Picoreview: The Blue Beetle – Ted and I both really, really liked Blue Beetle & if you’re doing movies in cinemas these days and like superhero films a tall, we think you should see it ASAP bc here, at least, it’s only got 9 showings a day in the largest cineplex (as opposed to Barbie opening with 36 & Oppenheimer with like 16) & it feels like the studio’s way of making sure it fails, at least partially so they can justify having not released Batgirl, another superhero movie with…
Ask the Author – The Question: What makes an author’s style of writing unique? This will sound sort of trite, but: personal experience. Here’s the thing, and this, again, sounds trite, and indeed, it’s overused, but it’s also true: no one can write the story that *you* can write. Because everyone’s personal experience shapes them differently, and they approach stories differently. I have an exercise I do when I teach creative writing classes. I give everybody the same 5 sentences, the opening of a fairy tale type story written in…
I’ve had the first of Stephanie Burgis’s Regency Dragons books, SCALES & SENSIBILITY, on my shelf for over a year. I admit I’ve been kind of afraid to read it because I was afraid it would trigger an overwhelming urge to work on the sequel to MAGIC & MANNERS, and I haven’t had time to do that. But this summer she sent me the sequel, CLAWS & CONTRIVANCES, for an early read because I was having a very bad week, and she hoped it might cheer me up. So obviously…
Ask the Author – the Question: Of all your books, do you have a favorite character? *looks into the camera again* Not to repeat myself from last week, but oh, come on! Honestly, this is sort of like a favorite child question. First, it’s hard to pick because of course I *do* love them all, and second, I actually feel guilty admitting that I *do* have some favorites, as if they might somehow be offended. And at the same time, well…I do have some favorites. :) I mean, my leads,…
Recent Reads: BEYOND THE HALLOWED SKY, by Ken MacLeod I have to confess I’m…’embarrassingly far behind’ on Ken’s books isn’t sufficient; this is the first one I’ve ever read. It is already not the last, as I bought the sequel immediately, and only after the fact realized it had JUST come out. (After I read the first two chapters I was like “KEN I NEED BOOK THREE” and he was like “I HAVE NOT WRITTEN IT YET, GIVE ME SOME TIME” and, oops. O.O) Like, I mean, he’s Ken MacLeod,…