Author: Tara Maya
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Self-published Ebooks 20% of UK Genre Sales
How terrible that we have a larger choice of reading material than ever before in human history! The UK market is a year or two behind the US market in the shift to digital reading, though they are the second highest in the world, and UK ebook sales spiked 134% in 2012 to total £216…
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Special Spice: Alliteration
A guest post by Rayne Hall Several words close together starting with the same sound can either empower your writing or spoil it, so use this technique with thought. Here are some examples of skilfully applied alliterations from famous books: …the foam-flakes flew over her bulwarks…. (Moby-Dick by Herman Melville) … the baked red ruts…
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The Day My Son Discovered Death
I have three sons, who are six (almost seven), four (almost five) and three. Their usual conversations involve stories about dinosaurs and potty jokes. Yesterday, however, they startled me. The boys were fighting–hardly unusual–but when I went to break it up, my middle son turned to me and said, “Mommy, I wish you’d never had…
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Price Fixing Books Destroys Literature
Quebec is considering fixing book prices, joining nations like France, Sweden, Mexico, Argentina, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, and Belgium. The hearings on fixed prices for new releases are a direct result of lobbying efforts by the One Price for Books campaign, launched on August 22 of last year. Organized by a roundtable of…
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“Dad, I don’t care about money”
When I was about twelve, I remember having a conversation with my Dad about What I Was Going To Do With My Life. I said, “I’m going to be a writer.” After he stopped laughing, he said, “Okay, now be serious. What are you going to do with your life?” He explained that only the…
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Barnes and Noble Firesale on Nooks
Rumor has it that Barnes and Noble is planning to give up direct production of the Nook. Microsoft might take it over, or a breakaway child-company. The firesale on Nooks seems to lend credence to this rumor. The upside though is that you can get Nooks at incredible prices right now Wouldn’t that make a…
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Of Mechs And Men
–> Sulphurygenby *Shue13 In yesterday’s post, I discussed the pre-existent ideas about the future that a sf author should be aware of when world-building. In fact, if you think of these as a series of scales or levers, just answering these questions can toss up an interesting setting for a SF story. Questions: 1. Will…
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In the Future, We Will Look Like Zebra-Lemurs (5 Things To Remember About SF)
Nickelay Lamm predicts we will have huge, lemur-like eyes in the far future. Presumably this will be driven by sexual selection from millennia of watching Anime. I added the zebra stripes. Because, really, who doesn’t love zebras? 5 Things To Remember About SF 1. Science Fiction can be about the past, the present, or the…
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STRAT: A New Military Scifi Novel
On a hell-class world where feudal lords joust with mechs and use memetic tech to imprint loyalty onto their vassals and thralls, all Charlie and his people ask is to be left alone, free to think for themselves. Then, on his wedding day, Charlie’s bride is kidnapped to be a thrall. As he fights for…