A young writer, whom I'll call Jaylin, recently asked me an interesting question: "Who are the best new science fiction writers of the decade?" Jaylin mused about the issue of literary versus genre fiction and their different writing goals, and we discussed the fact that there are some authors whose work crosses the great divide between these two. ( Read more... )

As mentioned in a previous post, the local library is sponsoring workshops on "The Fantastic in Word and Image."

Here's the library's description of tomorrow's workshop:

This is the second of three workshops where you'll hear trade secrets from veteran fantasy, science-fiction and comic book writers and artists ( Read more... )

If you're local to the Tucson area, you might be interested in the series of three workshops hosted by the Pima County Public Library that starts tomorrow (Saturday, September 20, 2008), with the theme: Fantastic in Word and Image: Author and Artist Workshops and Contests ( Read more... )

Today's post on kazdreamer's journal is Guest Blog & Contest: Suzanne McLeod. Suzanne McLeod (suzannemcleod), a writer from the UK, discusses her decision to include real people as characters in her first novel, The Sweet Scent of Blood, and provides a link to chapter one, so you can get a taste of her work. The Sweet Scent of Blood is a vampire (and other creatures that ( Read more... )

Attending the Conflux 5 minicon was almost like being in Australia. I got to meet, virtually, many authors, members of the con committee, and other guests. The blurb for each session mentioned that they were "hosting guests from four continents," so as you can imagine, it was quite an international event ( Read more... )