Mur Lafferty's Blog, page 88

ISBW #132 – Feedback Special

We are proud to have GoTo Meeting as a sponsor! Get a Free 30-Day Trial!

00:00:07 ISBW #13200:00:38 GoTo Meeting Message00:01:12 Mur tackles ISBW administrative activities00:02:49 Mur names her new assistant, Carrie Kei Heim Binas — check out Carrie's writing blog at Heim Binas Fiction00:03:37 State of the Mur update: finishing recording War, edits from agent on Heaven, more work on "Project Underground", and then NaNoWriMo in November (if all goes according to plan) to write Playing for...

On Love

Dr. Mercury by JR Blackwell

I've podcasted and written a bit on villains/antagonists and how to make them believable, but the ever-eloquent and so-damned-talented-I-want-to-hate-her-but-I-cant JR Blackwell said it so much better in this blog post.

A villain can be many things – from the casual cruelty of the hobbyist to the concentrated machinations of an expert. But Arching, the true Arching of a hero, that, my friend, takes love. Oh, it's often thought that it's hate, boiling rage or...

News From Poughkeepsie – Day 114

The New Adventures of…Mark Twain and

"Nicky, are you quite sure this is going to work?"

"You've never doubted me before, Sam."

"Before, it was all experiments and labratories and…I'm holding a ray gun, for Pete's sake!"

"As am I. And we'll need them if we have any possible hope of defeating that tentacled horror from Dimension X."

"Stick to the rayguns, Nicky. If we survive this, leave the descriptive articles to me…"

[image error]

Guest Post: A Podcaster's Guide to Winging It by Mick Bordet

Mick Bordet writes and produces 'Some Other Scotland', a podcast novel that encompasses twisted versions of current news events and listener interaction set against a plot involving ancient advanced civilisations and clan warfare.  He is also a regular contributor to the short story podcast 'Great Hites'.

If there is one golden rule of podcasting fiction, it is "Don't start podcasting until the book you are reading or performing is complete", but what if the very essence of a podcast is its...

News From Poughkeepsie – Day 113

The New Adventures of…Joan of Arc

The girl couldn't have been out of her teens, but Ronny was willing to give her the benefit of a doubt. And she clearly knew her weapons, the way she cracked open that sig to look down the barrel. But goddamn, there was no way this girl was buying all this ordinance. Like she was out to start a war.

"Listen, Miss—" Ronny started, but the girl cut him off.

"My name is Jeanne," she said. Her words soft, musical. She did not look up.

"Right. Joan. Listen, are you ...

Introducing ISBW's newest team member- Carrie Kei Heim Binas

Thanks to everyone who answered my call for an ISBW assistant to help with the show notes and QAing the episodes. The outpouring of interest in this volunteer position was surprising and humbling. Thank you all so much for offering your time to me, it really meant a lot.

I'd like to announce that I made my choice, and the new assistant is Carrie Kei Heim Binas, author of the fabulous writing blog, Heim Binas Fiction.

Carrie has already done the show notes for ISBW #131, so if you missed...

Random thought- Nano WriMo

Perhaps it's the migraines that make me think strange things. But while sitting in the haze of a (thankfully) receeding migraine this morning, I just thought, "NaNoWriMo. Nano WriMo. What, is that like really small writing month?"

Then my buddy Gwen on Twitter said it sounded like a twitter project.

So what the hell- let's do Nano WriMo! If you can't commit to 50,000 words in the month of November, how about 4200 characters? That's 140 characters of fiction every day – well, let's say 135...

News From Poughkeepsie – Day 112

The New Adventures of…Muhammad Ali

Leroy wanted to be the greatest. So he bought The Greatest™.

"It's more than just a personal body upgrade," the doctor had said. "It's a personality upgrade, a consciousness upgrade. You'll see the world in a whole new way."

Leroy had concerns, which he tried to voice. But the doctor had easily brushed them aside.

"If you were really concerned about your organic personality, I would not suggest going through this procedure. That said, if are you really happy...

One of the hardest things about working from home – for me…

Is figuring out how to feel "accomplished."

Today I got up early for a doc appt. On my way out of the doc's (or maybe the way in; I have no idea), I dropped my credit card in the parking lot. A Good Samaritan found it, but I wasn't called till I got home (25 min drive). Already pissed at spilling coffee on myself, I read some email to calm down, then did my drive back to Raleigh to retrieve it. I got home in a very foul mood, and did some more online admin stuff, ate lunch, and suddenly it...

News From Poughkeepsie – Day 111

No Sunday edition yesterday, because no one wrote anything. Clearly, the idea of hard working astronauts had no appeal to anyone but me. Ah, well. Let's see what happens this week.

Even Hitler had a sister in law. Bridget Dowling was married to Adolf's half-brother Alois and claimed that the famous dictator moved to Liverpool to live with her and her husband from November 1912 to April 1913. While there is nothing to back this claim up–no records show of Adolf ever visiting Liverpool–it has...