Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 3

Characters must evolve…

I never start a new story thinking it will become a novel, let alone the first book in a series. Sometimes it becomes a stand-alone novel (More than Human: The Mensa Contagion is an example of a stand-alone) or a bridge book between two series (The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan is an example). The only exception was A.B. Carolan’s Origins, where we’re all still waiting for the rest of that trilogy [wink, wink]. Characters in a series often inspire me to give them their own novel(s), though: As...

The current state of publishing fiction…

After thirty-plus books, some traditionally published but most self-published, I’ve experienced a major part of fiction publishing’s evolution—painful at times but always an adventure. After suffering initially with hundreds of rejections from literary agents, the majority being the sycophants of the major publishing conglomerates (the worst of traditional publishing now called the Big Five), the very people who are basically manuscript filters for acquisition editors so the latter don’t have to...

Mortality in fiction…

My previous post about religion in fiction naturally is a segue into the topic of mortality in fiction. In typical thrillers, protagonists usually survive despite many odds against them, but they might be avenging the death of others near and dear to them. And while the main protagonists often live a charmed life because of luck or skills, secondary characters are often become victims. Most mysteries start with the victims, of course; there has to be a crime for the protagonist(s) to solve.

The ...

Religion in fiction…

With the somewhat limited pomp and circumstances despite his wishes, the Catholic Church and many thousands of admirers and curiosity seekers, Catholics or not, said their goodbyes to a decent man who’ll surely be remembered as one of history’s most memorable popes, the Argentine Jesuit Pope Francis, although some well-known politicians who probably believed he stole their time in the spotlight will be naysayers. Many probably thought of their own mortality and what it means live moral lives.

Be...

An apology to readers of this blog…

…if you’ve been looking to peruse my sagacious words about reading, writing, and publishing fiction here: Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to take a few weeks off (more than a month, to be more specific). I hope to return soon to posting my usual acerbic, pithy, and hopefully entertaining and informative articles.

Of course, if you really need your mental high obtained from reading this blog, perhaps you can find a worthy substitute by reading one of my many books or downloading som...

Androids or AI?

If you’re a sci-fi fan, you’ll know Isaac Asimov’s answer to this question, although he might prefer the word “robots” to “androids.” In his “Robots Trilogy” (really part of the lengthy expansion of his Foundation series), he actually featured an eclectic mix, and I believe he actually called R. Daneel Olivaw an android. What he never considered as far as I know is AI (“Artificial Intelligence”).

Of course, androids and robots require artificial intelligence, sometimes not all that sophisticated...

End notes…

Most of my works have end notes where I discuss some of the reasons I had for creating the stories beyond any prefaces, acknowledge those who helped me reach out to readers who might enjoy them, and expand on disclaimers beyond my copyright notices that state I’m not necessarily in agreement with what characters in those stories opine. These aren’t idle words, although I suspect few readers bother reading these end notes.

In that bleak, dark, and strange world of the Big Five publishing conglome...

Where’s Clancy’s jumbo jet?

Let’s consider the current political situation: Donald Jackass Trump and his whole horde of fascists from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches are bent on destroying American democracy! Maybe drastic measures are required? To help answer that question, let’s see what measures some screenwriters and fiction authors have considered appropriate.

For example, the incredibly original and unpredictable Tom Clancy might be able to offer a solution! The circumstances in Debt of Honor are di...

Endorsements and reviews…

The so-called “gurus,” those people who claim to know what authors should do to achieve success in publishing, often stress the importance of endorsements and reviews. They’re full of you know what!

I’ve written enough reviews and also received enough for my own books that I can state that they’re basically worthless. Think about it: Do you read a book because some stranger, reviewer X, says it’s a good read? Hell no! You might attempt to read a book if you receive a “review” (often viva vos) fr...

Why I’m now Google’s enemy…

Progressive protests start with a few concerned and responsible citizens deciding they’ve had enough. I can’t claim to be the first (the EU has been going after Google for a while), but I’ve hated Google for a long time. I finally did something about it.

Long before their kissing Ronald McDonald Trump’s fat McD’s butt and changing their map names (Denali to Mt. McKinley and Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America), Google’s browser Chrome was annoying me a lot. I’d already stopped using Facebook and X...