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Posts Tagged ‘Writers’

I’m knee-deep in appliance shopping (yes, 1, 2, 3, 4 again), but I ran across a fun dialect survey and thought you, gentle readers, might find it amusing. There are fireflies (or are they lightning bugs?). There are drive-through liquor stores (or not). There are maps!

Word choice is also a useful dimension to consider when developing a character.

Here’s the source that tipped me off:

The Decade-Old Dialect Quiz You Should Take – Now I Know

And here’s a link to the survey:

And here’s a more in-depth look at firefly vs. lightning bug:

Why Some Americans Say ‘Firefly’ and Others Say ‘Lightning Bug’

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Photo by Rajesh Rajput on Unsplash

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Two of my fellow Writers of the Future v39 winners have posted blogs about craft, and I wanted to share:

Writing Resilience | by David Hankins

One Writer’s Journey | by Elaine Midcoh

David and Elaine are great writers and terrific people, and both of those traits come through in these posts. Enjoy!

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Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

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“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”

— Duke Ellington

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Photo by Matteo Kutufa on Unsplash

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As it is Tuesday (and even worse, Tuesday after a holiday), my to do list is… extensive. Please enjoy a random post and some entertaining ostriches.

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Roll the dice for a random post: Click this link or the image below.

Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash

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I like crafting in general, I like weaving in particular, and I like the freeing nature of creative constraints, so this “sheep to shawl” competition is right up my alley.

In a Sheep to Shawl competition, you have 5 people, 1 sheep, and 3 hours – NPR

Each team is made up of one sheep and five people: one shearer, three spinners, and a weaver. The team has three hours to shear the sheep, card the wool, spin the wool into yarn, and then weave that yarn into an award-winning shawl.

It’s not exactly the same as NaNoWriMo or drabbles or the 24-hour story challenge we recently did at Writers of the Future (crazy, fun, and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be:) but it’s in the same vein.

Here’s to artists exploring boundaries everywhere.

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Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

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Today, for the first time ever, I made baguettes.

I have made sandwich loaves, no-knead bread, Swedish braids, cinnamon twists, lemon loaves, pound cake, blueberry lemon bread, banana bread, and many other kinds of bread in my time, but never baguettes.

After an enlightening conversation with S.M. Stirling about writing and baking, I was inspired to give it a shot.

Baguette pan: purchased.

Initial recipe: selected. I’ll likely test out a few more but this looked like a decent place to start.

/insert hold music of your choice

Results? Pretty good! The finished loaves aren’t quite as pretty/large/browned as I’d like and I have a list of process items to tweak, but the taste and texture were both excellent. 

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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“It was not really Saturday night, at least it may have been, for they had long lost count of the days; but always if they wanted to do anything special they said this was Saturday night, and then they did it.”

― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

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Photo by Bob Coyne on Unsplash

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Who won the latest Nebulas? Here’s an abbreviated list to get you started, but click through for all the details!

SFWA Announces the Winners of the 58th Annual Nebula Awards

NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVEL

Babel, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)

NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELLA

Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)

NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELETTE

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, John Chu (Uncanny 7–8/22)

NEBULA AWARD FOR SHORT STORY

“Rabbit Test”, Samantha Mills (Uncanny 11–12/22)

THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, K. Tempest Bradford (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

Congratulations to all the winners!

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Photo by Joshua Oh on Unsplash

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Today is the day: Volume 39 of Writers of the Future is live!

Where to buy: Amazon | Apple Books | Audible | B&N | BAM | Bookshop | Google Play | Indigo | Kobo | OverDrive Libraries | Powell’s | Vroman’s

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Here’s the synopsis:

In the world of speculative fiction…

Your favorite authors…

Have selected the best new voices of the year.

24 Award-winning Authors and Illustrators 

3 Bonus Short Stories by Kevin J. Anderson • L. Ron Hubbard • S. M. Stirling 

Art and Writing Tips by Lazarus Chernik • L. Ron Hubbard • Kristine Kathryn Rusch 

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith • Jody Lynn Nye 

16-page color gallery of artwork • Cover art by Tom Wood

Check out the stories Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Nnedi Okorafor, Robert J. Sawyer, Kevin J. Anderson, Jody Lynn Nye and others chose as the best of the best.

