Author: Joe Vasicek

Joe Vasicek is the author of more than twenty science fiction books, including the Star Wanderers and Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus. He claims Utah as his home.

Guest post: Developing Characters in a Fantasy Setting

Nathan Major is a friend and fellow writing who, like me, has taken the epublishing route for his first novel, Paradise Seekers. I met him through our mutual friend Charlie at Brandon Sanderson’s English 318 class.  His book is pretty good; I’m only partway through it right now, but he’s playing with some interesting fantasy… Continue reading Guest post: Developing Characters in a Fantasy Setting

Are ebooks there yet? My response to Wired

I just read an interesting article on Wired putting forth five reasons why ebooks aren’t yet better than print books.  I find it mildly interesting that Publisher’s Weekly linked the article on Twitter; the more things change, the more that people in traditional publishing seem to plug their ears and pretend like it isn’t happening. … Continue reading Are ebooks there yet? My response to Wired

Staying in Provo

So, I have some news.  After carefully weighing my options, I decided to stay here in Provo for at least another six months, rather than teach English in Korea for a year. My main reason was the current pace of change in the publishing world.  Originally, I wanted to take a year or two off… Continue reading Staying in Provo

AHHH! It’s uploaded!

That’s right; just a few minutes ago, I uploaded Genesis Earth to the Amazon Kindle store.  It’ll take about 24 hours to show up on the site, at which point the entire universe will implode and we’ll all become robots fighting for survival in an artificial reality.  So get ready! That beautiful image on the… Continue reading AHHH! It’s uploaded!

“…and I am doing my best to leave traditional publishing behind.” –Tracy Hickman

Those were Tracy Hickman’s exact words today at CONduit. He said it as part of his introductory remarks at his first panel, “To Cliche Or Not To Cliche,” and reiterated it on all of the panels he was on for the rest of the day. For those of you who don’t know, Tracy Hickman has… Continue reading “…and I am doing my best to leave traditional publishing behind.” –Tracy Hickman

Stoked for CONduit and a sneak peek

CONduit starts tomorrow in Salt Lake City, and I am so stoked! This will be my third year in a row, and it looks like all the usuals are going to be there: Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Dave Farland, L.E. Modesitt, Tracy and Laura Hickman–in other words, a whole bunch of awesome people.  It’s gonna… Continue reading Stoked for CONduit and a sneak peek

Tag and such

So my cousin Angela tagged me in this cross-linking truth-or-dare blog game, and it looks fun so I figured I’d participate.  Here goes: Do you think you’re hot? I suffer from no illusions as to my ability (or rather, lack thereof) to carnally attract the opposite sex.  That’s not to say I’m ugly, but when… Continue reading Tag and such