Tag Archives: phil giunta

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Lawrence Block reminds us that while real life often does not make sense, our fiction must. Ruth Harris provides a handy checklist on effective dialogue while Jami Gold and Janice Hardy expound ways to ensure that our characters are not puppets to plot.

Calling all Scrivener users, Gwen Hernandez and Joslyn Chase offer tips on using some of the app’s features to organize our work.

Jennifer L. Harris shows us how to determine whether or not our story ideas will support a full-length novel. Over at the Write Practice, David Stafford reviews methods for applying the principle’s of the Hero’s Journey, and Jane Friedman delivers a comprehensive guide to writing query letters.

All that a little more. Enjoy!

Stop Making Sense: Explaining Some Fiction Rules of Logic by Lawrence Block

He Said. She Said. Fifteen Keys to Writing Great Dialogue by Ruth Harris

How Can We Make Our Protagonist More Proactive? by Jami Gold

Things to Consider When Adding a POV Character by Janice Hardy

What is Causing the Uptick in Independent Bookstores? by Mike Shatzkin

Using Bookmarks in Scrivener 3 for Quick Access to Supporting Materials by Gwen Hernandez

How to Use Scrivener to Write Scenes That Work by Joslyn Chase

5 Essential Hero’s Journey Themes and Symbolic Archetypes That Will Thrill Your Readers by David Stafford

The Complete Guide to Query Letters by Jane Friedman

13 Tips for Writers Who Just Want to Finish Something For Once by Meg Dowell

How to Test Your Story Idea: Is Your Idea Strong Enough to Support a Novel? by Jennifer L. Harris

Why I Don’t Write Every Day by Phoebe Quinn

 

Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Wizard of Linn by A.E. Van Vogt

In the distant future, Earth is ruled by the Linnan Empire, led by Lord Adviser Jerrin—until he is poisoned by his scheming wife, Lilidel, in the chaos of an attack by a powerful alien race known as the Riss.

The Wizard of Linn by AE Van Vogt

Rather than take his brother’s place and find himself in Lilidel’s crosshairs, the scientist and high priest Clane turns his attention to defeating the Riss with assistance from Czinczar, general of a barbarian army defeated and assimilated by the Linnan years before. Meanwhile, Jerrin’s oldest son, Calaj, is installed as Lord Adviser of Linn, but is wholly unprepared for the responsibility and is quickly corrupted by power and the influence of his mother.

After capturing a Riss vessel during the battle, Clane, Czinczar, and a crew comprised of Linn and barbarian soldiers set off in search of help in their battle against the Riss. After traversing the cosmos for months, they encounter twin planets known as Outland and Inland on which reside agrarian societies of enigmatic humans with remarkable abilities of telepathy and spontaneous teleportation—not to mention an alliance with the Riss!

Clane attempts to forge a friendship with the reluctant Outlanders in order to learn the source of their powers and find a way to use them against the Riss invaders on Earth.

The Wizard of Linn is a sequel to Empire of the Atom, a patchwork novel comprised of short stories focusing on Clane of Linn, who is reviled by the population as much for his physical deformity as for his pursuit of matters beyond their comprehension.

The Wizard of Linn is a stronger and more cohesive story that sees a mature Clane at the height of his scientific prowess. Still, he is not perfect and makes the occasional mistake. The Outlanders find him amusingly incompetent and even upon returning to Earth with the knowledge and technology to potentially rescue the planet from the Riss, Clane is beset by the forces of his nephew Calaj.

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Kristine Kathryn Rusch summarizes exciting opportunities brewing in the audio book space while Anne R. Allen instructs us on writing the almighty query letter.

We’re often inundated with lessons on time management to help us balance our workloads and achieve our writing goals, but Paula Munier reminds us that it’s equally important to set boundaries and learn to say NO.

On a related note, Jami Gold shares the frustrations of juggling contradictions in the writing and publishing world based on a glorious article from Kali Wallace (included below) about the pressures and stresses placed on writers today.

Matt Knight discusses cover art copyright and Kathryn Craft offers methods for handling leaps of time in our narrative. Meanwhile, trolls and sockpuppets continue to erode the value of Goodreads.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

Business Musings: The Future of Audio by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

How to Write a Professional, Not-Embarrassing Query to an Agent, Reviewer, Editor, or Blogger by Anne R. Allen

The Key to a Writer’s Productivity: Just Say No by Paula Munier

Your Heart is a Moving Target by Kali Wallace

Writing and Publishing are Full of Contradictions by Jami Gold

12 Tips for New Public Speakers by Debbie Burke

Can a Work of Fiction about the Holocaust be Inaccurate? by Patrick Freyne

Looking Deeper into the Goodreads Troll Problem by Camestros Felapton

Book Covers and Copyrights by Matt Knight

The Compelling, Emotional Complex Sentence by Jeanne Cavelos

Bridging Temporal Story Gaps by Kathryn Craft

 

 

Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: SLAN by A.E. Van Vogt

Slan by A.E. Van VogtJohn Thomas “Jommy” Cross is a member of the telepathic race of mutant humans called “slans,” eponymously named for Samuel Lann, believed to be their creator. The only physical distinction between the two races are the slan’s set of golden tendrils protruding from their scalps that serve as antennae for their telepathy.

