Monday’s Writing Links (2/27)

Today’s writing links include news about Japan’s proposed space elevator (and a counterpoint to the plan), news about JK Rowling’s next book, new literary agents on the scene and a list of successful adaptations of “unadaptable” books.

I have to admit, although I’m not a huge fan of long elevator rides, Japan’s space elevator plan sounds cool in concept. Although the argument against why it won’t be ready by 2050 includes an incredibly relevant point (the technology to tether the supposed “ribbon” configuration has not been invented yet), it would still be very exciting to see the thing erected during my lifetime, even though I’d be 66 by the time it goes up. I can’t hide a little bit of disappointment that it’s going to take that long, but I guess if I want to get to the moon before then, I’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. With the relative decline of NASA, the old fashioned way seems to have defaulted into hiding in Buzz Aldrin’s luggage or being Richard Branson’s butler.

It’s also nice to hear that J.K. Rowling will be returning to writing soon, with the announcement that she will be publishing a new book in the near future with her newly acquired publisher, Little, Brown. Although the subject matter of her next novel is unknown, it will be interesting to see what she will write her first adult novel about. Are we looking at an adult fantasy book or a David Foster Wallace like entry into her literary cabinet? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

In other news, links!

Links:

– Japan Plans Snail-Paced Space Elevator For 2050 (cnet)

– Why Japan Won’t Have A Space Elevator By 2050 (io9)

– 10 Great Magical Books For Adults (flavorwire)

– New Literary Agent Alert: Kat Salazar Of Larsen Pomada (guidetoliteraryagents)

– J.K. Rowling To Publish First Novel For Adults (flavorwire)

– 17 Successful Adaptations Of “Unadaptable” Books (avclub)

– SF Signal Reviews Hitchers By Will McIntosh (sfsignal)

– The Opportunities Of Self Publishing (writersdigest)

– Flavorwire’s Reading Picks For February (flavorwire)

– Who Controls Your Amazon E-book Price? (sfwa)

– Science Fiction Or Fact: Could a ‘Robopocalypse’ Wipe Out Humans? (yahoo)

This Week's Writing Links

This week’s writing links feature the sci-fi writing prompt for the week, a best blogs for writers to read in 2012 list, 6 tips to resuscitate a dying author blog and a review of Elmore Leonard’s new book Raylan.

The art included in this week’s post, which was designed by Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe for Joe Vasicek’s e-book Desert Starscomes from io9’s sci-fi writing prompt for the week. Their prompt tasks you with creating a story based off the featured concept art. It’s a really nice piece of art and I’ve spent a considerable amount of time checking out the sites for both the artist and the author, which I would really encourage people to do if they have a couple of free minutes.

In other news, there has been a lot of rabble recently that it’s only a matter of time now before Amazon finishes off all the remaining bookstores on the planet, creating a storeless utopia where disenchanted souls mindlessly impulse buy romance novels to pad their already backlogged Nooks and Kindles. Amazon’s response to this charge? They added more networks (MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon) to their streaming service (which I happen to be a member of) and continued to deliver all my packages in a timely and generally satisfactory fashion.

I wish Amazon could give me more reasons to hate them, but other than the complete and utter wastelanding of brick and mortar bookstores, they haven’t given me much ammo. As penance for my notable dependence on Amazon to deliver 3-D Imax blu-rays about space to my doorstep, I have made a resolution for the coming months to do my best to go out of my way to support brick and mortar bookstores, whether they be Barnes & Noble or some of the Chicago locals. Maybe if we all do our piece, we can give them a second wind.

Links:

– Concept Art Writing Prompt: Night At The Edge Of The World (io9)

– Best Blogs For Writers To Read In 2012 (robertleebrewer)

– 6 Tips To Resuscitate A Dying Author Blog (writersdigest)

– Av Club Reviews Elmore Leonard’s Raylan (avclub)

– The 10 Best Charles Dickens Characters (flavorwire)

– Frazen And The Ebook Bubble (jakonrath)

– Sf Signal Reviews Mind Storm By K.M. Ruiz (sfsignal)

– 7 Ways To Get Freelance Gigs Flowing (makealivingwriting)

– New Agent Alert: Dawn Michelle Hardy Of Serendipity Literary (writersdigest)

Monday's Writing Links (2/6)

This week’s writing links feature a cool list of 10 great science fiction novels for girls, a theoretical map of ‘The Hunger Games’ Panema poll that reveals only 11% of readers discover books they read from social networking and 10 tips to bypass cliche and melodrama in your writing.

