Pete Aldin's Blog, page 11

Niteblade closes…

A sad announcement. And a funny song. I hope. Me venting my grief over Niteblade’s closure in song:

http://niteblade.com/home/blog/2015/01/06/tribute-to-niteblade/

Guest Post: Kevin Ikenberry — How has science fueled my fiction?

When Pete put this question to me, it took a bit of time in hospital for me to fully grasp it. The question wasn’t the cause of my medical issue, but laying there without much to do besides think and dream gave me the chance to realize that there are three ways that science (hard or speculative) has fueled my fiction.

1. Endless possibility.

We live in a time where major scientific advancements that will affect our future generation happen nearly every day. We may not hear of them for years, b...

Editing Capers

It’s incredibly humbling when you read back through your first draft and realise just how truly craptacular some of your initial writing was.The only otherprocess that brings you face to face with your flawed- humanity-as-a-writer (apart from editing your own second draft) is the first time you send the project out for critique partners to give feedback on. Then you get questions like, “Why has this character inexlicably changed clothes (or gender?)?”, “Didn’t this character die two chapters...

How will the End come? (And why Post-Apocalypse is an evergreen genre)

As a writer (and a reader), I’m facinated by what humans do and how humans think. Reading about people thrust into dire situations through no fault of their own, making ethical decisions, getting in touch with their true natures (good, evil, flawed)…these things continue to drive me toward fiction that examines them.


My story S is for Silence is out this coming week in the anthology A is for Apocalypse . Of course, I’m going to say nice things about the anthology – my story’s in it. But having...

Jason Franks: 5 Questions & 1 Statement

A talented writer and artist, Jason Franks is the energetic force behind comic series such as McBlack and Left Hand Path, as well as the novel Bloody Waters (which I am halfway throughat-time-of-writing and absolutely loving). I’ve been lucky enough to pre-read the first two chapters of next year’s release: Shadowmancy which kicks butt…and I’m doubly lucky to belong to the same writing group as Jason.

I caught up with him recently and pitched five questions and a statement his way …

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1.Can yo...

Geoff Brown aka GN Braun: 5 Questions & 1 Statement

A true gentleman of the publishing world, Geoff Brown/G.N. Braun is an author, an editor, the irresistable force behind Cohesion Pressand Cohesion Editing, as well as a prolific Facebook status-poster.

I caught up withhim recently andpitched five questions and a statement his way …

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Geoff, what made you a writer? (As opposed to a fireman or astronaut or short order cook).

I don’t think anything really made me a writer. I’ve always loved to read, and I’ve always written. When I was in high sch...

What Good is Speculative Fiction?

RANT ALERT.

Last weekend, a good friend (during one of his frequent diatribes) looked me in the eye and said, “I’d prefer to read a good biography, because novels in the end are just fantasy, they’re not real and they don’t offer anything helpful.” In the context of his diatribe, he meant that fiction does no one any good except to switch their brain off for a while (as if that wasn’t worth something in itself). To be fair to my friend, he’d obviously forgotten what I write — he wasn’t attacki...

Star Wars Ep 7 Cast Reveal

Everyone else will be tweeting, Googleplussing, FBing and blogging about this. So why not me?

I’m not sure whether to be hyperexcited or hypercynical about this. I’m so conflicted.

On the downside:

1. Abrams? Really? Although he did work miracles with the Star Trek reboot, most of the time his work entices only to disappoint.

2. [SPOILER] Chewbacca? But he died in the novels. And he died well. It irritates me that they’ll move away from the novel canon which has been carefully maintained and thou...

MOVIES THAT WILL STAND THE TEST OF TIME: “ALIENS”

An energetic review worthy of the movie itself, by one of my esteemed students whose initials grace the bottom of this post. Have at it…

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To all other movies out there, thanks for coming but the position of Movie that Best Stands the Test of Time has well and truly been filled.

Where do you begin describing this film to someone who hasn’t seen it? I mean, are there people out there who haven’t? How do they live without the endless cool-quoting possible from this rollercoaster?…A topic to be t...

Kevin Ikenberry: How hard and speculative science have fueled my science fiction…

When Pete put this question to me, it took a bit of time in hospital for me to fully grasp it. The question wasn’t the cause of my medical issue, but laying there without much to do besides think and dream gave me the chance to realize that there are three ways that science (hard or speculative) has fueled my fiction.

1. Endless possibility.

We live in a time where major scientific advancements that will affect our future generation happen nearly every day. We may not hear of them for years, b...