Matt Haig: ‘People like your books more if other people like them’ Photo: Canongate
Novelist Matt Haig had an insightful and amusing list of things he has learned after ten years as a published author in The Telegraph:
Matt Haig: 30 things that every writer should know
Definitely worth a read if you’re a writer.
Panama City Beach, Florida, during spring break (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You may have noticed I’ve already been on hiatus the last couple of weeks. I didn’t plan to be. This time of year is always busy, with taxes, spring cleaning, and other commitments. But this year seems worse than usual (or maybe I’m just getting too old for it 8^).
Anyway, I just haven’t been able to keep up with blogging. There are so many posts I wanted to write, even started to write, but I just couldn’t get them done.
It doesn’t look like things are going to improve before the end of April. So I’m just going to take a break. I’ll still try to do Friday Fictioneers if I can fit it in.
I gave up on the short story I mentioned before, and started a new one. It’s going much better, but I haven’t been able to work on it much either. I’m really hoping I can finish it this month and submit it somewhere.
Season of The Harvest by Michael R. Hicks
Season of The Harvest is a science fiction thriller by Michael R. Hicks. This is the first book of the Harvest Trilogy, but stands on its own. In fact, I haven’t read the next book (but I plan to).
This was another freebie I picked up on Amazon before Christmas and finished off over the break (noticing a pattern here? 8^).
This is an well written novel, and will keep you turning pages. As I write this, it has a well-deserved 4.3 average with 273 reviews on Amazon.
Jack Dawson is an FBI Special Agent. His best friend and fellow agent is brutally murdered at a genetics lab, and Jack gets involved in the investigation against orders. Naomi Perrault, a beautiful geneticist who used to work there is the prime suspect. When Jack is framed for an explosion at an FBI lab, he ends up working with Naomi, and learns the terrifying truth about the genetically engineered seeds his friend was after.
There were a couple of small things in this novel that bothered me in the beginning. Hicks has an annoying habit of unnecessarily explaining acronyms, such as when he says “…headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI”. He could spell it out the first time if he feels it’s necessary, then just go with the acronym from then on. I don’t think anyone will have trouble figuring it out. It’s a minor thing, but it took me out of the story each time.
There’s also an info-dump of the protagonist’s past that could have been better handled by working the details into the story as it unfolds. This would have upped the suspense too.
But once the action got rolling these nitpicks were soon forgotten and I was right there in the story with Jack.
All in all, I recommend this book for anyone who likes techno-thrillers, science fiction and conspiracy theories.
Stop Feeling Lazy by Carol Look
I realized that I’ve been procrastinating.
I was genuinely busy through the last couple of months, until about the first week of this month. I got used to being so busy I had little time for writing (and what I had went into blogging and Friday Fictioneers).
When the other demands on my time finally let up, I should have gone back to the short story I’ve been trying to finish. Instead, I filled the time with more reading, particularly many interesting, but not really relevant, blog posts and news articles.
Last April, I wrote about joining the Write 1 Sub 1 monthly challenge. I had fully intended to do it. But I failed abysmally. Not a single short story finished, let alone submitted.
I set out with great intentions to participate in the monthly challenge for the whole year this year. But I let January pass me by with no progress. Continue reading
Aetna Rising by Erik Wecks
I picked up this e-book as a freebie around Christmas (have I mentioned I’m cheap? 8^), and finished it off pretty fast.
It’s a short book—Amazon lists the print version as 154 pages.
Aetna is a backwater moon, mainly valued for it’s plentiful ice, from which hydrogen is extracted. It’s controlled by the Unity Corporation, part of the Pax Imperium galactic empire. The protagonist, Jack Halloway is a “playboy, space station manager, and small time smuggler”. Then Aetna unexpectedly becomes important to the central administration, and Jack’s life gets turned upside down. Continue reading
Copyright Renee Homan Heath
Welcome once again to the weekly Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Feel free to join us. Instructions and the weekly photo prompt are available here:
Friday Fictioneers for January 25, 2013
All of the week’s entries can be seen here:
Here is my entry for the week:
(99 words)
The kids had run ahead, thinking only of sand and water. Rob strolled after them, loaded with towels, umbrellas, beach toys. He noticed the clouds on the horizon. The lack of wind. A storm’s coming. Continue reading
“The Message Between the Words” by Grayson Bray Morris, published in Waylines.
I recently stumbled across a new online speculative fiction magazine: Waylines.
They seem to be associated with Clarkesworld (note the link on the bottom of the main page), but I”m not sure about their relationship.
Anyway, I found one of the Waylines stories particularly well done:
The Message Between the Words by Grayson Bray Morris.
To me, this is what science fiction should be. Continue reading
Extrasolar planet WASP-11b/HAT-P-10b (Photo credit: Raven Vasquez)
We had company this weekend, so I didn’t get a chance to do any writing. But I wanted to pass on a link I found to some incredible space art. This is on Flickr by someone known as Digital Drew:
Digital Drew Space Art’s photostream
As I understand it, he uses 3D modelling to illustrate what the views might be like from the surface of extrasolar planets and moons, based on what is known about the systems, and general astronomical and geological knowledge.
He does beautiful work. I could see using some of his work to illustrate SF stories, if he’s willing to license them.
Copyright Roger Cohen
Welcome once again to the weekly Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Feel free to join us. Instructions and the weekly photo prompt are available here:
Friday Fictioneers for January 11, 2013
All of the week’s entries can be seen here:
Here is my entry for the week:
(99 words)
“Okay, we need the attic cleaned out today. I want everything packed, trashed or donated.” Continue reading
A map of German front of the Second World War circa 1941-1942. Ελληνικά: Εδαφικές κατακτήσεις του Ράιχ Español: Conquistas territoriales del Reich (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A bonus post this week, to make up for missing Friday Fictioneers last week.
I came across this hilarious post on The Straight Dope:
It, and the original LiveJournal post by squid314 upon which it’s based, points out a number of obvious plot holes in World War II that make it hard to believe. The comments are great too.
Check it out, I think you’ll enjoy it.
Let me know what you think.
