Speculative fiction vs. science fiction

I don’t like the term “speculative fiction”. In fact, I hate it, and there are several reasons for this: It sounds pretentious. It seems like a way of avoiding the words “science fiction” or “fantasy”. It seems to be used as a way of collecting a variety of imaginative genres together in one taxonomical bucket. [...]

Writers: Shut-up and write!

I just wanted to point fellow writers and beginners to Brad Torgersen‘s excellent post, Shut-up and write. He says exactly what many of us are probably thinking and feeling. You should check out what he has to say.

Vacation in the Golden Age, Episode 1: July 1939

Golden ages never take place in the present. They either take place in the form of some collective memory of the past, long after the events of the targeted time have transpired, or the take place in some imagined future. The exception may be science itself, for at least I feel like I’ve grown up [...]

This week’s submissions and rejections

It was so cold yesterday that I didn’t go out to check the mail. That’s pretty remarkable for a writer who lives for the mail. I checked it this morning and found a rejection slip for a story I submitted about two months ago. It was a personal note, detailing why the editor didn’t take [...]

More “Astounding” mail today

Five more issues of Astounding arrived in the mail today: April, June, September, and October 1940, which complete 1940 for me. Also in the batch was the September 1941 issue, a special issue that contains not only Asimov’s “Nightfall” as the lead novelette, but also Bester’s “Adam and No Eve” and the conclusion of Heinlein’s [...]

My 2010 Hugo and Nebula nominations

I’ve done my nominations for the Hugo and Nebula awards for 2010. There were several good novels and one superbly outstanding one. I didn’t read a whole lot of short fiction from 2010 so some of those categories are blank.  Nominations within each grouping are listed alphabetically by author. Nebula Nominations Best Novel Echo by [...]

Left turn yield on green

Virginia drivers are not particularly bad, but there is one thing I’ve noticed that drives me just nuts: they seem to refuse to make a left turn on a green light (no green arrow), even when there is no opposing traffic; even when there is a sign above the light that says “Left turn yield [...]

Writers and editors

I was chatting with a fellow writer yesterday about meeting editors. Ask a dozen writers what they think of their editors and you’ll get a dozen different responses. My own view, heavily influenced by Isaac Asimov’s view, is that editors are the “bosses” in the relationship and should be treated as such. I realize there [...]

Life, in 15-minute chunks

The last few days have been long and endlessly busy. Kelly is down with some kind of bug–a stomach flu perhaps–and has been mostly bedridden. She is a much better multi-tasker than I am, and she makes it look easy, too, but these last few days have required me to step up and try and [...]

Preparing for my vacation in the Golden Age

What to bring, what to bring? Packing for my vacation in the Golden Age of science fiction can be as troublesome as packing for Hawaii or Europe. Or Santa Monica. The difficulty is this: what do you bring when you are travelling back in time? Because that’s what this is: a vacation in the past. [...]

The September 1941 Astounding

Given how rare some of these old magazines are, and how collectors tend to hold onto them, I thought that the September 1941 issue of Astounding would be among the most difficult (and expensive) to acquire. But I managed to get a copy and it is in the mail as I write this. It was [...]

Small progress on “Rescue”

I was up at 5am to work on “Rescue” and begin the actual writing but I didn’t get very far. I didn’t sleep too well last night, but I also had to read a few manuscripts for the Arlington Writers Group meeting tonight and that had to take precedent this morning, since I have no [...]

« go back — keep looking »

  • Vacation in the Golden Age

    Episode 38 August 1942

    Stories by MacDonald, Clement, Rocklynne, Cartmill, Padgett and Knight

    View previous episodes

    Episode 39 coming May 28

  • Subscribe

    Subscribe in a reader

  • Archives

  • Stuff

  • Meta

  • What I am reading

    I'm currently reading

    All Clear
    0 of 5 stars
    All Clear
    by Connie Willis

    goodreads.com

  • Fan Page

  • Networked Blogs

    • With Picasa plugin by Wott