Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Blog: #42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything, page 114

Author Interview: Sue Lange

SUE LANGE

Interviewed by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel

Sue Lange’s eBook Uncategorized shows that future fiction can be synonymous with black humor, offering short stories that start out light-heartedly and then drag you under into darkness.

She has also written several novels, and her latest, The Textile Planet, is available from Book View Cafe. Her 2003 novel, Tritcheon Hash, was republished by Book View Café as an ebook in 2011. It was included in Kirkus’ Best of list for that year.

Q.) What drew...

Free Fiction Monday — The Viper in Tulum

On July 9th, my new novel, The Guardian Hound, is being published by Book View Cafe.

NEXT WEEK!

This is the last of the Free Fiction Mondays that I’ll be doing (at least for now.)

Chronologically, this was the first story I wrote for the novel. I wasn’t quite finished with the characters from The Raven and the Dancing Tiger, and I had this scene in my head since I first started thinking about The Guardian Hound.

Enjoy!

SPOILER ALERT: This short story has spoilers for The Guardian Hound.

The Viper...

Story Inspiration Sunday

I am not much of a cook: I do much more assembly, when it comes to meals, as opposed to actual cooking.

Though that actually depends on your definition of cooking.

For example, I do make my own chicken broth. I save bones in the freezer, and when I get enough, I throw them into a pot with a bottle of the cheapest white wine I can find, along with some vinegar and water. I cook it for hours, letting it simmer and reduce. When it cools, it will have a gelatinous layer–all the calcium cooked out...

Frodo, meet Prof. Harold Hill. Harold, Frodo.

By Brenda Clough

When the first Lord of the Rings movie came out in 2001, it generated a huge number of parodies, fan posts, and general fluff. I wrote this at that time. I ran across it recently, and cannot resist sharing it again.

[The setting is the Last Homely House east of the Sea, where Elrond Half-Elven has convened the Council.]

GANDALF rises to address the Free Peoples of Middle Earth. He looks like Ian McKellan but sounds

like Robert Preston:

Well, either you are closing your eyes

To a s...

Writing Nowadays–Passive vs. Progressive

Language fascinates most writers. An article posted here points out a number of changes happening to the English language happening right under our noses. Wow! Who knew?

One of those changes is an increase in the use of the progressive tense. We say, “I’m going” more often than we say, “I go” these days, while in times gone by, it was the reverse.

But let’s be careful.

In a recent critique at my writers group, I was dinged for using passive voice in several sentences. I went over my manuscript a...

Stalking the Wild Muse: Writer Rituals & Habits

A series exploring the props, habits, and drugs that fuel the writer’s productivity. Past, present and future! Look for BVC writers, plus other authors we know and love.

Phyllis Irene Radford

As some of you know, I am a dancer. I started ballet and tap when I was 7 and never totally gave up the notion that I need to express myself in dance. I need to move through dance. Not until I became a full time writer did I understand that dancing didn’t just get my blood moving through my body, it also s...

BVC’s first audiobook: Space Magic by David D. Levine

Space Magic audiobook

Hugo-winner David D. Levine’s short story collection,Space Magic,is now available as a professionally-produced audiobook, read by the author, in a variety of audio formats.

Space Magic features fifteen science fiction and fantasystories including “Nucleon” (James White Award winner), “Rewind” (Writers of the Future contest winner), “The Tale of the Golden Eagle” (Hugo nominee, shortlisted for the Nebula), and “Tk’Tk’Tk” (Hugo winner). The collection as a whole won the End...

Best of the Blog: How to Groom a Horse

Editor’s note: We’re reprinting some of our favorite blog posts from the past five years. This week: a popular post from Judith Tarr’s horseblog series in 2010.

By Judith Tarr

This week’s blog is all about the basics–as in, your character the hunky stablehand is grooming a horse for the bratty princess to ride, and you need some good stage business to make the scene punchier. This Just In (or Edited To Add as they say): With lovely synchronicity, here is a podcast on the ritual of grooming a ho...

Coffee Shops and Creativity

A lot of writers I know like to take their work to coffee shops. I’ve been known to do this myself, especially when I’m feeling stuck. It seems to help.

I’ve always attributed this to the change of scene or perhaps the presence of other people focused on their own work — not to mention the caffeine component — but it turns out that science has come up with an explanation for why it works: It’s the noise.

In a study called “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative...

Hosannah! Drama!

Yesterday, after a strenuous bout of writing sex, I walked out of my house to feed the tomato plants and commune with weeds and appreciate my air conditioning.

I noticed a small gray tabby cat lying on my front step—right in front of the front door—as if she owned it. If I’d left by the front door instead of the back, I’d have stepped on her.

I’d never seen her before. Our yard is visited regularly by three black-and-white cats, two black cats (one minus front claws who can nevertheless catch s...