Collection
Writing
Micro-SFF: Quick Musing on Vance’s Characters
Status: Alive I know no one cares about unjustly obscured SFF these days, but man Jack Vance’s stories would make for some awesome movies or TV shows, especially…
Bring out your dead
I’ve been sick the past few days, so please excuse the lack of content. Not quite dead yet, but I am going to use this to make…
The Lost Virtue of Lean Prose
As much as I talk about older scifi and fantasy, I like some contemporary fiction. I’m a fan of the Witcher stories. I like Harry Potter (is that…
The Cost of Magic
I’ve been thinking lately about magic. In fiction, its treatment varies widely, but I feel like there are a few generalizations I can make. First, I don’t agree…
The Maid and Butler and Swordsman of Mars
Sometimes characters explain things to one another that they should already know. “My lord, your brilliant plan – to poison the ambassador’s wine and then blame it on…
Jack Vance, Andre Norton, and Plot Hooking
Last week, back at the Bushi homeland, Gita wrote a piece about plotting, and Jordan of Anachronistic Robot posted an essay about short story structure. This got me…