One of the nicest things about being a writer is learning about literature.  Most of the writers I know truly enjoy knowing more about the men and women who came before.  The concept that we are all standing on the shoulders of giants is not a new one, and so many writers have also been critics, but I think each new generation wants to find out ( Read more... )

Being a complete outsider - at least where the English-speaking community is concerned - has its advantages.  These are myriad, of course, but among them is one that I find particularly valuable: I'm not emotionally involved in any of the political and social divisions that seem so rampant, especially in the US.

So while many bloggers are friends ( Read more... )

Sold three stories since my last blog entry, and the nicest thing about it is that I only actually subbed one of them.  The other nicest thing about it is that the stories are a straight piece of literary fiction reprint, a dark fantasy collaboration and an erotic fantasy tale.  How about that?

The first sale was my story "Tehuelche", which was ( Read more... )

Everyone seems to be doing it, so I'll pop in with my own new word.  As you can probably tell by the title of the post, I've just finished reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

This book is often called the greatest novel of the twentieth century, and one can immediately see why.  The brilliant interweaving of colloquial usage and higher-end ( Read more... )

For those keeping score at home, yes, I'm still watching the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.  I've recently viewed She Done Him Wrong (1933), a king of monument to immorality and double dealing, a final bonanza protest against the Hays Code.  It is delightful to watch Mae West fly in the face of the moral conventions of the day - or, more ( Read more... )

Sometimes, just as a change of pace, I write a bit of children's fiction.  This offers a completely different writing experience from the usual adult fiction I create, but that's not what makes it truly special.  What I like most about it is the opportunity to work with some unbelievably talented illustrators.

I already posted the concept sketch for ( Read more... )

Few things are as nice as receiving an invite to an antho.  It gives one a warm feeling of satisfaction, of having one's talents recognized, of moving up from the slushpile.

However, few things are as stressful, either.  There always lurks, in the back of your mind, the feeling that, if the story is rejected, you are not only losing an opportunity ( Read more... )

A bit of fun this morning.  I found something I'd written on a blog somewhere mentioned in a list of quotes from various writers  You can read my immortal words here  (number 2487, just below one from Jim Hines).  On that particular day, I was writing not as an author, but as a reviewer, but the concept (it's about self-publishing) is still valid.

( Read more... )

As I slowly catch up on my contributor's copy reading, I finished Return to Luna.  As usual, I was impressed by the quality of a volume published by Hadley Rille Books, but that's not really the main reason I enjoyed this one.  This book was the result of a contest held in 2008 in which authors were invited to submit stories dealing with realistic ( Read more... )