Fantasy Literature.com has an ongoing feature where bloggers and readers contribute essays about their favorite authors, making the arguments about why this particular author should be read by fans of speculative fiction. For my piece, I chose to write about David Eddings, the epic fantasist that I usually credit with getting me into reading specfic [...]
Posts under ‘Essays’
GUEST POST: Integrating History in Your Writing Without Getting Bogged Down in the Details by Monica Burns
First, thank you to John for having me visit here again. When we were chatting about my post, I asked John for some topics. It’s hard to do a blog tour with a new book without new topics. Without one, you generally keep repeating the same message over and over again. Of course, that’s something [...]
EXCERPT: Radix by A. A. Attanasio
Below is the most excellent introduction to A. A. Attanasio’s second editon of Radix, now available for purchase from Phoenix Pick. You can also download the introduction and first chapter (with illustrations!) in pdf format. Excerpted with Permission.
Originally titled Emblems and Rites, my first novel, Radix, began with an insight from one sentence in a [...]
Essay: Reviewing those “Tough” Books
I guest posted yesterday at Speculative Book Review on the “tougher” aspects of book reviewing. Go check it out!
COLUMN: ROBOT IS THE NEW VAMPIRE
In the popular mythology of vampires, these undead creatures are difficult to kill, but it isn’t impossible. A wooden stake through the heart will do it. Sometimes the barest touch of a ray of sunlight will reduce them to ashes or even make them explode. If you want to get Old School, you can immerse [...]
GUEST POST: Ask Amritsar: Soul Mates on a Molecular Level
Ask Amritsar: Soul Mates on a Molecular Level [ARNS]
Dear Amritsar:
So, like, I work at an intelligence enhancement chip repossession company? I know some people think it’s like, mondo icky, but it’s not like we rip the chips out of people’s heads – proper medical protocol is always observed, even when the client is fleeing out [...]
GUEST POST: Ask the Tech Answer Guy
Ask The Tech Answer Guy [ARNS]
Yo, Tech Answer Guy,
I thought I was in heaven, but it turned out to be hell. Well, hell may be a strong way of putting it. A suburb of hell. Yeah. That’s it. A suburb of hell where most of the rich folks have moved north and everything has gotten [...]
Essay: On Christian Fantasy
My guest column “On Christian Fantasy: More than Tolkien and Lewis” is now up at the online fiction magazine Resident Aliens. The intended audience is Christians and Christian writers, but anyone might find it of interest, as I relate a personal story of my first encounter with good Christian fiction.
I’d also like to let you [...]
Essay: 12 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels and Stories of Americana
Today is the Fourth of July, and in the United States, we celebrate our Independence Day with fireworks, tributes to our men and women in uniform, and a hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. It is a day to be happy that, even with its faults, we live in one of the freest countries [...]
Essay: SF Signal asks “What single-author short fiction collections should be in every fan’s library?”
My contribution to today’s SF Signal Mind Meld can now be found in Part 1 of the duology of answers, along with responses from Elizabeth Anne Hull, Jeff VanderMeer, Mike Resnick, Catherynne M. Valente, John Ottinger III, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Dave Truesdale. Mine is the only contribution to list fairly new authors, but I also [...]
