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Winter 1997 SFWA BULLETIN
FeaturesThe Homesick Yo-Yo, Single-Concept Myopia, and Other Problems of the Writing Life: A Miscellany by John Morressy: "The most important things a writer needs to know are learned, slowly, over the course of a career. A good teacher, guide, or mentor may be able to give some helpful advice, point you in the right direction, and warn you against the pitfalls, but you must walk the road by yourself, and there are no shortcuts. Writers are self-made. John O'Hara put it succinctly: 'An Artist is his own fault.'"The Future by Paul J. McAuley: "Writing about the future should not be confused with prediction. There's a curious publication in Britain, Old Moore's Almanac, which lists the events for every day of the forthcoming year, from the weather through sports and politics to what might happen to the famous and the notorious....A lot of people who don't read much SF suppose that this kind of nuts-and-bolts prognostication is what SF is all about, and of course it isn't."
ColumnsState of the Art: Speed of Thought by Robert A. Metzger: "For just a moment, consider the snail-like chunk of hardware you are using to read this page -- that three or so pounds of mush residing in your skull. On a good day, when full of caffeine, and with a stiff wind rising up behind your forebrain, those elements in your head might be toggling in the millisecond (.001) range. Think about that: My [30 MHz] computer is clocking at a speed 30,000 times faster than the best wetware you've got. And if you're operating with a state-of-the-art microprocessor, this rate is closer to 300,000 times faster."Portrait Gallery: Karen Hager by M. Christine Valada
BusinessStorming the Synopsis by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel: "There is something about the phrase 'submit a synopsis and sample chapters' that strikes fear into the heart of many writers. The instinctive response is to clap on a helmet and start digging a trench. What do editors want when they ask for synopses? What do they need to help them decide whether to request the manuscript?"
ScienceThey Came from Outer Space: Real Aliens by Mia Molvray: "Aliens should have a home planet. They should not be native to a studio prop room. The difficulty, of course, is in deciding how far to depart from intuitively credible Earthly life when depicting natives of other worlds. Too little, and the aliens might as well be humans with corrugated foreheads. Too much, and they become ridiculous."
MarketsA Rough Guide to the Rest of the Markets by Bruce Holland RogersMarket Report by Edo van Belkom SF & Fantasy Markets by Randy Dannenfelser
DepartmentsFrom the PresidentAbout SFWA/New Members Officers & Representatives
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