Some of my very early memories of television relate to Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, which means I'm not as old as blue jeans but possibly older than dirt. A recurring feature that no doubt flew right over my head? the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award, given each week to some different deserving person or group for spectacular dunder-headedness. The "Nifty Knuckle" as the thing was nicknamed one episode went to Congress (failure on gun control laws), Governor of California Ronald Reagan (certain to deserve it someday), or even a national leader (for trying to invent "the short war").

Just a few weeks back I wrote about readers as I appreciated the input of a fellow author, one who is a published novelist (which I am not, yet). No word from other potential blurb writers to date, but I do have an interesting moment from the academic side of my writing life to share. It ain't fiction, but when I check the "About" tab I don't see anything that specifies this blog ALL has to be about my work in fiction.

NYC Public Library. From their website. I recall writing about readers willing to read a ms. and provide comments. Tremendously helpful, though one must also use such feedback with care. Who is the reader? What do they know? It was a reader, fond of beach reading, who simply could not stomach A Shadow's Width that taught me an essential truth: I simply hadn't written "just" a genre work.

Edmonton-based On Spec, which showcased authors like Julie E. Czerneda, Tony Pi and a young Cory Doctorow, will publish its final issue in December

Sir Terry Pratchett wrote “Stories want to end. They don’t care what happens next.” In Part 1 of The Truest Lies in the Business I discussed "Stories want to end." Here we move on to "They don't care what happens next." In the best tradition of double-speak and fast-talking, I am calling these statements lies, as per Professor Howard McCord and his enchanting way of characterizing those of us who write poetry and fiction as liars.

Nothing particular to do with the literary topic. Right? Sir Terry Pratchett wrote "Stories want to end. They don't care what happens next." Among the best lies in the business, written by one of the best liars of the past fifty years, it is a startling statement despite its simplicity. One element of Witches Abroad, stories are seen as nearly sentient things that roam time and space seeking expression, and which the antagonist of the novel delights to "ride...to borrow the strength of them, the comfort of them, to be in the hidden contour of them." …

⮌ SFRA Review, vol. 55, no. 4 Non-Fiction Reviews download Review of Midnight Rambles: H. P. Lovecraft in Gotham Martijn J. Loos David J. Goodwin. Midnight Rambles: H. P. Lovecraft in Gotham. Fordh…

I eschew all AI in my writing. I object to my prose being "read" by AI models for regurgitation in other product. Some of my work has been used by Anthropic, but it was Work for Hire, so I'm not in line for any of the big settlement reached on behalf of content creators Anthropic robbed to create its AI model (turn off AI results and Google it if you're not up to speed on what I'm talking about).

Pick up any printed book and on the back, or maybe on a fly leaf or inside cover one finds blurbs. Despite a lifetime of writing, despite thinking from a very early age "I'll publish one a book one day," I never thought of what it takes for a blurb to appear in print. Does the publisher arrange them? To the extent I'd ever thought about it, which was essentially never, sure, the publisher must lean on an author they publish.

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

It would be great if this were some kind of sponsored bread crumb deal, but no. As this blog records my writing process and the process of shopping my work around, it is worth some time to discuss an alternative to using something like the excellent Submission Grinder* or collated lists of markets floating around the web to find places to send my work.

Alt: a man in a futuristic helmet says nice

My history with planning how to proceed with writing longer works and how it actually works out is mixed. Sure, one can have a plan. Then somewhere my muse cracks her knuckles, cackles merrily, phones up the Fates and they have a grand old laugh together. Book 5 (untitled), which seems like the final book in the series about friend Phil and his ongoing life narrative, came to life in my mind soon after Book 4 concluded.

The instrument of the villain who adroitly becomes the villain of Guards! Guards! likes gold, and wrecks the palace of the city's Patrician. We shouldn't look too closely at this man, as he himself rules as an autocrat. His saving grace? He's one of the good ones, if such things as good dictators exist in fiction. In making a great space in which to hang out, the villain stacks all things gold--or goldISH, at least--in a rubble filled open area.

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

In Sir Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! Captain Vimes is a time-weathered, cynical leader of a cadre of the City Watch in a city that licenses crime such as theft and assassination via guilds that police their sorts of misbehavior. They rot to a slender version of their former glory until...well, if you haven't read it, that would be telling. Suffice to say that 25 year old me who read this novel for the first time read a very different novel than the decades older me currently listening to this novel as an audiobook.