News and Views

The Art of the Playlist

by Paul Jessup

Ever since I first started taking writing seriously as a teenager, I’ve always written to music. Back then it was a bit more difficult than it is now, in the days of Spotify and gigantic playlists that can stretch on for hours or even days. Back in those days I would make mix tapes for my writing, each story and scene would get its own mixtape of songs that I felt carried the tone and the emotion of what I’m trying to convey.

In Memoriam-Allan Cole

Allan Cole, international best-selling author, screenwriter and former prize-winning newsman, died March 29, 2019, of cancer in Boca Raton, FL. He was 75. Cole was probably best known for the Sten science fiction series, which he co-authored with his late partner Chris Bunch, as well as the critically acclaimed Vietnam novel “A Reckoning for Kings” […]

In Memoriam – Gene Wolfe

SFWA Grand Master Gene Wolfe (b.1931) died on April 14. Wolfe is widely considered to be one of science fiction and fantasy’s greatest stylists, writing complex and intelligent novels and short stories, while letting his wry wit show through. After service in the Korean War, Wolfe earned a degree and became the senior editor of […]

How to Avoid Writing That’s as Clear as a Mountain Stream

by Chris Sumberg

The phrase “clear as a mountain stream” gets splashed around pretty loosely, sometimes in reference to clear writing but also in reference to the sometimes not-at-all-clear names of actual bodies of water, clear or otherwise. When you take time to examine the hard, cold facts, it makes you wonder if writing that is as clear as a mountain stream is, in fact, very clear at all.

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