I haven’t read ‘A Wrinkle In Time’ since my childhood, but I always remembered it fondly. Often championed as a YA classic in the same vein as C.S. Lewis, the book is featured on the 10 great science fiction novels for girls list (even though I think it classifies more as a fantasy book). It’s a great list nonetheless if you have a little voracious reader who wants to expand her reading horizons.

In other news, there have been some great success stories from Amazon’s KDP sharing program and more news concerning their escalating war with Barnes & Nobles. I don’t really have too much insight into the situation, but I do know that it would be a shame if there were no book stores in the near future. I understand the efficiency of Amazon (I use it all the time), but really wonder what would generate book recommendations if there was no physical browsing available to buyers.  I fear that it may remove spontaneity from the book buying process. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Either way, here are some links!

Links:

– 10 Great Science Fiction Books For Girls (flavorwire)

– 10 Tips To Bypass Cliche And Melodrama (writersdigest)

– Sf Signal Reviews ‘Shadows In Flight’ By Orson Scott Card (sfsignal)

– Barnes & Noble Will Not Stock Any Books Published By Amazon (mediabistro)

– The Great Social Media Flim-Flam (susankiernanlewis)

– David Kazzie: How Amazon’s KDP Select Saved My Book (thecorner)

– Science Fiction Futures Ruled By The Popular Kids (io9)

– A Well Researched Map Of The Hunger Games Panem (io9)

– Coming Soon: The Best Of Tor.com In A Free Mini Ebook Anthology (tor)

– New Agent Alert: Carlie Webber Of The Jane Rotrosen Agency (guidetoliteraryagents)

– SFWA Review: ‘The Late American Novel’ (sfwa)

– A Brief Survey Of William S. Burroughs References In Pop Culture (flavorwire)

This Week's Writing Links (1/27)

This week’s writing links feature an 80/20 rule for self-promotion, George R.R. Martin’s Hugo recommendations (other than his own book), a potential reunion for the Monty Python cast in a sci-fi film and four techniques for creating believable villains.

There are definitely some good links this week, but how can one not get excited about a possible sci-fi Monty Python movie? It will be interesting to see how this project develops, but if they can coax everyone into showing up, it sounds like ‘Absolutely Anything‘ will be a cool fusion of Monty Python and Douglas Adams elements. It will surely be one to keep an eye on.

Also, just a quick update on the release of my book, ‘The Exiles of the New World.’ In the end, the release date is going to be shuffled a bit. We’re going to get some pre-release copies out in January/February (for reviews and kickstarter backer preorders), but the actual release for the hardcover is probably going to end up being in early spring (April/May). There is a possiblity of seeing the ebook version available a little earlier than that as part of a “soft” release, but the hardcover release in stores is more than likely going to be a spring affair.

I was really hoping that this would make the Christmas/early January release window, but since that was just barely missed, it works out to wait a bit for the Holiday stock to sell before you get things into stores, hence the spring release. I’ll keep people appraised on hardened dates if they get set, but enough nonsense about my own stuff, let’s get to links!

Links:

– Amanda Hocking Is Still An Exception To The Rule: Self-Published Authors And Big Book Deals (io9)

– Debut Author Kerry Schafer Inks Deal With Ace Books After Discovery On ‘Book Country’ (usatoday)

– George R.R. Martin’s Hugo Recommendations (grrm)

– Monty Python Members To Reunite On Sci-fi Flick ‘Absolutely Anything’ (stumbleupon)

– Paula Margulies On The 80/20 Rule For Self-Promotion (paulamargulies)

– 15 Beautiful Homes Of Famous Authors (flavorwire)

– Av Club Reviews ‘A Universe From Nothing’ By Lawrence M. Krauss (avclub)

– 4 Techniques For Creating Believable Villains (writersdigest)

– Agent Advice: Nicole Resciniti From The Seymour Agency (guidetoliteraryagents)

– SF Signal: A John Carter Primer (sfsignal)

– The Cosmic War Between Ancient Starburst Galaxies And Supermassive Black Holes  (io9)

– JA Konrath: The Myth Of The Bestseller (jakonrath)

– ‘Virga’ Book Set Sweepstakes (tor)

This Week's Writing Links (1/19)

In today’s day after the SOPA blackout writing links, we’re featuring information about World Book Night10 ways to improve your writing while thinking like a comedy writer, new agents on the scene, a list of 10 musicians who should really write novels and the trailer for Wes Anderson’s new movie Moonrise Kingdom.

