FOGcon has issued the following news: Walnut Creek will once again get a little more fantastic as it welcomes back FOGcon on March 7-9, 2014. Celebrating its fourth year in the Bay Area and its third year in Walnut Creek, Friends of Genre (FOGcon) is a literary-themed Science Fiction & Fantasy convention attracting over 200 […]
The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced the Prometheus Awards winners for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame), to be presented Friday Aug. 30, 2013 at LoneStarCon3, the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
There’s a difference between being a writer and wanting to be a writer. There are plenty of conversations about it, about whether payment, time spent, or day jobs land you on either one side or the other. But the consensus seems to be one major thing: writers write.
The Board, after careful consideration of the existing Massachusetts By-Laws, our approved operations and procedures, and with the advice of our legal counsel and past presidents, has decided to expel a member of SFWA from the organization. This has not been an easy decision. It was very important from the outset that the Board should […]
Last October, I started getting inquiries about a publisher called “All Classic Books.” I hadn’t heard anything about it, though its rather odd website (a sort of online journal format, with content mill-style essays) along with the lack of concrete information about its staff and its apparent lack of publishing history (according to Amazon, just four books published, all of which appear to be public domain titles) did give me serious pause.
Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others suggests that when you are in a positive state your brain performs significantly better than when you’re in a negative or neutral state. Your intelligence, creativity and energy levels all rise when you’re feeling “The Happy.”
This opening line to Julia Sidorova’s debut novel pulls the reader into an immersive and intensive read and compels us to follow the life of Prince Alexander Velitzyn in his quest to find the answer to his immunity to ice. The Age of Ice is a novel rich in historical detail and the scientific problem of Prince Alexander’s physiognomy is presented in a plausible and intriguing manner.
How can taking an improv acting/comedy lesson improve your writing? Well, for one thing, it forces you to think differently about story.
The other aspect of Heinlein’s work that I’ve tried to emulate is his ability to choose and present just a few precise details to convey a different world, be it the future or another planet. The classic example from his own work is the phrase, “The door dilated.”
When I get professionally jealous it’s often an exciting thing. “Wow! I never thought of doing that. That’s amazing!” But excitement can turn into sad feelings…
This sweeping urban fantasy explores what it means to be human in a world where humanity itself may be optional, where ancient gods run pawn shops, and where the difference between monster and hero often depends on which side of the story you’re telling.
Debbie Urbanski is the author of the story collection Portalmania (S&S, May 2025) and the climate AI novel After World (S&S, 2023), which was a Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Engadget, Strange Horizons, & Booklist Best Book of the Year.