On Earth, slans were overthrown by humans during an ancient war and are still considered the enemy. The police and military are ordered to destroy all slans on sight. Jommy’s father, a renown physicist, was killed when Jommy was a toddler, but not before concealing the secrets of his research in an underground cavern and bequeathing its location to his son.

At the age of nine, after his mother is murdered by the police in broad daylight, Jommy escapes and sets off on his own, but is soon captured by a penurious yet cunning old termagant who threatens to report him unless he uses his telepathic abilities for her selfish gain. While repulsed by the situation, Jommy realizes that he can use the woman’s hovel to hide from the police until he reaches adulthood, at which time, he will locate his father’s research and find a way to bring peace between slans and humans.

There is only one problem. During a shoplifting escapade at the behest of “Granny,” Jommy ventures across town to the space port and encounters a race of tendrilless slans! After reading their minds, Jommy discovers that this unfamiliar branch of the slan race has complete control of the spaceport and is building a fleet off world. At an appointed time, they will attack Earth and obliterate humans and “true” slans alike!

It’s up to Jommy to avoid capture, locate his father’s research, and find a way to stop this invasion before more atrocities are committed, but how can one man stop an armada led by a ruthless offshoot of his own race?

All told, a beautifully crafted, suspensful, and fast-paced tale. It is no wonder that SLAN is considered among the best works from one of science fiction’s earliest grand masters. It’s definitely among my top five all-time favorite SF novels.

Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Greatest Story Ever Told—So Far by Lawrence M. Krauss

The Greatest Story Ever Told--So Far by L KraussFollowing up on his previous book, A Universe from Nothing, Dr. Krauss walks us through why (meaning “how”) we attained our current level of understanding of the natural world and the cosmos.

Beginning with the properties and laws governing light and motion, Krauss then takes several chapters to delve into an overview of theoretical physics, covering electromagnetism, particle physics, quantum mechanics, and the purpose, development, and construction of such devices as the Large Hadron Collider and LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).

Through it all, Krauss shows diligence in crediting many of his Nobel-prize winning predecessors and mentors who advanced our collective knowledge of the universe, sometimes offering entertaining anecdotes into their personalities and, in a few cases, his own personal encounters with them as a student or colleague. Despite the book’s bold title, Krauss is not as openly scornful of theology this time around and in fact, opens each chapter with a quote from the Bible apropos of the topic.

Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan

Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan“Our technology has becoms so powerful that—not only consciously, but inadvertently—we are becoming a danger to ourselves. Science and technology have saved billions of lives, improved the well-being of many more, built up the planet in a slowly anastomosing unity—and at the same time, changed the world so much that many people no longer feel at home in it. We’ve created a range of new evils; hard to see, hard to understand, problems that cannot be readily cured—certainly not without challenging those already in power.”

Carl Sagan never said “billions and billions,” despite Johnny Carson’s parody of Dr. Sagan on The Tonight Show (on which Sagan was a guest nearly 30 times).

Sagan begins his final book on this humorous note before delving into a diverse range of topics from human evolution and cultural development to ethnocentrism and xenophobia. He discusses the advancement of communications technology from the telegraph to satellites, and while he touches on astronomy and cosmology, a large portion of the book is spent reviewing the current state (as of the mid-1990s), and pondering the future of, our environment and the dangers we face if we do not cease our reliance on fossil fuels.

Sagan also tackles the controversial and often incendiary topic of abortion and the question of when human life truly begins. He discusses the religious and political points of view on abortion, Roe vs. Wade, and women’s reproductive rights.

Although I have this book in paperback at home, I listened to the audiobook over three days at work. The narrator for most of the book is the fabulous Adenrele Ojo. The final chapter was co-written with Sagan’s wife, Ann Druyan, and describes his diagnosis of, and struggle with, myelodysplasia.

It was a grueling experience for Sagan and his family, involving four trips from his home in Ithaca, NY to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (aka “The Hutch”) in Seattle and the bone marrow transplant from his sister, Cari.

Ann narrated the epilogue, which she wrote after Sagan’s death. In it, she details the events of the last month of his life and of their final trip to “The Hutch” where he died in December 1996. No, I wasn’t choked up at all. Nope, I’m fine…

Where’s that damn box of tissues?

Five stars all the way, Carl. I’d give you a billion, if I could.

Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan