Tag Archives: Sf Signal

This Week’s Writing Links

This week’s writing links feature a review of Graham Joyce’s Some Kind of Fairy Tale, NPR’s user voted 100 best teen novels ever list, etiquette for proper beach reading material (in which a beach goer is criticized for bringing a book on string theory to the beach. I can’t lie. I did this once and it warranted a few odd looks from passing orange tinged Floridians), the announcement that Peter Jackson’s Hobbit adaptation will now be three films, SF Signal’s podcast on steampunk and the report card for Phillip K. Dick film adaptations.

Graham Joyce’s Some Kind of Fairy Tale seems to be the toast of critics right now, praised as a modern fairy tale done right. Joyce’s novel is described in AV Club’s review as an, “achingly resonant story of a broken man who’s found his long-lost sister. His prose and dialogue, even more than usual, are carved with balance, clarity, and subtlety.” Some Kind of Fairy Tale has been added to my reading que, but I haven’t quite gotten to it yet. I am still plowing through Hugh Howey’s engrossing sci-fi omnibus Wool, which I would also encourage people to check out.

In other news, The Hobbit is now officially three movies, which certainly seems to have brewed some grumblings from the fans (albeit minor grumbling, I would point out that they are far from mutinous). Three movies may be stretching it a bit since the book itself is just over 300 pages (which would put each respective movie at about 100 pages of source material to cling to), but truthfully, I’ll watch anything Peter Jackson puts up on the big screen. I just hope that the movies don’t suffer from bloating with filler material and forced subplots. Anyway, on to the writing links!

Links:

– AV Club Reviews Graham Joyce’s Some Kind Of Fairy Tale (avclub)

– 100 Best Ever Teen Novels (npr)

– Literature Greatest Author And Illustrator Duos (flavorwire)

– Literary Agent: Elizabeth Kracht Of Kimberley Cameron Associates (writersdigest)

– Webinar: John Cusick Teaches Writing And Selling Sci-fi/Fantasy For Kids (writersdigest)

– Sci-fi Movie Moments That Made Us Believe In Wonder (io9)

– AV Club On Robert Cormiers The Chocolate War (avclub)

– First Panoramic View Of Mars From Curiosity (examiner)

– SF Signal Podcast: Steampunk (sfsignal)

– What Is Proper Beach Reading? (npr)

– Peter Jackson Confirms The Hobbit Will Be Three Films (deadline)

– The Phillip K Dick Report Card (tor)

– Joss Whedon Directing Avengers 2 (io9)

– The First 40 Pages Of Richard Kadrey’s New Sandman Slim Novel (io9)

This Week’s Writing Links

This is just a quick writing links post for the week featuring a review of When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man (which I must say is a pretty cool title for a book), some nice advice on writing to express, not impress, a writer that is already being tagged as the next J.K. Rowling, a post about how great characters make great series and 10 of the best memoirs about mothers.

Don’t forget Mother’s Day is on Sunday. Lay out your best brunching attire and make sure the maternal figure in your life feels properly appreciated. And now, writing links!

 

 

 

Links:

– Bloomsbury Signs The Next JK Rowling? (jezebel)

– Av Club Reviews When Captain Flint Was A Good Man (avclub)

– 30 Gorgeous And Innovative Bookshelves (flavorwire)

– Sf Signal Reviews 2312 By Stanley Robinson (sfsignal)

– Great Series Are Made By Great Characters (writersdigest)

– 10 Of The Best Memoirs About Mothers (flavorwire)

– Write To Express, Not To Impress (writersdigest)

– How I Got My Agent: Beatriz Williams (guidetoliteraryagents)

– Details Revealed On Blue Origin Spacecraft Project (yahoo)

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

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

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 CERN, agent 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)

Monday's Writing Links: Tuesday Edition

Today’s Monday’s Writing Links: Tuesday Edition highlights upcoming film adaptations of popular books, including Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit.’

Kiwi director Peter Jackson has always been great to fans, indulging them with extensive production diaries that include and to an extent involve them in the process of making a movie. This week, he was nice enough to do a video showing fans the special equipment that’s being used to shoot ‘The Hobbit’ in 3D. Although 3D has its fair share of detractors, this is a really cool featurette and definitely worth watching if you have any interest in film and its evolving technology.

In other news, I hope everyone’s NaNoWriMo is going well. I have personally fallen flat on my face with my NaNoWriMo goal, but the good news is that if you fall flat on your face, you can take a nap while you’re there. Which would round out the worst motivational poster ever.  My rambling is more or less my concession for this year, but if you’re going strong, keep at it. You’re off to a great start!

Also, it can’t be ignored that for some inexplicable reason, MGM has decided to make a ‘Where’s Waldo’ movie, which will see them packing people into theaters to squint a lot at a really big screen. Either way, links.

Links:

– ‘The Hobbit’: 3D Production Diary (mymiddleearth)

– MGM Acquires Rights To Make A Live Action ‘Where’s Waldo’ Movie (comingsoon)

– ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ Loses 3rd Director (reuters)

– Brian K. Vaughn Will Be Screenwriter For StephenKing’s ‘Under The Dome’ (comingsoon)

– The Scotsman Interviews Stephen King (scotsman)

– How To Avoid Parenting Your Characters (writersdigest)

– Should Writers Blog, And Why? (sfwa)

– China Miéville on Scholarly SF/F and The Academic/Fan Divide (sfsignal)

– Miriam Kriss: What’s Working In The Young Adult Market (guidetoliteraryagents)

– AV Club Reviews Chris Hardwick’s ‘The Nerdist Way’ (avclub)

– New Agent Alert: Brooks Sherman (writersdigest)

Monday's Writing Links

Today’s highlighted link is the official website for National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo to those who speak in internet shorthand and are hated by anyone over the age of 65 for doing it. National Novel Writing Month, which will start November 1, tasks writers with finishing a 50,000 word book by the end of the month. That is a pretty formal guideline though, as finishing an existing project or carving out a chunk of a manuscript collecting dust counts too. Really, it just encourages you to write for the month of November.

Stop by the NaNo website to join groups in your region, meet new writers in your area and participate in write-ins to keep up with your goals. Write-ins have to be at least six times safer than meeting writers on craigslist (don’t hold me to that. I cannot be held accountable for write-ins held in abandon warehouses, vacant lots, haunted bayou mansions or Native American burial grounds). Write-ins sound like a lot of fun though, and I plan on participating in one this year.

Links:

– Website For National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo)

– Prepping For NaNoWriMo (persephone)

– Can Too Much Editing Be Harmful To Your Manuscript? (wordplay)

– Thomas Young: The Advice I Needed Most As A Writer But Never Got (writersdigest)

– Finalists Named For National Books Awards (nytimes)

– Taylor Swift Donates 6,000 Books To Save Library (seattlepi)

– The Chicago Tribune Reviews Roger Ebert’s New Memoir (chicagotribune)

– Av Club Reviews Neal Stephenson’s ‘Reamde’ (avclub)

– SF Signal’s Podcast Interviews Jennifer Brozek (sfsignal)

– JA Konrath On Ebooks A La Carte (jakonrath)

– Vylar Kaftan On Submission Statistics And Revision Habits (sfwa)

– Kickstarter Projects That Need Help: Simon Vector (kickstarter)

– Underwhelming Reviews For The Underwhelming ‘The Thing’ Prequel (rottentomatoes)

– ‘The Thing’ — The Musical (sfsignal)

– IGN Reviews The Season 2 ‘Walking Dead’ Premiere (ign)

– Av Club’s Favorite Unhappy Endings (avclub)