Be amazed. Be amused. Be transported … by stories that take you by surprise and take you further and deeper into new worlds and new ideas than you’ve ever gone before….

Twelve captivating tales from the most exciting new voices in science fiction and fantasy accompanied by three from masters of the genre.

A miracle? An omen? Or something else? One day, they arrived in droves—the foxes of the desert, the field, the imagination….—“Kitsune” by Devon Bohm

When a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua meet on a beach in Key West, fireworks go off! But that’s just the background. —“Moonlight and Funk” by Marianne Xenos

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., faces one of his funniest and most perplexing cases ever—an enlightened ogre, a salamander with low self-esteem, and a raging fire dragon terrorizing the Unnatural Quarter! —“Fire in the Hole” by Kevin J. Anderson

The Grim Reaper, trapped in an IRS agent’s dying body, must regain his powers before he dies and faces judgment for his original sin. —“Death and the Taxman” by David Hankins

In a metaverse future, a woman who exposes falseness in others must decide what is real to her—the love she lost or the love she may have found. —“Under My Cypresses” by Jason Palmatier

Vic Harden wasn’t lured by glory on a daring mission into the reaches of outer space—he was ordered out there by his editor.—“The Unwilling Hero” by L. Ron Hubbard

Dangerous opportunities present themselves when an alien ship arrives in the solar system seeking repairs. —“White Elephant” by David K. Henrickson

With her spaceship at the wrong end of a pirate’s guns, a former war hero must face down her enemies and demons to save Earth’s last best chance for peace. —“Piracy for Beginners” by J. R. Johnson

Years after the Second Holocaust, the last surviving Jews on earth attempt to rewrite the past. —“A Trickle in History” by Elaine Midcoh

When I said I’d do anything to pay off my debts and get back home to Earth, I didn’t mean survey a derelict spaceship at the edge of the solar system—but here I am. —“The Withering Sky” by Arthur H. Manner

High-powered telescopes bring galactic life to our TVs, and network tuner Hank Enos figures he’s seen everything—until the day an alien boy stares back. —“The Fall of Crodendra M.” by T. J. Knight

Knights, damsels and dragons, curses and fates foretold—the stuff of legends and stories, but unexpectedly perverse.—“Constant Never” by S. M. Stirling

Determined to save his wife, Tumelo takes an unlikely client through South Africa’s ruins to the heart of the Desolation—a journey that will cost or save everything. —“The Children of Desolation” by Spencer Sekulin

When a terrorist smuggles a nuclear weapon into London, a team regresses in time to AD 1093 to assassinate a knight on the battlefield, thereby eliminating the terrorist a millennia before his birth. —“Timelines and Bloodlines” by L. H. Davis

The Grand Exam, a gateway to power for one, likely death for all others—its entrants include ambitious nobles, desperate peasants, and Quiet Gate, an old woman with nothing left to lose. —“The Last History” by Samuel Parr

You will love this collection of the best new voices because, as Locus magazine puts it, “Excellent writing…extremely varied. There’s a lot of hot new talent.”

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Tomorrow is the book birthday for Writers of the Future Volume 39, which includes my story “Piracy for Beginners” and much more. The publishers went all out, with 544 pages plus a full-color gallery for illustrations, and of course electronic and audiobook versions. 

Am I excited? I am. Am I eager for you to meet my fellow authors and illustrators, who are all amazing talents? They are! Will I remind you of these facts again tomorrow? Probably, because I think that anyone with an interest in science fiction and/or fantasy will find something to love in this collection. After reading the book and spending a week with the other new authors, I was impressed and I hope you will be too.

Links!

e/BOOK/AUDIO: Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Google Play | Kobo

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Writers of the Future 39 Book Cover with Flaming Dragon

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