Anne Harris will be signing copies of her novel Inventing Memory at Readmore Books in Berkely on Saturday, May 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Also present will be Kathe Koja andPatrick O'Leary.
Readmore Books is a new store on Coolidge in Berkley, next to Elaine's Bagels. The address is: 2829Coolidge, Berkely, Mich. 248-548-1922.
April 23, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)
The economy and drastic state education cuts have threatened the existence of the USA's most respected and well-known SF&F workshop, The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop.
But you can help save Clarion. The San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions is offering a matching grant of up to $1000 for every donation from individuals and non-profict organizations. If you're interested in making donations to fund the Clarion Workshop and qualify for the matching grant to contact the Clarion organizers directly at [email protected].
For more information, check out this Clarion news release on the SFWA site.
April 02, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (2)
There's a new interview with Sarah Zettel up on the web at http://www.bookhelpweb.com. Come read possibly more than you ever wanted to know about her writing life, past, present and future.
March 31, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)
At the high school where I teach, anytime a staff member is moving, they send out a notice via e-mail saying, "Don't toss boxes! I'll come get them!"
I was just about to send out one of these missives when a bit of e-mail arrived. It was a teacher saying she was moving in late April and needed boxes. Hey!
I promptly sent out a response explaining that I was moving, too. Then I added:
"The person who gets me the most boxes will win a short but pivotal role in my next novel."
Mwah ha ha ha!
--Steven Harper Piziks
March 27, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (5)
Amazing Stories is back!
First published in 1926, Amazing Stories is one of the oldest SF&F magazines around. The new publisher, Paizo, also puts out Dragon Magazine and Dungeon Magazine, so they have quite a bit of experience with role-playing games. We'll see how good they are at handling a non-gaming fiction magazine.
They accept unsolicited manuscripts for 2,000 to 5,000 word short stories. The pay is 10 cents word. Check out their submission guidelines.
March 18, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (2)
Check out this op-ed piece on the current state of book contracts. I found the indemnity clause particularly frightening, and the clauses about discounts and sublicenses are outright unfair. So I'm asking fellow UWGers: have any of your recent book contracts included the outrageous clauses mentioned in the article? Do SF&F publishers have different contract standards than mainstream lit. and non-fiction publishers?
March 16, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (3)
Congratulations to UWG Emeritus member Rhana Cassidy!
Rhana's novel Harmony took second place in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror catagory of the The Authorlink International New Author Awards Competition for 2003. Way to go! We wish her the best of luck in finding a publisher for her novel.
March 10, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)
Like many authors, Elmore Leonard has his set of writing rules he follows (more or less consciously?) for his own writing. He sets down in cement many rules that I would draw in mud (to be reshaped as needed). But I found them interesting rules, in part because many of them are extreme takes on rules that I use. For example, in his third rule he says "Never use a verb other than 'said' to carry dialogue," but I would say "nine times out of ten, 'said' is the best tag." The trick is knowing when it's appropriate to use a different verb, and to be ruthless about what qualifies as that exception to the rule. As for his eight rule of "Avoid detailed descriptions of characters" — this is definitely a case of personal preference. I'm very fond of Connie Willis's scanty character descriptions (I wish I could carry that off!), but I know her lack of detail drives other people crazy.
Leonard mentions a number of authors and published works that illustrate his rules, and now I'm curious to read them to find out how I react to the rules as applied in prose.
Check out his rules and tell us what you think!
February 24, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (4)
The winners for the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science-Fiction and Fantasy have been announced. Anthony Ha of Stanford University took first place for his story "Orbiting.” He will receive $500 and his story will be considered for publication in Asimov's science fiction magazine. Full details along with the runners-up and honorable mentions are at http://sfwa.org/news/asimovaward04.htm.
Whoa, that's pretty cool. Publication isn't guaranteed, but the $500 is nice and it gives you something to say in a cover-letter to an editor. I wonder how long this award has existed. (Okay, I wasn't writing much fiction during my undergraduate years, and of the little I did write, it wasn't anywhere near amateur award-winning material.)
February 19, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (2)
When is an author's fan no longer a fan? When they send death threats and stalk you with high-powered rifles. Mercedes Lackey writes about the troubles that fame and popularity in the world of fantasy fiction brought her in her ranting essay "The Last Straw".
February 18, 2004 in Fiction Writing | Permalink | Comments (1)
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