We Write!
Starships! Computers! Blasters/phasers/proton torpedoes/lasers in spaaaaaaaace!!!! Toss those into your story, stir, slap on a tag and go right? If only. (I decided on this before Karen posted her piece, so I'm riffing off of her, plus going a few other directions. No, we did not plan in advance. Pinkie-claw swear.) Science fiction goes back... Continue Reading →
[--- Karen Myers ---] Plenty of SFF authors have practiced (professionally) what they preach (in their stories) -- in the world of science, anyway. This is everyone's favorite: Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex by Larry Niven (From "All the Myriad Ways" (1971)). Niven answers all the important questions. It's a classic, and short --... Continue Reading →
There are times when it is probably relatively sensible to back away. When the 'good idea' fairy is being their most helpful... Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), humans are not very good at that. Monkeys like myself, less so. This explains a great deal about the situations I frequently find myself in, as well as a... Continue Reading →
As a monkey, the idea of a trickster and mischief-maker, who none-the-less is the champion of mankind, stealing fire from the gods for them, has always been something of a beau ideal and role model for me. I am not very large or powerful, and my only tool is ingenuity against various gods. While I... Continue Reading →
As fall comes to the part of the world I live in, I’m beginning to think of soups and warm blankets and curling up by the fire. Things that make you feel safe, secure, and insulated from the harshness of the world outdoors. Perhaps it’s this, combined with my drawing prompt earlier this week, that... Continue Reading →
Has been written down... somewhere (as the Peter Sarstedt song said.). I set out to write original stories. To break new ground. I got smartarse one day... Ok more than one day. Most days. You'd think I'd learn, but I plainly don't. It's hereditary, I think. I got it from my children. Anyway, various pantsers... Continue Reading →
I have managed to get the paperback of Cloud-Castles up (the text is a link on which I get a few pennies of commission. I was going to hold back on announcing it until I had my author copies in hand and could check that they were all right, but I got some dear soul... Continue Reading →
There’s a story that I think I first encountered as a Turkish proverb, but that I suspect is nearly universal among cultures. A hunter walked through the forest with his bow, shooting down birds for their feathers. As he walked, he wept for the beautiful birds whose lives he was taking. A young bird said,... Continue Reading →
If you've been a fan of science fiction for any length of time, you know that writers have continually postulated building spaceships in space, rather than on a planet; spaceships that never actually land, but remain in space, sending shuttles, passenger vehicles or lifeboats down to the surface and bringing supplies, cargo and passengers up; ... Continue Reading →
Leaving aside all the contradictions about killing grandfathers (and not just in nursing homes in New Yuck) time travel ( a once major staple of sf - and as these things tend to cycle, probably will be again. It's full of fascinating conundrums. Two of the classics of the genre would be L. Sprague de... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 