P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 74
March 18, 2021
Book Review: Spirit’s End by Rachel Aaron — Way Too Fantasy
Summary: Eli Monpress is clever, he’s determined, and he’s in way over his head. First rule of thievery: don’t be a hero. When Eli broke the rules and saved the Council Kingdoms, he thought he knew the price, but resuming his place as the Shepherdess’s favorite isn’t as simple as bowing his head. Now that […] […]
March 17, 2021
Announcing The Next Steps
Good morning everyone! During the paperback release of The White Arrow on Monday, I hinted at some further announcements for some of my books. Today is a good time to circle back to that topic. Also, last week, I visited several ideas to increase the number of formats regarding my writing catalog. Most Indie authors […]
Don’t Hate on My Prologue Just Because You Hate Prologues!
I’ve read an array of fiction, mostly fantasy or sci-fi, with prologues. I tend not to be impressed by half of them. They feel like info dumps or pointless backstory that could be weaved into early chapters as the reader needs to know them. And it affects my own prologues while questioning other authors’ motives […]
COMPOSITE CREATURES by Caroline Hardaker (BOOK REVIEW)
Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker is a thought-provoking dystopian debut which continuously questions what it truly means to be alive in a dying world. Over the years Earth has essentially become toxic, the soil and air has become contaminated, many species of wildlife and plants have become extinct, and sickness reigns through the human […]
Speculative Fiction: the Liberation of Ideas #amwriting
The overarching genre of speculative fiction can be broken into two main categories: science fiction and fantasy. Each of them is subdivided into many smaller sub-genres. Consider what the words “speculative fiction” mean for our purposes. Speculative = conjectural, suppositional, theoretical, hypothetical, academic, abstract, risky, hazardous, unsafe. Fiction = novels, stories, creative writing, prose literature, […]
Book Review: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
Summary: Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to […]
Some book love
Will O’ the Wisp got some book love recently. I love the idea that these older stories still attract readers from time to time. Pete from this book makes occasional appearances in The Hat series, and I have plans to have Patty show up as well. Will O’ the Wisp by C.S. Boyack “Will O’ the […]
March 16, 2021
Episode 76: C. L. Clark Interview
Travis interviews author C. L. Clark about their debut fantasy novel, The Unbroken. In this epic fantasy from Orbit Books, two women clash in a world full of rebellion, espionage, and military might on the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire. Cherae and Travis discuss post-colonial war narratives, editing audio short stories for PodCastle, […]
10 Common Bedroom Objects to Use As Weapons – From the Writers in the Storm Blog
by Piper Bayardof Bayard & Holmes Everyone loves a good fight, and a good fight scene is arguably the lifeblood of every thriller. Since my writing partner, Jay Holmes, is a forty-five-year veteran of the military and intelligence communities, we are often asked what weapons we prefer for fights. In truth, Holmes and I both […]
When Illness Interrupts Your Writing – From the Writers in the Storm Blog
by Julie Glover The last time I worked on my novel was… I don’t know. We don’t have time for me to tell you the whole story, but I turned up sick on October 9, 2020 and haven’t been back to my old self since. I’m better, but I have good days and bad days and too […]
