being mashups of different genres. I therefore thought it would be interesting to highlight real-life mashups of different sorts, or suggest possibly absurd combinations. Here are a few that I’ve posted to my site:
- Doc Savage vs. the Terminator
- Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper (SF, Crime, Legal, First Contact)
- Buzz Lightyear Enters the Grid (Toy Story and Tron)
- Godzilla and the Titanic
- Arya vs. Brienne, with Light Sabers (Game of Thrones and Star Wars)
Book Reviews
Triptych Reviews
The field of speculative fiction has expanded dramatically in recent years, encompassing YA, hard science fiction, military science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, steampunk and other categories. It’s possible for readers (and writers) to perch comfortably in a niche and never experience any of the other joys that the field may offer.
To fight such narrowness in focus, I sometimes do Triptych Reviews, where I recommend one contemporary novel, one noteworthy older novel (generally more than twenty years old) and one piece of short fiction from any era.
- Ready Player One; The Pride of Chanur; and “The Star”
- The Martian; Rite of Passage; and “The Most Dangerous Game”
- Shades of Milk and Honey; Gateway; and “A Study in Emerald”
Conventional Reviews
- Black Tide Rising, by John Ringo (2013 – 2014)
- Phoenix Without Ashes, by Harlan Ellison (1973)
- Armageddon 2419 A.D., by Philip Francis Nowlan (1928, 1929)
- Colonizing a World with Dean Ellis, a book cover by Dean Ellis (1970)
Time Warp
Some of the best science fiction and fantasy that’s published exists in shorter formats such as short stories, novelettes and novellas; these stories often appear only in magazines and anthologies that quickly go out-of-print. In these articles, I visit a particular year via one or more of the “Best of…” anthologies that were published for that year, highlighting some of the best stories that are still worth reading today.
Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories
#1 – 25 (covering 1939 – 1963; pub. 1979 – 1992)
Edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
The Year’s Best SF
(1956 – 1967)
Edited by Judith Merril
World’s Best Science Fiction
(1965 – 1971)
Edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr
Best Science Fiction of the Year
#1 – #16 (1972 – 1987)
Edited by Terry Carr
The Annual World’s Best SF
(1972 – 1990)
Edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year
(1972 – 1976)
Edited by Lester Del Rey
Stellar
#1 – #7 (1974 – 1981), + Short Novels (1976)
Edited by Judy-Lynn Del Rey
Year’s Best SF
#1 – #17 (1996 – 2012)
Edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
Coming Soon: (in no particular order)
1972 — Via Best Science Fiction of the Year #2
1972 — Via Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year #2
1973 — Via Best Science Fiction of the Year #3
1956 — Via Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories #18 (1956)
1964 — Via The Year’s Best SF: 10th Annual Edition
1967 — Via World’s Best SF: Fourth Series (1968)
1980 — Via Best Science Fiction of the Year #10
1983 — Via The 1984 Annual World’s Best SF
1985 — Via The 1986 Annual World’s Best SF
1989 — Via The 1990 Annual World’s Best SF
Fix-It
Somebody, call the doctor. You’ve just seen a science fiction television show or movie that was just awful. The producers clearly didn’t understand world-building, character development or the logical consistency required to support the underlying premise of their show. In these articles, I analyze the “patient” and provide concrete suggestions on how the show or movie could have been improved into something that SF aficionados don’t have to cringe at.
Check out the in-depth analysis of:
Future subjects will include:
- New Amsterdam
- Terra Nova
Note: I have a notional schedule for the various types of feature entries, though I confess that I’m not all that great terrible at keeping to it. Mondays, a Mashup graphic; Wednesdays, a Writing Tip; Thursdays, an Interview, Fridays, Inspiration (an inspiring graphic of some sort). Book Reviews and Movie Reviews can happen at any time.
