Author Archives: Damien Walter

I read the Sad Puppies. It was not a pleasure.

For the last few years, the Hugo awards for science fiction have been campaigned against by a group of writers and fans calling themselves the Sad Puppies – mostly male, very white, and overwhelmingly conservative. Unhappy with sci-fi’s growing diversity, the Puppies have deliberately block-voted for certain titles to get them nominated for Hugos at theContinue reading “I read the Sad Puppies. It was not a pleasure.”

The Ted Chiang movie adaptation is on the way

Ted Chiang is, without any argument, the best science fiction short story writer of the last decade. He’s almost unknown outside the SF community, and is one of the humblest guys you will ever meet. Now there’s a film coming based on his work. Chiang is a clinical prose stylist, and a rigorous conceptual think.Continue reading “The Ted Chiang movie adaptation is on the way”

What’s the number ONE reason you aren’t writing?

Because you aren’t reading. The bar for entry for writers is so low that it might be better described as a line in the dirt. Got something you can type on and an internet connection? Then you can be a blogger. Or a Kindle indie publisher. Or @JohnDoeFantasyAuthor. But the washout rate for writers isContinue reading “What’s the number ONE reason you aren’t writing?”

Bureaumancy. My new favourite genre of fiction.

There’s nothing wrong with being a bureaucrat. So you’re a tiny cog in a machine made of abstract rules, paperwork, and the broken dreams of those who do not understand either. So what? You’re just misunderstood. Without you, nobody would know where to file their TPS reports. Nobody would even know what a TPS reportContinue reading “Bureaumancy. My new favourite genre of fiction.”

A brief thought on Television Prose

Can we have an honest moment? Between us readers of sci-fi, fantasy, and possibly other genres of fiction, who are by and large most of the readers of this blog? That’s good, I’m glad you’re open to the idea. Now, I’m just going to come right out and say it. Most genre fiction is notContinue reading “A brief thought on Television Prose”

It’s actually fine to steal from writers you love.

Ideas are an odd form of property. We protect them under law with copyright, trademarks and patents, but when it comes to the inventions of fiction, it’s very hard to assert meaningful ownership in a court of law. Instead, writers and readers enforce an ad-hoc moral code against authors who are seen to have steppedContinue reading “It’s actually fine to steal from writers you love.”

Big Dumb Objects. Sci-fi’s USP.

We humans love things we can’t explain. Witness the vast array of outlandish claims made about Stonehenge, from ancient calendar to alien stargate, when in all likelihood it was just a big clock or an early marketplace, a neolithic branch of Tesco. When the unknown is also alien, the mystery only grows more magnetic. ThinkContinue reading “Big Dumb Objects. Sci-fi’s USP.”

Yes. There is a secret to great storytelling.

Is it a secret? Some times a thing is so obvious we can look at it a billion times and never know it. SOMETHING HAS GOT TO CHANGE. You can tell where a writer is in their development by the answer they give to a simple question. What’s your story about. “It’s an epic fantasyContinue reading “Yes. There is a secret to great storytelling.”

It’s not science fiction – it’s systems fiction

Seen in literary fiction as well as SF, this genre weaves together complex debates in a way that can offer a clearer view of the future – think Atwood, DeLillo and Asimov. Weirdly enough, science fiction is not the best lens through which to examine science fiction. In the 80s, critic Tom LeClair came upContinue reading “It’s not science fiction – it’s systems fiction”