Category Archives: Writing & Publishing

I’ve been reviewing books in a kind-of-professional context for a decade now. I say kind-of-professional because while book reviewing doesn’t pay a lot, it does usually pay a fair amount. But that payment always comes from the publication, not the publisher or writer. I’ve developed a fairly high profile as a reviewer, with a regularContinue reading “Should I charge money to review your book?”

Wait up. I’m not telling you to never talk. You’re a human being and have as much right to yell your opinions into the world as anyone else. But. This is an interesting post by Deliah S Dawson, a writer I know by name and nothing more. The jist of her argument, as the titleContinue reading “Do you actually have something to say? Then why are you talking?”

There’s an age old conflict in the writing world. High art vs. low art. Popular culture vs. Cultural elites. Bestseller status vs. Critical acclaim. What’s the difference? Why does it matter, if it does matter? At the heart of one side of that argument is the simple idea of story. When I teach, I askContinue reading “Storytelling vs The Human Condition”

Nothing. I’ve already noted here that the motives of those people block voting on the Hugo awards have very little to do with those awards, and everything to do with pimping up the organiser’s profile in the eyes of their reactionary, right wing audience. The Hugo block vote is an act of immense selfishness. ButContinue reading “The only thing you need to do to fix the Hugos”

George RR Martin and Hilary Mantel’s stories come from different genres to address the same questions. The cosmetic similarities between Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall are not hard to list. Both occupy a similar period in history, soon after the fall of the Plantagenet kings (recast as the Targaryens in GoT) and the earlyContinue reading “Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall: fantasy and history converge”

Sci-fi author Holly Lisle resigns from the Science Fiction Writers of America over the *shocking* idea that the organisation might start winning funds to pay grants to writers. Because of course an additional funding stream for sci-fi writers is the Worst Imaginable Crime Ever. “Giving” grants taken from tax dollars is nothing less than theftContinue reading “But who will read Holly Lisle’s books?”

Style is a little easier to observe in music than in literature. Great musicians occupy a very clear musical style. Blues. Country. Pop. Rock. Classical. Reggae. Ska. That doesn’t mean that Bob Marley never cranked out a heavy metal riff or that Slash can’t do a Reggae rhythm. But there’s something a little forced andContinue reading “What style do you write?”

Or, at the very least, an Amazon bestseller list. Follow the link bellow, click Buy Now, and get a free copy of my collection of weirder tales. It won’t cost you a bean. Get My Lovesick Zombie Boy Band on Amazon Kindle FREE. Here, this is my inner spirit seal smiling.