I’ve only recently started to appreciate collections of short stories. While I’ve always enjoyed short stories as individual entities, sitting down to read bite-sized stories never really appealed to me. Instead, I always preferred to get stuck into a novel, ...
Read More »The art of writing a book series
Having been racing my way through many SFF book series, I started to note the differences amongst how they approach certain issues of construction – how they deal with the continuing story, individual novels as part of a larger whole, and ...
Read More »The fallacies of YA fiction
YA fiction has always bothered me, but not for the reasons you might suspect. Don’t worry, this isn’t about how adults should grow up and read real literature. I’m a YA fan, from The Hunger Games to Paper Towns. You’ll find ...
Read More »Barriers to women in SFF publishing: Live at Nine Worlds
It seems fitting that Breaking the Glass Slipper would make its live debut at Nine Worlds Geekfest in London, a convention that prides itself on diversity, panel parity, and accessibility. As such, we were there flying the flag for women ...
Read More »Pitching your book: Succinct and sellable
An unfortunate aspect of writing is marketing. Writers are not generally at ease with selling their work. Instead, we tend to be more the shy, retiring type, someone who likes to hole up in our dark study with copious amounts ...
Read More »Patchwerk by David Tallerman: What science fiction novellas should be
This is what science fiction writing should be. Having fun with outlandish ideas while keeping the prose simple and elegant. My love of SFF writing was born from reading Ursula Le Guin and Tallerman’s new novella follows in her daunting ...
Read More »Call me da Vinci: Why shouldn’t we compare ourselves to the greats?
Oh, Kanye. Your clownish antics continue to keep us amused.The controversial rapper has done it again, comparing himself to da Vinci and Galileo, among others, much to the ire of the public. But if we divorce his buffoonish arrogance from ...
Read More »Self-publishing: What you need to know, part 2
Publishing your work is never straightforward. Once you’ve edited your novel to within an inch of it’s life, there are still some very big questions you need to consider. Will you publish only digitally or do you want hardcopies as ...
Read More »Self-publishing: What you need to know, part 1
The publishing industry is changing. Self-publishing is becoming more common, with authors who are traditionally published dipping their toes into the pool as well as those who have been unsuccessful in using the traditional route to market. The stigma is ...
Read More »Alan Moore’s Jerusalem to publish in 2016
No stranger to pushing boundaries, Alan Moore has done it again. Since 2008, Moore has been working on a novel that not only puts the standard novel length to shame, it outright challenges readers everywhere to develop a tenacious reading ...
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