Researching Science Fiction

The fun part about Science Fiction is that it’s based on science. Real science. The world now. Then it’s imagined, invented, and takes several logical leaps.  Then scientists leap along with these imaginings, and those things become real.  Life imitates art imitates life. I freaking love it. One requirement of being a science fiction author …

“Not science fiction enough”

I've mentioned before that I have recently submitted a story to Critters.org, an online critique group.  You might have caught my live-tweets of all twenty critiques I received for my short story.  If you didn't, you can click here to read them. One thing that I found interesting was a fairly consistent comment that my …

Research vs. Networking

Science fiction isn't the easiest genre to write. Because, science. While sci fi authors don't have to data-dump all of a world's wacky rules and wobbly physics into each book, the author has to at least know how it works.  In my definition, science fiction needs to have a scientific reasoning behind extraordinary events (as …

Words with Many-legged Fears

We get some pretty impressive arachnids here in Georgia.  This beauty to the left is a Black and Yellow Garden Spider. She's considered a beneficial, and will only bite "if harassed".  Considering her body measures about 1.25" long, not including those legs of hers, I figure anyone who harasses her gets what they've got coming. …

How do you convey genre in sci-fi?

I learned a lot from Jeff Gerke's The First 50 pages. But I've got a quibble, and one I'd love to discuss with my fellow writers. Help your reader out. Just trot out a half-goblin in chainmail armor and a shield if this is a fantasy.  Have someone make an arrest if this is a police …

Othering in Sci-Fi and Life Imitating Art

I just finished reading a paper about children's horror by a film historian friend.   Hers was a basic analysis of how the genre functions when the target audience is children. It's a fascinating paper, and when the book is published (of which it will be one chapter), I'd be happy to pass the title …

Book Club Nostalgia

After the conversation with Amanda about the importance of the roles parents play in kids' reading habits, I started thinking about my own.  Parents... and habits. Back in the days before Amazon, if you ordered books to have them shipped to your house, it was via a catalog. Usually the catalog was arranged by genre …