Recently I was asked, “What are your thoughts on fan fiction? If someone wrote fan fiction [based] on your works, would you be pleased or horrified?” Before I wade into this, let me define my terms. “Fan fiction” is fiction that makes unauthorized use of characters and concepts that belong to someone else. The actual quality of the writing, in … Read More
“Do you fall in love with all of your clients?"
NOTE: SPOILER ALERT IN THE COMMENTS Recently I got an e-mail from a reader that said, in part: “Eddie LaCrosse with a girlfriend is not the same as Eddie LaCrosse wandering companionless through the world. The lonely but worldwise Eddie LaCrosse seems like a stronger character…Burn Me Deadly starts out great, but as soon as it went to the town … Read More
Agent Appreciation Day
Today is Agent Appreciation Day, created by Kody Keplinger. To celebrate that, I want to praise my agent, Marlene Stringer. Not only is she the best advocate I could ask for, she’s unfailingly astute, insightful and honest. She’s never given me bad advice, either for my career or my writing, and she’s never tried to steer me away from what … Read More
Past imperfect: recreating 1975 for Blood Groove
When I decided to set my vampire novel Blood Groove in the seventies, in particular the year 1975, I gave myself an interesting dilemma. It was a period I remembered (I was 12 in ’75), but not with the historical details I’d need to recreate it. So I had to do a fair bit of research to make sure I … Read More
On writing The Sword-Edged Blonde
(Originally published in the Tor e-mail newsletter) A man walks into a bar. If this happens in a science fiction or fantasy novel, the author has his job cut out for him. Not only does he have to describe the bar physically, but also its patrons. They might include aliens, ogres, trolls or elves, all of which can have any … Read More
Link to one of my short stories
The nice folks at the Urban Fantasy Land blog have linked to my Eddie LaCrosse short story, “Things That Flit,” as part of their Free Reading Fridays. Thanks!
The white crow: Tim Hall’s Half Empty
The rules say that a “self-published” book equals…well, crap. These are the books that, for whatever reason, couldn’t make it past the “gatekeepers” of publishing (agents, editors, etc.). Sure, there are books that began as self-published works and went on to be best-sellers (The Celestine Prophecy, for example, or Eragon), but the conventional wisdom is that if you have to … Read More
Imbibing The Stornoway Way
It’s rare to find a novel with passages you want to underline as you read that’s also heart-wrenchingly sad, let alone one that has such a specific sense of time and place that it reveals some painful universals. But Kevin MacNeil’s 2005 novel, The Stornoway Way, does all these things. It’s a first-person narrative, ostensibly told to MacNeil by “R. … Read More
First post
Never had a blog before. Never thought anything I’d have to say would be that interesting. Still not sure it will be. But it’s the wave everybody else is already riding, so I’m belatedly climbing on the surfboard. I’m the guy with his beach sandals over his black socks. I’ll post mainly about writing (mine and other people’s), movies and … Read More