Planetside Full Archives
Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA
No post found!
The SFWA Blog
Quick Updates for September
Welcome new members, Sales, Videos of Google Book Settlement, Writers Digest seeks authors, and Nominate for Carl Brandon Awards.
RIP: Mary Hunter Schaub, 1943-2009
Mary Hunter Schaub
(June 28, 1943 – September 25, 2009)
Victoria Strauss — Google Book Search Settlement Fairness Hearing Adjourned
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department’s anti-trust division urged the court to reject the Google Book Search Settlement, citing “concerns of the United States regarding class action, copyright and antitrust law.” (The full text of the DOJ’s brief can be…
SUNBURST AWARD ANNOUNCES 2009 WINNERS
The Sunburst Award Committee is pleased to announce that the winner of its 2009 adult award is The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson and the winner of its 2009 young adult award is Little Brother by SFWA member Cory Doctorow.
Thinking About Your Writer’s Platform? Consider Your Online Reputation First.
You’ve probably heard about the importance of developing a writer’s platform. Before you start thinking about your writer’s platform, consider what your overall online reputation is first.
RIP: Barbara Bova
Barbara Bova, literary agent and wife of Dr. Ben Bova, passed away Wednesday in Naples FL. Mrs. Bova had been fighting cancer.
SFWA increases support for AboutSF
SFWA will increase its support for AboutSF with a $5,000 grant for the coming year, continuing a partnership that began in 2006.
Haldeman and Varley Win 2009 Robert A. Heinlein Awards
Joe Haldeman and John Varley are the winners of the Robert A. Heinlein Award for 2009. The Robert A. Heinlein Award is for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings to inspire the human exploration of Space.
Research Tool: The TED Conference
The Biannual Technology, Entertainment, and Design Conference is dedicated to fostering the spread of great ideas by bringing together thinkers, visionaries and teachers from around the globe.
Recent talks from the TED web site cover subjects as diverse as wireless…
Victoria Strauss — VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller
For some time, I’ve been receiving questions about VDM Verlag Dr Mueller, a German academic publisher. VDM describes its business thus: VDM publishes academic research worldwide – at no cost to our authors. Annually, we publish more than 10,000 new…
Victoria Strauss — Writers’ Myth: “You Have To Know Someone”
We’ve punctured a number of writers’ myths on this blog, including the notion that commercially-published writers must give back their advances if their books don’t earn out, the fear that agents and editors will blacklist writers who displease them, the…
How syntax can help you!
by Juliette Wade This one’s funny, because it sounds like grammar, or maybe computer programming… Syntax is the study of how sentences are put together. Part of this is word order. This is the one everyone fears because it often…
Interview: Ysabeau S. Wilce
Our sister site, Nebulaawards.com, interviews Ysabeau S. Wilce, author of this year’s Andre Norton Award winner: Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from…
Victoria Strauss — Google Book Search Settlement: Opting Out
This morning, I opted out of the Google Book Search Settlement.
For several months, I’ve had no question that I did NOT want my books included in Google’s database. It’s not the display of bibliographic information, or even snippets,…
For several months, I’ve had no question that I did NOT want my books included in Google’s database. It’s not the display of bibliographic information, or even snippets,…
Victoria Strauss — Google Book Search Settlement Deadline Looming
Writers: The deadline for deciding whether to opt out of the Google Book Search Settlement is September 4, 2009. That means you have to decide today.
SFWA joins Open Book Alliance
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America has joined the Open Book Alliance, a coalition of librarians, legal scholars, authors, publishers and technology companies dedicated to countering the proposed Google Book Settlement.
How morphology can help you!
Morphology is a fantasy and science fiction writer’s best friend. Seriously. Why? Because everyone uses it, and I mean everyone, whether they know it or not. Every story that makes up a name for a group of people and…
Interview: Jeffrey Ford
Our sister site, Nebulaawards.com, has an interview with Jeffrey Ford who was nominated for his short story “The Dreaming Wind.”
Victoria Strauss — Postage Promotion
Whenever I think I’ve seen it all, something new comes along.
The explosive growth of self-publishing options over the past decade or so has spawned a mini-industry catering to writers trying to get notice for their books. From…
The explosive growth of self-publishing options over the past decade or so has spawned a mini-industry catering to writers trying to get notice for their books. From…
2009 Octavia E. Butler Scholar – Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
A beautiful, handcast commemorative pendant in the shape of an owl has been awarded to the 2009 Octavia E. Butler Scholar. Rochita Loenen-Ruiz received her pendant on July 31, at the party celebrating the conclusion of this year’s Clarion West…
Quick Updates for 2009-08-24
Obscure math and astronomy texts. Arbitrary backlist policies. Member News about David Anthony Durham, Ken Scholes, N. K. Jemisin, and Victoria Janssen.
The Pros and Cons of Having Your Own Website
Do you need to have you own website? It depends on what you want to use the website for. Having an online presence may or may not translate to your desired action, in part because your presence really is about…
How articulatory phonetics can help you!
Articulatory phonetics deals with how the human vocal tract creates sounds.
Knowing the principles of how the vocal tract works can help science fiction and fantasy writers to create languages that follow naturalistic patterns of pronunciation, thus making created languages that…
How linguistics can help you!
This sequence of “How ____ can help you!” pieces concerns various areas of linguistics. These aren’t intended to be technical, or even introductory discussions of linguistics itself. They are short, practical pieces which relate linguistics topics to the use of…