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Posts Tagged ‘Fiction’

Ann Leckie Shorts & More

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Today’s free fiction comes from Ann Leckie of Ancillary fame and more. “Hesperia and Glory” was her first SF&F sale, and she blogs about the story and her experience writing it as part of the Clarion West writers workshop:

…all the best advice in the world (and trust me, it was fabulous advice for the story I appeared to have written) isn’t useful if it’s not for your story.

“Hesperia and Glory” is available free as part of a special issue of Subterranean Magazine guest-edited by John Scalzi. Also in this issue, stories by Rachel Swirsky, Jo Walton, Elizabeth Bear and more.

Heck, since I’m at it, let me link two other Leckie stories I read in the past few weeks, both in the Imperial Radch universe:

Night’s Slow Poison from Tor.com
She Commands Me and I Obey from Strange Horizons

Enjoy!

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Some of the Best from Tor.com 2015

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Today’s free fiction is a Best of 2015 collection from Tor.com. Available in PDF, EPUB & MOBI formats, the book download requires free login. Note that these and all other Tor.com stories are available free online but it’s great to get a prepackaged anthology as a jumping off point.

Some of the Best from Tor.com 2015

The stories were acquired by editors Ellen Datlow, Claire Eddy, Carl Engle-Laird, Liz Gorinsky, David G. Hartwell, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Beth Meacham, Marco Palmieri, and Ann VanderMeer.

Enjoy!

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Locus + Recommended + Free

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

The 2015 Locus Recommended Reading List

It’s the beginning of a new year and that, among other things, means year-end wrap-ups and award seasons. Locus Magazine, which has covered the science fiction and fantasy field since 1968, released its list of recommended reading for 2015. It is extensive. It covers material from novels to shorts, fantasy to non-fiction, and there seems to be something for everyone. The full list includes links or references for all entries so check it out if you want the full shebang.

If you’re short on available funds or want to sample an author before you dig deeper into their repertoire, then check out my abbreviated version below. It links to all of the list’s freely available stories (I think, although it’s a big collection and I may have missed one or two).

There’s a lot of excellent material here. I’ve read some of these pieces already but not all, and I look forward to catching up. Do check out the novels and other purchasable items too, if you have the wherewithal (and if you don’t, I highly recommend a library card!).

Enjoy!

 

NOVELLAS
‘‘Waters of Versailles’’, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 6/10/15)

NOVELETTES
‘‘And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead’’, Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed 2/15)
‘‘Islands off the Coast of Capitola, 1978’’, David Herter (Tor.com 7/8/15)
‘‘Machine Learning’’, Nancy Kress (Future Visions)
‘‘Another Word for World’’, Ann Leckie (Future Visions)
‘‘Coming of the Light’’, Chen Qiufan (Clarkesworld 3/15)
‘‘Fabulous Beasts’’, Priya Sharma (Tor.com 7/27/15)
‘‘The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild’’, Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 1/15, 3/15)

SHORT STORIES
‘‘The Great Silence’’, Allora & Calzadilla & Ted Chiang (e-flux journal 56th Venice Biennale 5/8/2015)
‘‘Soteriology and Stephen Greenwood’’, Julia August (Unlikely Stories 10/15)
‘‘City of Ash’’, Paolo Bacigalupi (Matter 7/27/15)
‘‘Snow’’, Dale Bailey (Nightmare 6/15)
‘‘Unearthly Landscape by a Lady’’, Rebecca Campbell (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 10/15/15)
‘‘Hold-Time Violations’’, John Chu (Tor.com 10/7/15)
‘‘Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight’’, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Please Undo This Hurt’’, Seth Dickinson (Tor.com 9/16/15)
‘‘Madeleine’’, Amal El-Mohtar (Lightspeed 6/15)
‘‘A Shot of Salt Water’’, Lisa L. Hannett (The Dark 5/15)
‘‘Let Baser Things Devise’’, Berrien C. Henderson (Clarkesworld 4/15)
‘‘The Apartment Dweller’s Bestiary’’, Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Cat Pictures Please’’, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/15)
‘‘Variations on an Apple’’, Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com 10/14/15)
‘‘archival testimony fragments / minersong’’, Rose Lemberg (Uncanny 1-2/15)
‘‘The Game of Smash and Recovery’’, Kelly Link (Strange Horizons 10/17/15)
‘‘Descent’’, Carmen Maria Machado (Nightmare 2/15)
‘‘Hello, Hello’’, Seanan McGuire (Future Visions)
‘‘When Your Child Strays From God’’, Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld 7/15)
‘‘The Smog Society’’, Chen Qiufan (Lightspeed 8/15)
‘‘The Empress in Her Glory’’, Robert Reed (Clarkesworld 4/15)
‘‘The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill’’, Kelly Robson (Clarkesworld 2/15)
‘‘Today I Am Paul’’, Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld 8/15)
‘‘The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club’’, Nike Sulway (Lightspeed 10/15)
‘‘The Pyramid of Krakow’’, Michael Swanwick (Tor.com 9/30/15)
‘‘The Lily and the Horn’’, Catherynne M. Valente (Fantasy 12/15)
‘‘Pocosin’’, Ursula Vernon (Apex 1/15)
‘‘Kaiju maximus®: ‘So Various, So Beautiful, So New’’’, Kai Ashante Wilson (Fantasy 12/15)
‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)
‘‘Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World’’, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 9/15)

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The Hero’s Journey

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Storytelling is a fundamentally human pursuit. (Not to say that we’re the only ones who do it, because it’s possible that ant and bee pheromones communicate the route to food in the form of a tale that resonates with those particular species, but…) In fundamental ways that touch on history to parenting to neuroscience and everything in between, we are our stories. The origins of some classic fairytales, for instance, go back thousands of years.

How our essential stories came to be, what they say to us, and about us, and how they continue to resonate, are all fundamental questions for writers. One way to think about the path of a story, where it goes and what it is meant to do, is through the Hero’s Journey. The TED Radio Hour on NPR did a nice series on this:

…why are we drawn to stories about heroes? And what do they tell us about ourselves?

There are other ways to tell a story, of course, but as the fundamental underpinnings of tales from The Odyssey to Star Wars, this framework provides a fascinating and concrete way to communicate through fiction.

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Free Fiction Monday

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I spend a lot of time online for work and play, and it struck me just how much free fiction I see in a typical day. Lots, is the short answer.

I’ve decided to use some of my posts to highlight (a mere fraction of) the excellent material out there. I’m drawn to good writing, intriguing characters and ideas, and speculative prognostication. I hope these stories will appeal to you too.

Today’s selection is “Zero Hours” by Tim Maughan (Medium, Sep 19, 2013) ~7 min read. It introduces us to the life and work of a 19-year old “zero hours retail contractor” in London 2023.

0714, Wanstead
Nicki is awake even before her mum calls her from the other side of the door. She’s sat up in bed, crackly FM radio ebbing from tiny supermarket grade speakers, her fingers flicking across her charity shop grade tablet’s touchscreen. She’s close to shutting down two auctions when a third pushes itself across her screen with its familiar white and green branded arrogance. Starbucks. Oxford Circus. 4 hour shift from 1415.

…

Enjoy!

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Holiday Best

Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on December 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

We’ve had guests in town and that’s always fun. We went to The Tallis Scholars at the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica last night (check out that vaulted ceiling in the photo below:) and it was a lovely experience. There’s nothing like soaring choral music to elevate the spirits, and the level of talent was extraordinary. A UK vocal ensemble formed by Peter Phillips in 1973, the group holds a well-deserved international reputation and have more than sixty albums out. If you have the chance to see them in person, I recommend it. The fact that this is the holiday season just made it that much more fun.

Me being me, the event also inspired some deliciously wicked ideas for a story I’m writing. Win win!

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Tips for a Tuesday

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Today I ran across a collection of tips from master writers. The Gotham Writers Workshop includes tips for aspiring writers from Elmore Leonard, George Orwell, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, P.D. James and more.

RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.
— John Cage

Every – every – story is a story about people, or it sucks.
— Joss Whedon

I’ve seen a number of these suggestions before but many not. And when it’s Tuesday morning and the tea has yet to kick in, I find that every little bit helps. Happy writing!

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Monday, Busy, So Have Some Free Fiction

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Between regular life and my super exciting NaNoWriMo experiment, my schedule has been a bit busy of late. (Hence the relative quiet here.) So I thought I’d start your week off right, with some free fiction.

Today’s selection is a new collection of shorts produced by none other than Microsoft, which is venturing into the fiction futurism business. What’s it all about?

Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Stories Inspired by Microsoft is an anthology of short stories written by some of today’s greatest science fiction authors. These visionary stories explore prediction science, quantum computing, real-time translation, machine learning, and much more. The contributing authors were inspired by inside access to leading-edge work, including in-person visits to Microsoft’s research labs, to craft new works that predict the near-future of technology and examine its complex relationship to our core humanity.

How will the technologies the company is exploring affect our world? They’ve brought together a pretty great group of authors and artists to speculate on that very topic. Contributors include Elizabeth Bear, Greg Bear, David Brin, Nancy Kress, Ann Leckie, Jack McDevitt, Seanan McGuire, Robert J. Sawyer, Blue Delliquanti and Michele Rosenthal, and Joey Camacho.

This link takes you to a Microsoft news page with jumps to Amazon and other download sites where you can get the e-book file for free free free.

Enjoy!

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NaNoWriMo 2015, A New Beginning

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Am I doing NaNoWriMo this year? Yes. Am I doing it the way I have for the past several seasons? I am not. Here’s why I think that we should all feel ok about making NaNo into whatever works for us.

Reason One: Because why not? This whole endeavor is borderline batty anyway (in a good way!), so if you aren’t doing it for yourself, why do it at all?

Reason Two: NaNoWrMo is a tremendous opportunity to start something, and to finish something. That does not mean that we all do those things the same way or that we are all at the same stage in our particular journey.

For example, I have managed to hit my word count target every year. Yay. So I know I don’t have a problem with word production at the most basic level. Given that, it strikes me as sensible to ask how I can use this time to address some of the other issues popping up along the way.

So that’s what I’m doing this year. I’m using the month of November to focus on what is giving me trouble. Word count just doesn’t happen to be one of those issues, so I’m not focused on it right now.

I’ve made a deal with my creative side: write a decent amount a decent number of days, get back into the habit of constant production, and let me know what you need to keep the awesome ideas coming. Seriously, chocolate cake, sunset-colored drinks with umbrellas, giant cups of tea lattes from the cafe around the corner, a detailed schematic of the Death Star, you name it.

And if I need to take a day to brainstorm and that day only happens to net me a thousand words? I’m ok with that. Heck, I’m more than ok, I’m pleased as punch, because it means I’m working on the solution, not just throwing more words at the problem.

Now, I’m hardly the first person to say these things. Check out the NaNo author pep talks or any of the multitude of related discussions and you’re likely to find bits on writing in ways that work for you.

Got news for you: You don’t have to do it that way. Anything that gets words on the page is the Right Thing to Do. — Diana Gabaldon

This is the first year I’ve given myself full-on permission to do it the way that works for me. I’ve got to tell you, it feels great.

However you decide to work this month, happy noveling!

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Mini-Break

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I appear to be in a fallow period. Scary as that might sound, it’s probably a good thing even though it means I haven’t written much in the past couple of weeks. There’s nothing wrong with taking a bit of a break, so long as it doesn’t become a habit.

Breaks can be useful because you can’t produce if you don’t take in. It’s good to refill the well, give your eyes a break, take a deep breath and head out into the woods. And it’s good because hey, it’s the end of October and NaNoWriMo is right around the corner!

I haven’t decided what I’m going to work on this NaNo but I will do… something. And however that project comes together, it will require focus, and stamina, and excitement.

So I’m going to take these last couple of days to rest up and make ready. Stock up on snacks and tea and various forms of adult beverage. Then I will write.

Here’s hoping you are rested and ready too, for whatever projects you are planning. What’s that, you could use a little seasonal inspiration? No problem, here’s my father in a super-cool White Rabbit bunny* suit on some long-lost Halloween. Because awesome:)

BunnySuit

* My father would like it to be clear that he in no way neglected the Lewis Carroll portion of my education;)

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