Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's Blog: #42 Pencil: A Writer's Life, the Universe, and Everything, page 67

BVC Announces Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover

Edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley

…an incredible blending of fantasy and science fiction.

Eventually the Terrans rediscover their long-lost — and now alien — colony: Darkover.

Things are different there.

While adolescent male homosexuality is generally tolerated on Darkover, men are expected to outgrow it. When Dyan Ardais takes lovers young enough to be his sons, he risks not just his reputation, but his life.

Life in a Tower as a Keeper, the chaste virgin who holds...

Gregory Frost in Consideration for Stoker Award

Hot off the presses!

Gregory Frost’s novelette, “No Others Are Genuine,” is a finalist for the Bram Stoker award in theLong Fictioncategory.The Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for “superior achievement” in dark fantasy and horror writing.

The story appeared in the Oct/Nov. 2013 issue ofAsimov’sMagazine.

Keep Laughing and Carry On

[image error][image error][image error][image error]In the category of wacky things Book View Cafe authors do when they’re not writing, my husband Jeff (that is, Chef Jeff Vader, All-powerful God of Biscuits) has posted a new video of one of our parodies on Youtube.

Here is the link, for those of you who need a chuckle to lighten your day.

The musical victim is Carry On My Wayward Son, by Kansas; the video footage is from that delightful old comedy Airplane(which is itself a parody of a “serious” film).

You can do the math. The song, by the way,...

Things

The other day I asked my son, to take me to pick up our car, which was done with its tune-up.

When we got in his car, my son pointed out that a tune-up actually involves plugs and points, and our car has none.

I had to laugh at that. The word tune-up is so much a part of my unthinking vocabulary.

As I waited in line to pick up my car, I start thinking about all the little phrases, and objects, there were so much a part of my everyday life that are gone now.

“Tune-up” goes back to my teens, when m...

Consideration of Works Past: Immortality, Inc

(Picture fromhere.)

I just spent the weekend atBoskone. Great fun. But after one of the panels I was asked who were my significant influences.

I quickly rattled of my personal mantra:Robert Heinlein,Clifford Simak,Cordwainer Smith,Mark Twain,John Dos Passos,Phillip K Dick,Alfred Bester. Anybody who’s discussed writing with me more than five minutes will get that particular list.

Then, later, I was down in the dealer’s room and looking overNESFA’stable.

I’ve been looking for a particular work from...

Story Inspiration Sunday

This week’s inspiration is a bit different. Okay, so most of these posts are a bit different. This one’s a little bit more so.

I’ve been writing full time now for a few weeks. And by writing, I mean standing (or sitting) at my keyboard for most of the day making stuff up and writing the next novel.

I’m pleased with the progress: I’m a bit over 40,000 words into a 60,000 word novel. I achieved that in about eight days.

But how did I do that? I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have an outline. I had...

If I Could Turn Back Time…

It’s just about a year since I lost Miss Belle Cardigan, and of course I’m thinking about her. I originally wrote this post two years ago, right after I’d retired her from agility. Wishing, as we always do, that I had somehow done better for her along the way. I thought about updating it to reflect my current day pack, but…this seems more immediate to me. More Belle. So here it is…

When it comes to training, I find it all to easy to look back after. It’s the If Only game. I bet you’re familiar...

POETS Day: Antisocial Sonnet #3

I love the sound of borborygmus in the morning!

The Borborygmus

The Borborygmus is a dreadful beast

He clamors for attention unashamed

Emitting gastric noises undecreased

By anything except the tribute claimed.

Orotund and rounded are his vowels

Rumbling up from Stygian depths denied

But vainly by the victim of his growls

Outlandishly inflicted from inside.

Refusing his demands will only place

Your peace of mind in balance up against

Grotesque sonorities that cause disgrace

Made even worse by secret smili...

Legal Fictions: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But …

I recently re-read Fire Logic, the first volume in the fabulous Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks, and found myself focusing on a key aspect of the legal system. In Shaftal, disputes and criminal activities are resolved by a Truthken, an air witch who can determine whether someone is telling the truth.

Not only can Truthkens discover whether someone is lying, but they can also deal with the subtle problem of someone who is technically telling the truth but is being fundamentally dishon...

WWW Wednesday 2-19-14

WWW Wednesday. This meme is from shouldbereading.

• What are you currently reading?

Right at the moment I’m reading Kevin Barry’s City of Bohane. It’s very much an Irish “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” in that the narrative, which is omniscient with a sly “I” turning up now and then to remind you this is someone’s particular voice, is a fractured, futuristic Irish dialect. As a result the voice reminds me most of the late Russell Hoban’s Ridley Walker with its similarly distorted and broken Cockney. Or...