I hope that yesterday was a productive day for everyone with the relative blackout of the internet in protest of SOPA and PIPA. Although without wikipedia, the world’s most accessible (not necessarily reliable) encyclopedia, you might have been missing a huge portion of your research base.

The good news is that the internet is back today and with it, the everyday tools you are used to are once again at your disposal. Once again, instead of trimming all that unnecessary exposition out of your first chapter, you can now scour reddit for pictures of red pandas waving or read about which famous writers married their cousins on wikipedia.

Yes, the internet is back with all its distractions. The real question is how will you respond to the alluring return of the internet’s time wasting ways? One way to respond is to check out some links before you get back into the thick of things. I highly recommend this approach. Because the links have been provided for you and require no sifting on your part, it will help ease you back into old routines without totally removing the newly discovered feeling of unadulterated productivity you had this one fateful Wednesday when the internet chose to sleep.

Links:

– AV Club Reviews William Gibson’s ‘Distrust That Particular Flavor’ (avclub)

– Woody Harrelson On Haymitch And The Mind Blowing Sets Of ‘The Hunger Games’ (latimes)

– 10 Ways To Improve Your Writing While Thinking Like A Comedy Writer (writersdigest)

– This Spring Help Give Away One Million Books (tor)

– New Agent Alert: Carrie Pestritto Of Prospect Agency (guidetoliteraryagents)

– Connie Willis Named Recipient Of The 2011 Grand Master Award (sfwa)

– Kerry Conran’s Vision For ‘John Carter Of Mars’ (sfsignal)

– Quentin Tarantino’s Top Ten Movies Of 2011 (ropeofsilicon)

– Amazing 3D Portraits Of Authors Made From Their Books (flavorwire)

– 10 Musicians Who Should Really Write Novels (flavorwire)

– 10 Tips On Guest Blogging And Blog Tours (writersdigest)

– Scientists Prepare To Capture The First Ever Picture Of A Black Hole (io9)

– Trailer For Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ (youtube)

This Week's Writing Links

This Week’s Writing Links feature some clever logo branding for the Milwaukee Public Library’s new ad campaign, 10 common mistakes writers make at conferences, 10 legendary bad boys of literature and a video of soccer prodigy Lionel Messi when he was being an amazing (and classy) 10-year-old, because why not?

I’m always happy to support a library branch, especially while our own city branches weather some harsh budget cuts. Although Milwaukee is certainly utilizing a clever approach with their campaign, you have to wonder if using popular social media branding may ultimately just remind kids that they need to check twitter. Here’s to hoping that’s not the case.

Also, SF Signal, a site I’m a big fan of, just underwent a design update, so make sure to stop by and check it out. In other news, links.

Links:

– Milwaukee Public Library’s New “Social Media” Ad Campaign (mpl)

– How To Avoid 10 Common Conferences Mistakes That Writers Make (writersdigest)

– Io9’s Books To Read In 2012 (io9)

– AV Club Reviews Roberto Bolano’s ‘The Third Reich’ (avclub)

– 10 Legendary Bad Boys Of Literature (flavorwire)

– Nominees For The 2011 Phillip K. Dick Award Announced (tor)

– JA Konrath Interviews Editor Susan Tunis (jakonrath)

– Seven Princes: An Epic Fantasy That Doesn’t Hold Back On The Epic (io9)

– Book Publicity: Working With Bookstores (sfwa)

– Genre Resolutions For 2012 (sfsignal)

– How Your Characters Write Themselves And Why You Have To Listen (jarrethdak)

– Soccer Prodigy Lionel Messi At Age 10 Being Amazing (youtube)

This Week's Writing Links

This first week of 2012 should see everyone with a renewed sense of vigor as the dormant publishing industry finally awakes from its slumber to bring us brand new books. This is also the week where all the writers out there hunker down with their firm resolutions to get those thousand words out every day, no matter what nostalgic television series just got added to the Netflix Instant Queue.

