Now we return to my question of a few weeks ago: what gives some fantasy stories that “folktale” vibe, and not others? I digressed onto the subject of tale types because they’re related to the first half of my answer, … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2012
by Nancy Jane Moore It was watching The Avengers that gave me the idea that a woman who studied martial arts could take care of herself. I knew the show was fiction — and rather tongue-in-cheek camp fiction at that … Continue reading
Religion is at the heart of what we call culture. Our world culture is so steeped in religious principle that there’s no way to winnow it out. I often hear people advance the idea that they can be moral without … Continue reading
I am a big girl. I know language changes–particularly the English language, which seems determined to zig when you expect it to zag on all occasions. And yet. When I hear my own kith and kin (that would be my … Continue reading
Part of what makes a good story better is the mastery of detail–the sense that the writer really gets what she’s writing about, and that for everything she puts in, there’s a whole world of information behind it. If you’re … Continue reading
In the 1970s a revolution occurred and, for once (see Free Cornish Army), it was nothing to do with me. The birth of the microcomputer. At first the main interest was in building them – articles and adverts would appear … Continue reading
Paul Weimer of SFSignal.com sat down with our own Chaz Brenchley recently for an interview about the writing process … and “hats”. Chaz is the author of Shelter, The Books of Outremer and Selling Water by the River. His Book View Cafe eBooks … Continue reading
by Nancy Jane Moore When my collection Conscientious Inconsistencies came out a few years back, Lyn Perry gave it an excellent review on The Fix, the late and lamented short fiction review magazine. But he questioned whether it should have … Continue reading
by Jennifer Stevenson I would take issue with this dictum. I’ve tried writing about swimming, horseback riding, roller derby, even about writing, and I soon find myself lost in a terrible maze of emotion, anecdote, and wishful thinking disguised as … Continue reading
Many times over the years, I have been impressed with the “other” talents of writers I admire. We are not only novelists and crafters of short fiction, we are dancers, singers, teachers, composers, musicians, farmers, cake decorators, painters, martial artists, … Continue reading