One of my first drabbles, originally published in Grand Science Fiction. Scroll right to read it in full.
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Posts Tagged ‘genre fiction’
Psych Eval
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, drabble, genre fiction, Thoughts, writing on February 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Random Thought: What If Clouds Were Alive?
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on February 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”
― Terry Pratchett
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Empathy Engines
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, cognitive behavior, creativity, genre fiction, science, Thoughts, writing on February 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Today, an essay by Cecilia Tan in Uncanny magazine: A Novel Is an Empathy Engine.
The idea that story can have an effect on the humans that consume it is not new. It’s well accepted across many cultures, and well supported by studies, that children’s development is aided by hearing stories, with benefits ranging from emotional development and improved communication skills to increased vocabulary and social maturity. But adults are also affected and changed by story.
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Lost Sols
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, books, free fiction, genre fiction, Mars, movies, Writers on February 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
In a recent chat with my mother, I mentioned that I thought she would enjoy the movie version of The Martian. I don’t know if she was convinced by my sales pitch: “An astronaut is stranded alone on Mars and has to find a way home before he dies a horrible death. It’s hilarious!” but I hope she’ll watch it.
Andy Weir’s book is also a lot of fun. It was published ten years ago this month, and to celebrate he wrote a new chapter and shared it with us all.
Enjoy!
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Just Saying
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #BlackAsSFF, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on February 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I just finished the third book in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth trilogy and have to agree with this article:
Dear Hollywood, Where Are the SFF Book-to-Movie-TV Adaptations From Black Writers?
Since 2014, approximately 500 books of all genres have been adapted to film or television. In total, just over four dozen of those books adapted were written by Black authors. Only four of those 50+ Black adaptations were speculative works.
Just saying.
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Lunar New Year
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, genre fiction, inspiration on February 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Happy Year of the Dragon!
2024 is China’s Year of the Dragon
The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on February 10 this year. Also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, the festival marking the advent of spring is widely celebrated in China and several East Asian countries…
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Who Am I Missing?
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, authors, genre fiction, sff, Thoughts, weird lists on February 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I decided to make a list of science fiction and fantasy authors based on my reading history, organized by the starting letter of their last name. (That’s normal, right?)
This is off the top of my head and while I read a lot my memory isn’t the best. I have certainly forgotten many authors, and of course there are many more that I have not yet read. And I haven’t put everyone in here, but focused on the ones engraved into my longer-term memory banks. (As such, it tends toward the classics.) Even so, I was surprised to find that most letters have at least some entries.
Most, but not for Q, U, and X.
Here’s my list in progress. Who am I missing?
A is for Asimov, Atwood, Adams, Abercrombie, Andrews, Addison, Anders, Anthony
B is for Butler, Bradbury, Bujold, Banks, Bacigalupi, Bester, Butcher, Burroughs, Baum, Bull, Beukes, Bradley
C is for Crowley, Chiang, Card, Crichton, Arthur C. Clarke, Cronin, Chambers, Corey, Susanna Clarke, Carroll, Cooper, Cherryh
D is for Delany, Dick
E is for El-Mohtar
F is for Farmer, Farland, Feist, Fforde, Flint, Foster
G is for Grant, Gibson, Gladstone, Gaiman, Gabaldon, Green, Goldman
H is for Harrison, Herbert, Huxley, Heinlein, Haldeman, Hamilton, Hobb, Hopkinson
I is for Ishiguro
J is for Jemisin, Jordan, Diana Wynne Jones
K is for King, Kowal, Kingfisher, Kay, Kurtz
L is for Leckie, Lem, Ken Liu, Le Guin, Lewis, Lem, Lunch, Cixin Liu, L’Engle, Lowry, Lord, Leiber
M is for McCarthy, Miller Jr, Muir, Martine, Miéville, Martine, McGuire, McCaffrey, Matheson, Moorcock, Milne, Macdonald, McKinley
N is for Niven, Novik, Norton
O is for Okorafor, Orwell
P is for Pournelle, Pratchett, Pullman
Q is for …
R is for Robinson, Rothfuss, Rowling
S is for Scalzi, Shelley, Stephenson, Simmons, Sagan, Stross, Samatar, Sanderson, Sawyer
T is for Tolkien, Tchaikovsky, Tiptree Jr., Tepper
U is for …
V is for Vonnegut, Verne, VanderMeer, Vinge
W is for Weir, HG Wells, Martha Wells, Willis, Whitehead, Walton, Williams, TH White, Wilhelm
X is for …
Y is for Yolen, Yu
Z is for Zelazny
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Inspiration is a Fair Weather Friend
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Octavia Butler, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice. You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”
― Octavia E. Butler
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The T-4200, Take Two
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Escape Pod, evil ice cream carts, free fiction, genre fiction, more weaponized food, scifi, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, Writers, writing on February 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I have mentioned a story called “The T-4200” on this site in posts before. Originally published at Andromeda Spaceways Magazine in 2017 (yay), it was not available online (so sad!).
Until now.
That’s right, the good folks at Escape Pod looked at this goofy sci-fi adventure featuring a beleaguered civil servant just trying to do the right thing, dimension-hopping animals, and murderous ice cream carts and said, “Yes, please.”
(Fine, I may have added the “please.”)
The thing about Escape Pod is that they are an audio magazine. Because they also publish the transcript, this story (all 9,000 or so words of it), is now available in both audio and text formats.
Which means that you, fair reader (or listener!) are now able to sample the delights of this story for yourself.
Enjoy the audio performance or read the transcript at Escape Pod.
Escape Pod 923: The T-4200 (Part 1 of 2)
Escape Pod 924: The T-4200 (Part 2 of 2)
- Author (that’s me!): J.R. Johnson
- Narrator: J. S. Arquin
- Host: Valerie Valdes
- Audio Producer: Adam Pracht
I had a great time with this story. Hope you do too!
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Endless Possibilities
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, free fiction, genre fiction, short stories, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Today, I’m happy to share a lovely short story from friend and fellow Writers of the Future alum Elaine Midcoh.
Papa’s (Not) Gone – MetaStellar
Later, people wondered why I didn’t cry.
It cheered me up. I hope it does you, too.
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