In this week’s writing links, we have a nice piece on the 25 most beautiful college librariesadvice on how to deal with self promotion as a debut author without going overboard on the “self” part, 7 great practices for building your online platform, AV Club’s best books of 2011, some cool vintage Tolkien covers from around the world, reminders about reading and much more.

I’m a big fan of the 25 most beautiful college libraries segment, especially the picture of the Yale library included in the post, which I actually got a chance to see last year when I was in the New England area. I feel like I would have spent more time in the library in college if my library looked like that. Admittedly, I also would have wasted a great deal of time looking for old dusty tomes that held clues to the location of the Grail or secrets of the Davinci Code, but such grand pieces of architecture can’t help but distract and conjure up such escapist fantasies.

Now, for some links!

Links:

– The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries In The World (flavorwire)

– How To Deal With Self Promotion As A Debut Author (sfwa)

– AV Club’s Best Books Of 2011 (avclub)

– Science Fiction And Fantasy Grand Masters (kirkusreview)

– Vintage Tolkien Covers From Around The World (flavorpill)

– 13 Things I Bet You Didn’t Know About Reading (professor)

– 7 Practices For Building An Online Presence (writersdigest)

– The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Of 2011 (io9)

– Sf Signal Reviews Martha Well’s ‘The Serpent Sea’ (sfsignal)

– Most Anticipated Books Of 2012 (flavorwire)

– 25 Science Fiction Movies And Fantasy Movies To Watch Out For In 2012 (io9)

– New Photo Of Noomi Rapace In Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ (comingsoon)

– Av Club Review’s Carrie Fisher’s ‘Shockaholic’ (avclub)

– 10 New Must Reads For January (flavorpill)

– New Images From ‘The Hunger Games’ Movie (io9)

This Week's Writing Links

This week’s writing links feature weird writing habits of famous authors, Flavorwire’s best debut novels of 2011 (including Karen Russell’s ‘Swamplandia!‘), famously outrageous opening lines in literature and a picture of the typewriter I got for Christmas.

So, my girlfriend was cool enough to get me a Remington typewriter for Christmas and I have been mildly obsessed with the thing since receiving it. I have been typing up a poorly spelled often incoherent storm, but enjoying myself nonetheless. So far, the typewriter’s best feature? No internet connectivity. This means there are minimal distractions while typing on it. A seriously underrated feature for the often distracted writer.

As backwards as it sounds, I have found myself writing more since getting a typewriter. Even though I have to transcribe whatever I write on the typewriter back into a word file and lose out on efficiency in the process, I still find myself writing a greater volume at a quicker pace. I’m not about to go full-on Cormac McCarthy, but I know that I will continue to use it to punch out some pages now and then. It’s a lot of fun to have around.

Also, it should be noted that December 26 – January 1 usually operates as an odd period of limbo for productivity, or well, really a virtual standstill for anything other than consuming leftovers, buying lottery tickets and returning that second snuggie/third pair of e-tip gloves gifted to you. It’s certainly fine if you want to take it easy until New Year’s, but I also feel that there’s no reason not to try to be productive in these couple of niche free days if you really want to get some forward momentum going into 2012. You’ve already got yourself a fresh snuggie and the number to Peapod’s delivery service. So, it’s time to conjure up your reclusive writerly best. Get going!

Links:

– Weird Writing Habits Of Famous Authors (flavorwire)

–  Top 10 Most Outrageous Opening Lines In Literature (alternativereel)

– Best Debut Novels Of 2011 (flavorwire)

– Av Club Reviews ‘The Life And Times Of Dave Grohl’ (avclub)

– Do You Even Need A Publisher Anymore? (writersdigest)

– Sci-fi Cover Smackdown (sfsignal)

– Concept For The Wachowski’s New Movie ‘Cloud Atlas’ (io9)

– Nebula Awards Interview: Jack McDevitt (sfwa)

– January Releases In Science Fiction (tor)

– KC Shaw’s Cover For Her January Novella ‘Goldie’ (knottedthicket)

– Suzy Turner: Indie Cover Love (suzyturner)

– 10 Science Fiction Movies For People Who Think They Don’t Like Science Fiction (io9)

– A Picture Of My New Typewriter (twitter)

Wednesday's Writing Links

This week’s writing links may be a little heavy on the film side of things, possibly necessitating a name change for the week to Christmas Writing/Movie Links With A Heavy Emphasis On Science Fiction And Nonsense, but brevity is the bread and butter of the internet, so we’ll keep it simple for now.

