social issues

Attention, Big-Name authors who feel compelled to tout a writing-related product or service: Stop. Think. Research. At least check to make sure you are not endorsing something well-meaning but clueless, if not utterly predatory. Lesser authors look up to you. They may even believe you. Do you want to disappoint them? Now, if you know…

Read More psst! research before endorsing!

If you are a writer or a reader – or both! – you need to go here RIGHT NOW and look at this petition. Then please sign it. https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com-amazon-change-the-you-know-this-author-policy Lucky authors might have self-published bestsellers that seem to gain word-of-mouth acclaim instantly, or have commercial publishers bankrolling major marketing campaigns. The rest of us struggle…

Read More Amazon’s review policy (rant warning, adult language)

“I think the rules are crumbling and I think the barriers are breaking.”  – Neil Gaiman “Good.” – me In the New Statesman, Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro share a fascinating discussion about the past, present, and possible future of speculative fiction. I find it a wistful, slightly cynical, but ultimately hopeful field trip shepherded by…

Read More Machines cannot imagine

Yesterday, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage via an overwhelming popular vote. Yup, Ireland. The same country that only decriminalized homosexuality in the early 90s, and saw its staunch traditional Catholicism reel from recent waves of child sex-abuse scandals among clergy and affiliated lay groups. Where the infamous ‘Magdalene…

Read More Ireland did it. The Millennials helped.

…or, ‘I Am Not Five, and I Don’t Read Like This:’ I’ve recently followed some online critiques of other people’s science fiction and fantasy works-in-progress. I noticed a common factor: some readers’ inability or unwillingness to deduce words from context. One example: a friend’s Norse-flavored take on the Tam Lyn folktale held seven or eight…

Read More Context reading in Adult SF&F

C’mon, you gotta know this one. It went from pun to meme to geek celebration? May the Fourth be with you. It’s a bittersweet holiday for me. ‘Star Wars’ was my Sf&F call to action back in ’77. It galvanized my attention like Tolkien had a few years before: big settings, classic stories slightly retold,…

Read More Happy Star Wars Day

I’ve witnessed some extraordinary discussions over the past month, as the Hugo Awards controversy continues in the science-fiction and fantasy community. Eventually, I’ll provide links (cribbed and cited from a couple of diligent AW sources) to the best explanations of what happened and why. Part of the fallout? Free stories listed online by authors, editors,…

Read More Intergalactic Medicine Show: free fiction

Especially in America, there is immense corporate pressure to have a college degree – as a meal-ticket to a better job and future, not necessarily as a proof of one’s intellectual skills. When the fact of having the degree is more important than the process of earning the degree, the stage is set for fraud…

Read More Thesis mills

So…over the weekend, the Hugo Awards nominee lists were released to the public. And the Internet blew up. For anyone not an SFF geek, the Hugos are the SFF publishing industry awards voted on by the members of Worldcon. They’re a coveted prize, but by no means an all-encompassing or even reader-relevant accomplishment. To be…

Read More Sad Puppies, the Hugo Awards, and WTF

For anyone who has been in a cave for the last nine years, Etsy.com is a sales site meant to showcase original handmade objects. It is poised to offer a major IPO. It is also coming under increasing pressure by detractors who: 1) Claim Etsy is often a haven for cheaply-produced overseas goods marketed online…

Read More Is Etsy bad for honest artisans?

(I keep coming back to this post and fiddling with it. A threnody-in-progress, as I consider what this man meant to me.) Well, we knew this day was coming, but we are no less sad. The world is without one of its finest satirists and humanists today, with the passing of British comic writer/fantasist Sir…

Read More In Memoriam: Sir Terry Pratchett

Dear Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, I love you to bits. I’ve had several pieces entered in your Bead Dreams competition over the years. I adore seeing the amazing ‘statement’ pieces that your other entrants show off every year. I get so much inspiration from you. I’ve never been able to attend; my days…

Read More rich people’s hobbies

…then revels condescendingly at her own faceplant, and then manages to sell a smug little literary essay about it while touting her ‘purer’ work. To round out the trifecta of writing-related articles this week, here is the National Post’s unintentionally funny ‘confession of a failed romance writer’. Jowita Bydlowska’s essay touches on every single stereotype…

Read More Yet another literary writer epicfails at genre…

Another article of note, this time a Guernica Magazine interview of superstar agent Chris Parris-Lamb. He’s mostly into literary fiction, not genre, but he has some very interesting and incendiary things to say about writing, publishing, Amazon, big books, and big advances. Selected quotes: On Amazon’s huge efforts to police its relatively tiny returns from publishing:…

Read More An agent talks about publishing

Paraphrased quote from the following essay: ‘One problem with treating (post teen) students as children, is that they become more childlike.’ http://chronicle.com/article/Sexual-Paranoia-Strikes/190351/ This essay may enrage some people, and be used by others as an excuse for terrible behavior. I take it as another data point, on a cultural metamorphosis I’ve been watching unfold for…

Read More Vulnerability and victimhood

I honestly don’t know what to tell people who only post updates, photos, links, etc on Facebook – and then get huffy when I don’t respond. Chances are, I didn’t even see it. If you’re only interacting on FB, then I’m going to miss a lot of it. Until long after the fact, and possibly never.

I check my FB account when I remember to. Maybe once a week, sometimes once a month. I keep it as a placeholder. I’m not thrilled with the directions FB seems to be going. I’ve already abandoned a personal account. The only social media I find more annoying is Zorpia, and that’s because they don’t stop spamming once they have an email addy.

If you are *a business* and you’re only updating on Facebook – good heavens, what is wrong with you? Cross-post and link to Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and LinkedIn. Have an actual blog: WordPress, Blogger, Squarespace, and others make it easy. I’m not that social media-savvy yet, and I manage to do it.

Consumers and collaborators like me would probably like to work with you more, if we don’t have to deal with Facebook on the way.

 

I’m linking to this post over on Tor.com, because Jacqueline Carey’s first fantasy series (from 15 years ago, now!) still stands as one of the most breathtaking and interesting fantasy arcs I’ve read. Some very literate and lucid writers are doing a critical re-read, and it’s worth following along. Especially for erotic romance writers who have…

Read More Kushiel’s Dart re-read on Tor.com

I was going to write a haiku love letter about thrift stores, but I don’t have to. This person already has a comprehensive guide to the wonder and madness that is thrifting.