Tag: writing

the essential kit

extraordinary people

April 30, 2013

So I was reading something–probably Kate Elliott ()’s fabulous The Omniscient Breasts–and some guy was commenting (to paraphrase), “Why would anybody want to read epic fantasy about women, who basically got married at fourteen and stayed pregnant their whole lives and never went five miles from where they were born?” I find the blindered attitude behind that to be staggering. I mean, unless this guy is working under the delusion that actually every male in history has left home, become a knight, discovered he’s the lost orphaned king of the…

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Stormcloud sunset

overwhelmed by sarcasm

April 26, 2013

I was just briefly overwhelmed by sarcasm over on Twitter. Alastair Reynolds (whom I like very, very much) was commenting on stories he’s reading for (I think) a ‘zine, the first 3 of which he’s read have all been grim, dystopic, pessimistic near-future SF, and said, “Hey kids: you can do more than one thing with science fiction, you know?” But by that time the sarcasm had already seized me. I said, “So does this mean the hopeful aspect of my planned climate change trilogy is Right Out?” and it…

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the essential kit

Magic & Manners: Chapter Two

April 23, 2013

With further apologies to Jane Austen, I present to you the second chapter of MAGIC & MANNERS, which is what happens when I get it into my head to wonder what PRIDE & PREJUDICE would be like if it was not a lack of wealth that beleaguered the Bennet sisters, but rather an excess of magic… Chapter One is here or here, if you want to read it on LJ. Chapter Two commences behind the cut. :)

the essential kit

EPIIIIIIIIIIC

April 22, 2013

I just finished reading Carol Berg’s THE DAEMON PRISM (which, like nearly everything Carol writes, is on my list of Favorite Books), and it got me to thinking about what makes epic work and what makes it work on a huge, international bestseller level. Carol’s epic fantasy usually focuses on a handful of people, rather than a cast of thousands, like (for example) GRRM. They’re very different storytelling styles and obviously bring different things to the table, both of which I find appealing in different ways. I wonder if one…

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Mountain Echoes by CE Murphy

& that’s a wrap

April 16, 2013

Aaaaaaaaaand that’s a wrap: SHAMAN RISES went off to my editor yesterday afternoon, and now it’s all over but the revisions. I have one book left under contract and then I’m unemployed. :) I vacillate between relief and panic on that topic, of course. It does rather help knowing that if push comes to shove, I expect I could run a Kickstarter (perhaps for the 3rd Inheritors’ Cycle book) to cover my bases for a while. In the meantime, however, I do have a number of projects lined up–3 short…

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