On the docket though we have the first trailers for ‘The Hobbit‘, ‘Dark Knight Rises‘ and Ridley Scott’s kinda-maybe-rumor-we’re-not-sure ‘Alien’ prequel ‘Prometheus‘ (which should not be confused with the ‘Wrath of the Titans‘ preview that went up yesterday too, starring the character Prometheus), a new self-publishing service and Writer’s Digest on the ‘18 Most Popular Writing Articles Of The Year.’

So, what are people reading/watching for Christmas/the Holidays? My approach so far has been a little unorthodox, having revisited ‘Die Hard’, ‘Trading Places’, ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’, assorted ‘Psych’ Christmas episodes and that one Chris Van Allsburg book that gave me nightmares as a child. That’s all I’ve gotten through this year to complete a pretty odd Christmas routine. Either way, I hope you have are having a Happy Holidays celebrating(or not celebrating) whatever religion, creed, belief, Festivus, methodology, football team, you follow(or don’t follow).

Links:

– The Hobbit Trailer (comingsoon)

– The 18 Most Popular Writing Articles Of 2011 (writersdigest)

– 50 Things We Learned From Harry Potter (totalfilm)

– Av Club Reviews Peter Nadas’ ‘Parallel Stories’ (avclub)

– How To Expand Your Platform Through Generosity (guidetoliteraryagents)

– Postcolonialism And Science Fiction: An Introduction (io9)

– Dymock’s New Self-publishing Service (sfwa)

– ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Trailer (youtube)

– Teaser Trailer For Ridley Scott’s Rumored Alien Prequel ‘Prometheus’ (io9)

– The Year’s Best Science Fiction And Fantasy (sfsignal)

– Kickstarter Project To Support: Realms Unreel (kickstarter)

This Week's Writing Links

In today’s writing links we have Time magazine’s 10 Best Books of 2011 (with George R.R. Martin’s long awaited ‘A Dance With Dragons’ appearing at the top of the fiction list), some exciting scientific news from CERNagent success stories along with some new agents on the literary scene, Sf Signal’s review of ‘Them or Us’ and Andrew David’s amazing new sci-fi EP available for download.

I am behind in my reading of the Game of Thrones series, still trudging through the fourth book, but it seems that critics think that Martin’s fifth book was worth the wait as it has received rave reviews and dispelled rumors that Martin spent the hiatus lounging on the beach, going to baseball games and trolling fan message boards (he was unfairly accused of a lot of strange things by eager fans). I’m happy for Martin, but as I make my way deeper into his series, I wonder if he’ll even have enough characters alive to write the sixth book. I though the first book was a blood bath, but the later books put it to shame. Good lord.

Anyways, I hope everyone is geared up to have a relaxing holidays with friends, family, good books and Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa episodes of their favorite TV shows. If people have time to catch up on their reading, I’ll be anxious to hear what they thought were their favorite books of 2011. We’ll probably do a feature on it at the end of the month. Until then, links.

Links:

– Time’s Top Ten Books Of 2011 (time)

– Top Ten Ways To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing (lifehacker)

– Sf Signal Reviews David Moody’s ‘Them Or Us’ (sfsignal)

– 50 Simple Ways To Build Your Platform In 5 Minutes A Day (writersdigest)

– The Best Unproduced Science Fiction Screenplays Of 2011 (io9)

– How I Got My Agent: JH Trumble (guidetoliteraryagents)

– The Hobbits Reunite (empire)

– Scientists Closing In On The Higgs Boson aka the God Particle (io9)

– Game of Thrones Season 2 Trailer (comingsoon)

– Andrew David’s Sci-fi EP Is Now Available (andrewdavid)

– Trailer For Luc Besson’s Sci-fi Movie ‘MS One: Maximum Security’ (aintitcool)

– 10 Satirical Novels That Could Teach You To Survive The Future (io9)

– Nebula Awards Interview: Pearl North (sfwa)

– New Agent Alert: Hannah Bowman Of Liza Dawson Associates (writersdigest)