Pants Plotting

I’m a seat-of-the-pants sort of writer. When I start a book, I have in mind a character, a situation, and a direction it’s going, but that’s usually all. After I wrote the first draft of The Fall, I had this idea: take a particular character from...

The Flattening of the Vuvuzela

The vuvuzela made the news in recent years when it began to give South African soccer enthusiasts hearing damage. For those who don’t want to follow the link, a vuvuzela is basically a plastic horn that plays one — just one — note. Loudly. This...
Trade Secret Giveaway

Trade Secret Giveaway

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller are over on Clan Korval’s Home on the Web doing a free giveaway of an audiobook of their latest release, Trade Secret! Star-spanning galactic trader Jethri Gobelyn’s story continues in the seventeenth entry in the Liaden Universe®...
The First SF Book I Ever Read

The First SF Book I Ever Read

It was 1973. I checked out a book from my junior high school library because it had an interesting cover and took it home to get sucked into a story about a female character who had some kind of adventure taking a ride in the past in someone else’s memories....

PhilCon 2013: Day 3 – Back to the Present

Nothing like talking about sex at 10am on Sunday morning. Wearing Purple: Female Writers of a Certain Age was a blast. My own conclusion is that having your kids leave home is the ultimate aphrodisiac, and who said sex after 50 isn’t hot, anyhow? The Future of...