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Showing posts from April, 2016

Writing Again (and I'm done with themed anthologies)

Following a minor bout of cancer (featuring surgeries and 6 months of chemotherapy), I'm writing again! Having spent some time reviewing my writing career to date, I note with a degree of dismay that while I've had some material published, I'm not super happy with all of it. In the past I've pandered to the whims of the industry in order to get stories out. Well, I'm done with that. Now I'm writing what I want to write. No more < 5,000 word stories about "blue aliens on exoplanets", simply because a publisher somewhere decided that's what they wanted for their next anthology. I know it may seem a little hypocritical, given that I helped come up with the theme of A Hand of Knaves (and I stand by it), but I'm allowed to be hypocritical if the mood takes me. And the mood does take me.  From now on I'm writing whatever the hell I want. It might not get published, but it'll be mine and I think I'll be a lot happier with that.  Let...
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How to Interview Authors Pt 1 - Interviews Can be Awesome (But Often Aren't)

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Author interviews are a dime a dozen, so how many of them are worthy of your time, and how many are just white noise? I'm not saying some aren't worthwhile. There can be something to be gained by reading even an average author interview, but with every hipster and their blow-dried poodle running some kind of author interview/latte appreciation blog, there's just so much emailed-in, beige-carpet dross around, it can be a real splash of ice-water to the face to read a smack-down between two people who genuinely care about their topic of discussion. Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice I've been interviewing authors for a couple of years now (you won't find my interviews here, but in magazines and elsewhere on the inter-webz. I gave up writing for free a while back) and I've learned some really important lessons I'd like to share. The fact is, the difference between a could-find-this-crap-anywhere interview, and a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a really i...
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