Posted in Writing, tagged books, campbell award, free, genre fiction, inspiration, literature, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, Stupefying Stories, Writers, writing, yay on February 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Another year, another free Campbellian download!
Stupefying Stories has just made available M. David Blake’s “The 2014 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology.” This collection contains more than 860,000 words of fiction by authors eligible for this John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer award. Fabulous fiction, and all free free free!
Limited time offer, get yours today!
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, books, genre fiction, john scalzi, Samuel R. Delany, science fiction, sff, Writers, writing on December 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Terrific, this award is very well deserved:)
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has named Samuel R. Delany its newest Grand Master. All the details are here.
I’m still doing my “no comments on SFWA for a year” thing, so I won’t discuss this substantively at the moment. I will say this: This is an award both well chosen and well deserved.
Posted in Writing, tagged books, creativity, Fiction, finishing, nanowrimo, science fiction, Writers, writing, yay on November 21, 2013| 2 Comments »
“Never let perfect be the enemy of the good.”
I just passed 50,000 words on my NaNoWriMo project so I am officially done. Congratulations to the other winners and good luck to those still working!
Now it’s time to get back to… everything else:)
Posted in Writing, tagged books, diversity, Fiction, history, literature, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I’m busy working on a hard deadline so today I invite you to enjoy this great, self-reflective piece on diversity in historical fiction (and by extension, all fictional worlds) by Mary Robinette Kowal. She’s talking specifically about race but the same points apply to gender, sexuality, etc. as well.
Don’t blame the homogeneity of your novel on historical accuracy. That’s your choice, as an author.
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, books, Cat Valente, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, nanowrimo, work, Writers, writing on November 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »
As you can see from the widget in the sidebar (just there, to the right:) I am indeed doing NaNoWriMo this year and I’m making decent progress. I am not worrying about writing a work of unimpeachable genius. I am not sweating typos. I am not questioning my character’s motivation or whether he really would want to eat the fried pigeon at that corner street cart (he does, he told me so). I’m just showing up and getting it done.
Show up and get it done. That is a decent summary (ok, paraphrase, she’s a little more forceful:) of Cat Valente’s NaNo Pep Talk for today, and I was happy to see it. I was also happy to see her push for the possibility of writing that is done fast and also well. It’s not all going to be good, but there’s no reason why it should be bad. And no matter what happens, it certainly won’t be a waste of your time.
Check out the Pep Talk, enjoy the wisdom of a voice of experience. Then whatever your project may be, show up and get it done. Good luck!
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged books, contest, Derryl Murphy, Fiction, Five Rivers Publishing, fun, genre fiction, Jeff Minkevics, Morse code, sff, yay on October 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to win the Five Rivers Publishing Wasps at the Speed of Sound contest! It was a great competition and gave me the opportunity to decode the Morse Code message on Derryl Murphy’s Wasps at the Speed of Sound book cover, designed by Art Director, Jeff Minkevics.
It was a lot of fun and (extra yay) means that I also get to enjoy not one, not two, but ten e-books from Five Rivers. The chance to sample such a wide range of books is terrific, and I can’t wait to read them all:) Thanks, Five RIvers!
Posted in Likes, Other, Science!, tagged books, creativity, education, Fiction, Generation Mars, kids, Mars, Motivation, non-fiction, Pascal Lee, reading, reading list, science, science fiction, SETI, STEM on October 15, 2013| 1 Comment »
This article by scientist Pascal Lee has a great point: reading helps kids turn dreams into reality. I just have one tiny bone to pick, and that has to do with the non/fiction divide:
“Let’s get ready for Mission: Mars and take our kids with us. Let’s start them on this journey with a non-fiction STEM book.”
I absolutely agree that Science, Technology, Engineering and Math learning and advancement requires books of the non-fiction variety. That’s right, actual facts are actually important. No question. I would add, though, that not only is it not bad if Generation Mars includes fiction on its reading list, doing so will help them with that first bit: having dreams. It’s also important to remember that much of the best science fiction is based on extrapolated science fact.*
“The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”
— Peter Diamandis
As Lee points out, Scholastic’s “Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life” motto is right on target, but why limit that reading? Non-fiction shows you how to build the path, fiction helps you decide where you want to go and imagine what it will be like when you get there.
I can’t wait to see where Generation Mars takes us.
* While “top X” lists are always arguable, they can be a great place to start. Check out this list of The Best Hard Science Fiction Books of all Time: Ten titles that inspired Technology Review to publish TRSF, its own collection of sci-fi stories.
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, tagged best of, books, entertainment, Fiction, genre fiction, literature, NPR, sff on October 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »
It’s time for me to find a new book to read, and what better place to start looking than SFSignal’s delightful visualization of NPR’s Top 100 SFF Books? Sure, the list is a little older, but literature is timeless, people, timeless!
Posted in Funny, Likes, tagged arts, awesome, books, Einstein, flash fiction online, good society, inspiration, knowledge, public libraries, smart, Thoughts, yay on August 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »
From Flash Fiction Online’s Facebook page. I can’t even say how much I love this…
Like many other committed readers and writers, I spent a significant part of my time from childhood on in public libraries. People often take them for granted now, but imagine a time (or place) where you couldn’t pop down to the corner for a book, or a consultation with a librarian, or a safe quiet place to read and work, where knowledge wasn’t freely available to all. What a wonderful invention.
Posted in Food and..., Science!, tagged books, fascinating, food, learning@lunch, nonfiction, processed food, science on August 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I read with lunch. Sometimes speculative fiction, of course, but often other types of writing as well, including nonfiction. Right now I’m reading Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner.
Appropriate lunchtime fare, wouldn’t you say? Allow me to share with you two fascinating excerpts:
You probably don’t think of your lunch as being constructed from powders, but consider the ingredients of a Subway Sweet Onion Teriyaki sandwich. Of the 105 ingredients, 55 are dry, dusty substances that were added to the sandwich for a whole variety of reasons. The chicken contains thirteen…. The teriyaki glaze has twelve…. In the fat-free sweet onion sauce, you get another eight…. And finally, the Italian white bread has twenty two….
— p.11
Yum. And lest you think that a salad at home is necessarily pitfall free:
… using fat-free dressing on a salad can prevent you from absorbing many of the vegetables’ healthy (fat-soluble) phytochemicals.
— p. 18
This has been Learning@Lunch. Enjoy:)
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