Merchanter’s Luck by C. J. Cherryh

He was a down and out merchanter, the captain, crew, and sole proprietor of a run-down bucket of bolts spacecraft.  She was a daughter of one of the finest starfaring clans, with seven hundred cousins standing between her and the one thing she wanted more than anything else: command of a starship. They met at… Continue reading Merchanter’s Luck by C. J. Cherryh

Confessions of a delinquent blogger

Man, so much has been happening, but now that I’m working an eight to five job, I never have the time to blog about it.  It’s 2am and I’m running on only four hours of sleep from the previous night.  Oh well, it’s a weekend.  Here goes. I passed the 50k mark for the rewrite… Continue reading Confessions of a delinquent blogger

Forward to new ground

A couple days ago, I finished writing through the material I’d written for Worlds Away From Home back in 2008 before I dropped the project.  For the first time since March, I find myself drafting entirely new material. It’s a little bit unnerving; I’m a much better reviser, I feel, than straight up writer.  Revising… Continue reading Forward to new ground

Thoughts on the convolutions of discovery writing

It’s been forever since I posted, so I figured I’d put something up and let you guys know what I’ve been up to. I’m happy to say that Worlds Away From Home is going well; I wrote just under 20k this week, which is more than I’ve written in a long time.  I hope to… Continue reading Thoughts on the convolutions of discovery writing

Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin

Worlorn is a planet without a sun, wandering on the fringes of the galaxy where the skies are starless.  Though it came to life briefly as it passed the red giant Fat Satan, those days are over, and the world is slowly dying. Dirk T’Larien never thought he would find himself on such a forsaken… Continue reading Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin

Quick worldbuilding question

For To Search the Starry Sea, I’m writing from the point of view of a far future starfaring culture completely independent of Earth. They’ve preserved our concepts of “hour,” “day,” and “year,” but these units of time do not correlate in any way with the revolutions of the worlds on which they live (basically, a… Continue reading Quick worldbuilding question

Christmas break 2009

Christmas was great this year!  I spent it in Texas, with my extended family–the family on my dad’s side, who I almost never see.  The break has been a lot of fun so far!  No school or work obligations, lots of time to lay back and relax, plenty of games to play and books to… Continue reading Christmas break 2009

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Urras and Annares, a world and its moon, separated by the gulf of space and two hundred years of mutual contempt.  On Urras, capitalist and socialist nations vie for dominance over the world’s rich and abundant resources.  On  Annares, the anarchist exiles scrounge for a meager living, but live in peace–and in hope. Shevek has… Continue reading The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, an ancient race of sentient aliens known as the Amarantin went extinct just as their civilization experienced a golden age.  No one knows why, but archeologist Dan Sylveste is determined to find out.  Unlike the other colonists on the remote planet of Resurgam, he believes that the answer may… Continue reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

“Why people read”

Dave Farland puts out this great e-newsletter called “Dave’s Daily Kick-in-the-Pants.” For the kick today, he suggested the following exercise: You probably have a good idea about what you want to write—horror, mainstream, fantasy, historical, romance, westerns, religious fiction, and whatnot. Sit down for ten minutes and on the left-hand side of your paper, list… Continue reading “Why people read”