Category Archives: Writing Journal

Damien Walter’s Extra Special Blog EXTRAVGANZA

My blog turned 10 years old earlier this year, and is barrelling towards it’s 1000th post (this is post 990). To celebrate this cornucopia of anniversaries, I’m announcing the next week will be dedicated to an EXTRAVAGANZA of blog posts. Here’s some of what to expect! Write Better Sci-Fi Stories…with this simple idea. Transrealism: theContinue reading “Damien Walter’s Extra Special Blog EXTRAVGANZA”

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”

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.”

I don’t just want a woman to be Bond, I want a woman to KILL Bond!

Why should we cast a woman as the next James Bond? To prove that women are dangerous and corrupt too. A woman actress as Bond isn’t a fantasy. It’s a chance to give Bond more realism. A new rumour seems to pop up every week – Idris Elba will be the next James Bond! No, AidanContinue reading “I don’t just want a woman to be Bond, I want a woman to KILL Bond!”

Will the book be replaced…by the block?

An interesting article over at Rhizome speculates on the future of Blockchain as a disruptive technology within publishing. What does the verb “to publish” mean in a society where every thought, movement, and moment is recorded and stored? Let’s say that publishing is the act of making something public and drawing attention to it. AndContinue reading “Will the book be replaced…by the block?”

Geek critique: Neil Gaiman and Kameron Hurley pick apart pop culture

Two new nonfiction collections – Gaiman’s The View from the Cheap Seats and Hurley’s The Geek Feminist Revolution – present contrasting perspectives on geek culture today. So what’s the state of it? Geeks were once like Victorian children: seen, but not heard; talked about but mocked, rarely given their own voice. But the newfound popularityContinue reading “Geek critique: Neil Gaiman and Kameron Hurley pick apart pop culture”

What was the first science fiction novel?

The Chymical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz might be the first ever sci-fi novel, claims John Crowley, but are there even earlier claimants? “The heroes of many Indian myths, in a strange echo of today’s Marvel superheroes, also often derive their powers from scientific knowledge.” Ask many science fiction fans what the first novel in theirContinue reading “What was the first science fiction novel?”