Fran Wilde's Blog, page 30
August 16, 2013
Happy Birthday Diana Wynne Jones & Giveaway
Author-amazing Diana Wynne Jones would have been 78 today (according to Wikipedia). So many wonderful books – including Howl’s Moving Castle (Yes, THAT Howl’s Moving Castle) and theChrestomanciseries are in the world because of her.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones
And then there’s this: the wonderful Tough Guide to Fantasyland. A brilliant excision of all things one might find on a typical Quest or Journey to the fantastic realms. It contains more than one smart sharp insig...
August 8, 2013
SUPERFOOD: Cooking the Books with Michael Damian Thomas & Shira Lipkin
In a Speed-Round Interview, Michael Damian Thomas and Shira Lipkin, editors of Flying Higher, an Anthology of Superhero Poetry have joined Cooking the Books to talk about SUPERFOOD!
Shira Lipkin:I admit that I haven’t thought much about what superheroes eat…Except that obviously Lex Luthor is super into cake.
Michael Damian Thomas:Clearly they *all* eat meatballs, as our press is called Meatball Trouble Productions.
AndBased on nearly *every* comic I read in the 1980s, superheroes eat Hostess Fr...
August 5, 2013
Bag of Holding & Other Good News
A couple of pieces of good news and a bit of fun below:
I’m delighted to report that I’ve sold the short story “Like a Wasp to the Tongue,” toAsimov’s Magazine.::happydance::
The Impossible Futures anthology has hit its kickstarter goal, andthere’s still time to put your pre-order in.
And last week, with con season in full swing, I asked 10 writers, editors, and photographers what they considered must-haves for their con survival bag. I was delighted when my editor at Apex Publications, Jason Si...
July 28, 2013
On The Scientists in Your Popular SciFi Movies
We saw Pacific Rim again two nights ago (yes. Hush.) well, I saw it again. The Chemist saw it for the first time. We both loved it. Visually gorgeous and intelligent, enormously fun.
And yet, sitting next to a PhD biochemist who did his post-doc at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, who I think is pretty amazing, I started thinking about the scientist meme in sci fi movies.
It’s not as prevalent in books… Not always.
But when sci fi scientists reach the big scree...
July 23, 2013
Month of Authors & Artists and Kickstarters for Your Consideration
The wonderful Alethea Kontis has carefully constructed a Month of Authors and Artists for your enjoyment. Wander on over there and visit with old friends while you meet some new folks. Her questions are great (I like the tree question best). She’s posted interviews with 23 authors so far. Collect ‘em all!(I’m #13, and as you can see, Alethea’s no slouch when it comes to putting authors on the hot seat.)
AK:Finish this sentence: “Writing is like…”
FW: Writing is like painting a mural while runni...
July 16, 2013
Post Readercon Dish
Readercon24 (July 11-15, 2013) can be summed up like this: Glittery Brain Fun. The panels and readings I went to were amazing. Standouts are listed below. So here’s as much dish as I can muster on my first day back…
Traincon: First we had to get to Readercon. That meant Traincon. Ten of us boarded in Philadelphia: D.T. Friedman, Shveta Thakrar, E.C. Myers, Bernie Mojzes, A.T. Greenblatt, A.C. Wise, James and Lilly, Natalie Luhrs, and me. By the time Chris Gerwel joined us in New York (bearing...
July 8, 2013
Wherein I am excited…
This week seems to have amazing things happening every day. To wit:
The first of the trainCon houseguests comes today! So excited to see Danielle. More about trainCon in a moment…
Debuts Tuesday!
My friend Jon McGoran‘s fantastic book Drift debuts on Tuesday and he’s hosting a launch party at the Academy of Natural Sciences that night. Seriously, this is your last chance EVER to pre-order Drift. You totally should so you have bragging rights.
something mumble birthday mumble nothing to see here.
T...
June 30, 2013
May – July Reading
I’ve been hard at work on the next novel, anothernovella, and a bit more beta reading than usual, so my bookshelf paid the price. I have several wonderful reads to share below – just not as many as last time.
How about you? What good stuff have you been reading?
Novels -
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jeminisn (Orbit) – read it again, for reasons.
The Blue Blazes, Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot)
The Raven Boys, Maggie Stievfater (Scholastic)
Collections -
Conservation of Shadows, Yoon Ha Lee (Prime Books) – Oh m...
June 18, 2013
Food is Personal; Food is Political: Cooking the Books with Chuck Wendig
Chuck Wendig comes to Cooking the Books with six published novels under his belt, including Blackbirds (Angry Robot, 2012), Mockingbird (Angry Robot, 2012), and, most recently, The Blue Blazes (Angry Robot, 2013).
He has plenty more words [some safe for work, some really, really not] where those came from, with new novels on the horizon, and his wildly popular blog http://terribleminds.com.
Chuck is an absolute delight to have as a guest, even when he’s looking like he might destroy some charcu...
June 14, 2013
Writing on the Road
We are back from a road trip today. It was family-focused, and there is more of that in my future, along with summer conventions and other distractions from the natural order.
I was determined to keep to my writing schedule, and I’m finding everyone is pretty sanguine about my disappearing for an hour or two. Added benefits: new facts crept into my writing thanks to unexpected finds at the inn where we stayed (mostly earthenware and metal from the 200-year old midden); the amazing birds – we’v...
