Will Ellwood provides a perfect and succinct definition of ‘genre sausage’. Maybe we need some European Union legislation forcing publishers of such sausage to reveal exactly what percentage of original imagination is in every book? Fiction produced for any genre written using the mechanically reclaimed ideas blasted from the carcasses of other stories and shovedContinue reading “Definition: Genre Sausage”
Category Archives: Writing & Publishing
Can we have better pulp fiction please?
So. I’m trying to get an Advance Reading Copy of A Dance With Dragons, because everyone is excited about it and Vandermeer has one and I feel left out. So far, no luck, although I’m told I’m on the list as soon as any arrive in the UK. Which is cool. So why are soContinue reading “Can we have better pulp fiction please?”
Genre needs to stop applauding crap, and respect its best writers
Sarah Crown has started a fascinating discussion on the resurgence of fabulism in literary fiction over on The Guardian book blog, brought on by Tea Obreht’s surprise win in the Orange prize. I didn’t need to read the comments to know there would be at least half a dozen from irate members of fantasy fandom,Continue reading “Genre needs to stop applauding crap, and respect its best writers”
GROWL
GROWL for SF Fandom I. I saw the best minds of my genre destroyed by sanity, well fed, rotund, naked. dragging themselves through the convention centre at lunch time looking for affordable beverages longhaired hippies hunting for the dusty hardback collectible anthology of Hugo winners in the dealers room at night, who poor and t-shirtedContinue reading “GROWL”
Why SF is not genre
Originally written in response to the SF Signal Mind-meld question: What non-genre books have influenced you in some way? I’m fascinated to see this issue discussed at the moment. If I was to place one major criticism at the door of Speculative Fiction, it would be the way it continues to segregate itself from theContinue reading “Why SF is not genre”
Why do you write?
This week I have been following with interest the rise and rise of indie-publishing phenomenon Amanda Hocking. In case you missed it, Hocking has over the last year or so been building considerable sales of her self-published paranormal romance novels through the Kindle store. Estimates of her sales run at on average 100,000 a month.Continue reading “Why do you write?”
Literary SF
A friend on Facebook has asked to make a few suggestions of Speculative Fiction that straddles both mass market and literary audiences. I thought the answer might be of more general interest, so here we go… It’s a good question. As I suggested last week over on The Guardian, while SF is generally perceived asContinue reading “Literary SF”
Wordcount – an overrated measure of progress?
As writers it is natural that we look for some measure of our progress, day to day, when it comes to the work of writing. And make no mistake, writing is work. Yes, it’s inspiration also. But in truth, most things worth doing require some element of inspiration. And they also all require work, theContinue reading “Wordcount – an overrated measure of progress?”
Great art is connected with courage and truthfulness
A quote from Iris Murdoch, interviewed in the Paris Review, that I want to remember – To write a good book you have to have certain qualities. Great art is connected with courage and truthfulness. There is a conception of truth, a lack of illusion, an ability to overcome selfish obsessions, which goes with goodContinue reading “Great art is connected with courage and truthfulness”
The SpecFic books I read again and again
John DeNardo challenged a number of writers to think about the speculative fiction they return to again and again. My response is bellow. I would love to see a similar challenge for the nonSF books that Sf writers are influenced by, that would be fascinating. Also, I seem to have declared the death of ScienceContinue reading “The SpecFic books I read again and again”
The now of the book
Since I began writing, the book has been dying. No one has time to read any more. In our busy digital lives prose needs to readjust itself to fit in. It needs to be sliced in to ever tinier sections. The blog-post. The status update. The tweet. These things have their purposes, but they doContinue reading “The now of the book”
Five lessons learnt at Clarion
The Clarion Writers workshops http://clarion.ucsd.edu/ and http://www.clarionwest.org/ are now taking applications. At the suggestion of Jim Kelly, former Clarionauts are sharing five things we learned at Clarion as a Facebook meme. Here are my five for non FB people. I want to be a great writer. Which is a real bummer, because being a greatContinue reading “Five lessons learnt at Clarion”
Damien Walter 