“The Grace of Turning Back,” the final story of the Curse-Strewn World sequence, appears in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #179, which can be read on the BCS website or in the Kindle store. The Tynesi merchants, who traded everything from the silver rice of Timru and perfume leaves from Simrandu to chips of ivory off the Keld’s temples, had…
Category: Blog Posts
“Arnheim’s World” in Analog Magazine
In the May 2015 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, alongside fiction from Rajnar Vajra, But Sparhawk, Robert R. Chase, Aubry Kae Anderson, and J.L. Forrest, my story “Arnheim’s World” explores the economics, ethics, and (anti)sociability of terraforming. Environment, economics, ethics, all stewing in a high-tension dilemma. Exactly the kind of thing you’d expect…
Common edits to improve your writing
A lot of editing and rewriting involves relatively minor mechanical and technical changes. A lot. Not that I’m complaining; making these simple changes is a routine part of my work, and if nothing else it keeps me steadily employed. Many of them are changes I make to my own writing on a second draft! However,…
“For Lost Time” up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Lose no time in going to check out the latest installment in Across the Curse-Strewn World, a short story sequence following the wizard Aniver and his friend Semira’s quest to rescue his home city, which has somehow become lost in time. Their discoveries in the terrifying library of Arisbat have pointed Aniver and Semira in…
Free-to-use, high quality photography for ebook covers and more
It’s been a busy start to the new year, which I appreciate but means that blogging has taken a backseat to writing, editing, etc. When I get really busy, I often find that lists are a simple way to keep me in the blogging groove. Writers, especially self-published writers, often need to find excellent images…
Living With Imposter Syndrome–Guest Post Live on Fictionvale!
The first mercy of impostor syndrome, in my experience at least, is that it isn’t constant. Instead it attacks at intervals, at moments of either my deepest despair or highest success. Of course success attracts this psychological beastie’s attention: in the grips of impostor syndrome, my jerky brain is happy to dismiss any achievement as…
All the Grammar Knowledge You Need for NaNo
National Novel Writing Month is not the time to become a grammar expert. The entire idea of this challenge is to stop worrying and write, that is, to churn out 1600+ words of prose each day, prose whose main glory is that it exists, not that it is perfect. Stopping to study capitalizing, punctuation, and…
New Release: Different Dragons II
“Of the Generation” has been reprinted in WolfSinger Publication’s Different Dragons II, a collection of cliche-busting dragon stories. To celebrate the new release, WolfSinger is offering a 25% discount through Createspace— follow the link and enter discount code TGERED9J at checkout. For those who prefer ebooks, the Smashwords coupon code ED26N will also give you a 25%…
The Ada Initiative and ‘Citizen Editors’
It might be good for the world, though temporarily stressful for one’s marriage, to edit an anthology together, as Leonard and I discovered when we created and published our speculative fiction anthology Thoughtcrime Experiments together in 2009. Despite the risks, maybe you should become an editor. “Reader” and “writer” and “editor” are tags, not categories. If you…
Fictionvale pub announcement!
My fantasy story “Eisiden’s Sister” has appeared in Fictionvale’s 4th episode. The third published piece featuring swordsman Rathin and wizard Anweth, it actually takes place towards the end of their timeline–and features a major twist in their circumstances. Also keep an eye out for my guest post on the Fictionvale blog early next week. It’ll…