You’d think that dodgy publishers, publicists, and others would know better than to spam Writer Beware. But no. Disproving the frequent spammer claim that their email lists are carefully targeted, I get quite a substantial number of advertisements, press releases, and solicitations.
When people speak of works that “have withstood the test of time” it’s worthwhile asking “Withstood for what?” and “Withstood for whom?” For instance, The Malleus Maleficarum is indeed an immortal work, but it’s not remembered for the reasons its authors and admirers might have wished. The same nuancing holds for classic SF. Overlapping this is the forelock tugging to so-called “hard” SF that, inter alia, seems to still hew to the fifties concept that only physics and astronomy are quantitative sciences.
As we begin the new year (Writer Beware’s fifteenth–good heavens!), here’s a look back at some of Writer Beware’s most notable posts and warnings from 2012.
On Saturday, January 12th, 2013 at 8PM, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS), located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21224, will have a free, public party to celebrate 50 years of promoting science, science fiction and fantasy throughout Maryland.
I’ve just finished a story, and somewhere in the primitive part of my brain, I’m determined to milk it for all it’s worth.
In The Forever War, I had fun writing about cooking under primitive conditions. It’s easy to write about because you don’t have to explain things so much. People understand cooking over a fire. When you start to go into cuisines, you risk losing your readers because the descriptions require too much detail, or it’s too gross.
Writer Beware is taking time off for the holidays. Unless there’s some especially major publishing news, look for us to be back after January 1.
I’ll still be answering emails. To contact me: beware [at] sfwa.org.
We wish all our readers peace, ha…
SFWA has named Gene Wolfe as the 2012 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for his contributions to the literature of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Today’s guest blog post, from journalist Mridu Khullar Relph, explores the world of writing schemes and scams from an international perspective–something that’s increasingly an issue for Western writers looking to find work overseas.
Some astronauts and cosmonauts have reported a cognitive shift in awareness during spaceflight–often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface. It has come to be known as The Overview Effect.
Simon and Clara, a pair of self-proclaimed paranormal investigators, chase after a ghostly old 1917 police car as it races through Caligo Falls toward a creepy old shack in the forest where a shocking murder took place in 1922.
R. Gary Raham writes science fact and science fiction. Raham’s writing has been known to make a reader laugh and think simultaneously with no known deleterious effects.
