Why I love writing novellas

For the first half of this year, almost every project I’ve worked on (with the exception of an unfinished short novel) has been a novella.  It’s not a form I was familiar with when I first started writing, but I’ve come to enjoy it immensely, and look forward to writing much more in the future.… Continue reading Why I love writing novellas

Captain Cosette by R. Bruce Sundrud

So I saw this book in my alsobots on Amazon a few months ago, and it looked interesting so I figured I’d give it a shot.  The cover is admittedly pretty bad, but it has two of my favorite things in the universe (space and girls), and besides, I’ll sample just about anything.  A few… Continue reading Captain Cosette by R. Bruce Sundrud

T is for Terraforming

[NOTE: this post is a reprint of an earlier post from the Trope Tuesday series, which you can find here.] One of the problems with interplanetary colonization is that Earth-like worlds are fairly rare (though possibly not as rare as we once thought). In our own solar system, the only other world that comes anywhere… Continue reading T is for Terraforming

Trope Tuesday: Terraforming

One of the problems with interplanetary colonization is that Earth-like worlds are fairly rare (though possibly not as rare as we once thought).  In our own solar system, the only other world that comes anywhere close (Mars) is a radiation-blasted desert with only the barest hint of an atmosphere and a surface temperature colder than… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Terraforming

New Kindle! And some new old projects as well

So I came out to Tbilisi today, because MY NEW KINDLE PAPERWHITE JUST ARRIVED! Okay, sorry for the all-caps shouting, but I’m really happy that it finally got here.  My old kindle broke down a few months ago, leaving me stranded in my tiny village without any books.  With the weather getting worse and the power… Continue reading New Kindle! And some new old projects as well

Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell

Ishmael Wang never thought he would sign up with the crew of a solar clipper, traveling the stars as part of a merchant collective.  But when his mother unexpectedly dies, leaving him with barely enough money to pay next month’s rent, he finds himself without any other choice.  Fortunately, the starfaring life suits him quite… Continue reading Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell

Story Notebook #6

Alright, it’s time to go through another story notebook.  This one covers the spring and summer of 2010, right after I graduated.  It was a weird transitional period in my life, when I didn’t really know what I was doing or where I was going, but I was determined to keep on writing anyway. I… Continue reading Story Notebook #6

Trope Tuesday: Recycled IN SPACE!

Or, as my friends at Leading Edge would say, IN SPAAACE!!! The basic idea behind this trope is that setting a story in space makes it cool and different.  The tvtropes article focuses mainly on how this trope is used in children’s cartoons, but it actually goes much wider.  In fact, most space stories are… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Recycled IN SPACE!

Desert Stars 4.0 is finished!

And just in time; I start another job tomorrow.  So anyhow, here are the stats: words: 99,000 chapters: 22 ms pages: 465 start date: 3 Oct 2011 end date: 25 Oct 2011 And the word splash: Can you tell who the main characters are? 🙂 This might sound kind of cheesy, but this book has… Continue reading Desert Stars 4.0 is finished!

The interior designer’s approach to story

I recently read a fascinating post on John Brown’s blog with an interesting exercise for analyzing the kinds of stories you most like to read.  By finding out what really turns you on in a story, you can have a much better idea what to write, and how to make your own stories better. He… Continue reading The interior designer’s approach to story