Query Project: Real Queries From Real Authors
SF Novelists has a post with links to various queries from SF/F authors. Not sure what more to say other than that, but if you want to know how the pros do it, then you should go there and check it out. I mean it. These are real queries. You can learn how to do it from people that are published and still being published! Anywho! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Spectra Pulse Magazine?
I have a question for you all. Do you know anything about the Spectra Pulse Magazine? I was recently at Borderlands and discovered this free issue (the premiere issue for 2008 apparently) and decided to pick it up because it sounded interesting…and it was. In fact, I want to get more of it. It’s really good, beautifully made, and I’m quite impressed. I’ve never heard of it before (I know it’s in connection with the SF/F publishing imprint), but if this is a new regular print or something I’d like to be subscribed. It was that good. Anyone know anything about it? (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
The Fantasy Novelist’s Exam: My Answers and Results
Discovered this here the other day and thought I should do it too. The list itself is from here. I’m going to answer the questions based on WISB rather than anything else I’ve written. Here goes:1. Does nothing happen in the first fifty pages?No. A lot happens in the first and second chapters, all within that 25 page mark. 2. Is your main character a young farmhand with mysterious parentage?Nope. His parents are pretty clear and he doesn’t work on a farm. He a laptop computer and likes the Interwebs. 3. Is your main character the heir to the throne but doesn’t know it?Nope. He has no throne. 4. Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?Sort of, but not really. He never comes of age, but he does have to deal with being young and directly facing violence that he would otherwise only read about in textbooks. He doesn’t beat the bad guy in the first book, technically. He beats him, but it’s not really a defeat in the traditional sense, since the bad guy hasn’t lost his power, etc. In later books this will change, but there will be some huge shifts in certain aspects of that storyline where this won’t apply anymore. 5. Is your story about a quest for a magical artifact that will save the world?No, although there will be something like this in later books, but not nearly as cookie cutter as this question makes it sound. This artifact won’t save the world. 6. How about one that will destroy it?Nope. Not even remotely close. 7. Does your story revolve around an ancient prophecy about “The One” who will save the world and everybody and all the forces of good?No prophecies. He is kind of “the One”, but not really. People know he’s important, but he won’t become the iconic super character that saves everything by himself. He’s surrounded by a very important cast and can’t do everything on his own. 8. Does your novel contain a character whose sole purpose is to show up at random plot points and dispense information?Kind of, but not really. James has a spiritual guider, for lack of a better term, but there aren’t any long-winded infodumps or anything like that. 9. Does your novel contain a character that is really a god in disguise?No. God no (no pun intended, or maybe I do intend the pun). 10. Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character?No. Never in a million years. 11. Is the king of your world a kindly king duped by an evil magician?Nope. The closest thing to a king thus far was killed in a battle. It was a gruesome death, although the main character didn’t see it. No evil magician duping. He fought and he died. 12. Does “a forgetful wizard” describe any of the characters in your novel?Not in the sense this question means. I have a character who uses magic that forgets things, but it’s not a commonality. It’s just, well, normal forgetfulness. We all forget things. 13. How about “a powerful but slow and kind-hearted warrior”?Not really. Darl is a grumpy old man who hates everything, and Iliad is kind-hearted, but he’s really fast, being a scout and all. 14. How about “a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons”?No. If a character doesn’t speak about something it’s because he or she legitimately doesn’t know something. 15. Do the female characters in your novel spend a lot of time worrying about how they look, especially when the male main character is around?No. Laura will deal with some of that, cause she’s young and that will be some silly thing she’ll think about, but my female characters are mostly strong females. One of them is a healer who happens to be the resident mother, but also owns in a fight. 16. Do any of your female characters exist solely to be captured and rescued?Yes, kind of. Laura is kidnapped in the beginning and James goes after her kidnappers, but in the next book it changes because she becomes integral to the rest of the story. The whole story doesn’t revolve around her kidnapping. 17. Do any of your female characters exist solely to embody feminist ideals?No. Not intentionally at least. 18. Would “a clumsy cooking wench more comfortable with a frying pan than a sword” aptly describe any of your female characters?Not technically. Triska doesn’t have either and she isn’t a wench, but she doesn’t carry weaponry like others. 19. Would “a fearless warrioress more comfortable with a sword than a frying pan” aptly describe any of your female characters?No. Triska isn’t a warrior. She’s a mother/healer. 20. Is any character in your novel best described as “a dour dwarf”?Nope. I have one short character in the main group and he’s not dwarf-like at all. 21. How about “a half-elf torn between his human and elven heritage”?Good lord no. Elves in my world fit more into the folkloric version–short and related to the faery. 22. Did you make the elves and the dwarves great friends, just to be different?Nope. I don’t think I even have dwarves in my world. 23. Does everybody under four feet tall exist solely for comic relief?Nope. Pea may be hilarious, but he’s not there entirely for that. He’s my fun character, sure, but he’s also really important because he happens to be the first character James befriends in Traea and the one character who really looks after him, other than Triska. 24. Do you think that the only two uses for ships are fishing and piracy?Nope. My ships are used for trade, transport, etc. 25. Do you not know when the hay baler was invented?I don’t know, so yes. I’m assuming this question means the ones we use now and I am aware that those didn’t exist in 1100 AD or some
The Mayans Rule
(Lifted from Beam Me Up) Archaeologists have discovered a labyrinth of tunnels/caves with Mayan pyramids and stone temples inside. Why is this cool? Because it just is. This is a major discovery that teaches us more about this mysterious lost culture. Here’s a quote: The discovery has experts wondering whether Maya legend inspired the construction of the underground complex—or vice versa.According to Maya myth, the souls of the dead had to follow a dog with night vision on a horrific and watery path and endure myriad challenges before they could rest in the afterlife.“We have this pattern now of finding temples close to the water—or under the water, in this most recent case,” said Guillermo de Anda, lead investigator at the research sites.“These were probably made as part of a very elaborate ritual,” de Anda said. “Everything is related to death, life, and human sacrifice.” If you’re curious and want more, head on over to National Geographic. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
List Universe Tackles the Olympics
Want to know fifteen things about the Olympics that you probably didn’t know? Well List Universe has you covered here. One of my favorites: 13. The last running race added to the Ancient Games (after the addition of two longer distance races) was the hoplitodromos – in which competitors would run 400 or 800 yards in full armor with shields and a helmet or greaves (leg armor). This was introduced in 520 BC. Runners would often trip over each other or stumble on shields dropped by other competitors. In the image above we see athletes competing in the hoplitodromos – in far more an orderly fashion than was likely. I submit that we need to have something similar in today’s world. Seriously. Wouldn’t that be one hell of an event to see a bunch of folks in full ancient armor running down the track? I would want to see that every year. On a side note, I have a question for all of you:Do you ever wonder what the ancient Greeks and Romans would think of our seeming obsession with them? We make movies, write books, dress up, and even celebrate them. Do you think they are watching us up there and wondering what the heck is wrong with us? I for one am curious what you all think. Anywho! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Poul Anderson: One of the Greats
If you’ve never read Poul Anderson, you’re missing out. I recently came across this article that profiles his work (discovered here).I’ve been a fan of Poul Anderson’s work for a long and have set out to collect all his printed works (I have most of them actually). His writing has always been inspiring to me. I first read “Call Me Joe” by him many years ago and it was the spark that got me into science fiction in the first place. It was a strange story, and I think that’s what made me so intrigued: it had that sense of wonder and amazement.Shortly after that I started buying up old SF titles and even spend quite a few bucks one christmas building up a collection of Analog SF backissues (from way back when, actually; I currently have two big boxes full of these things and they’re wonderful). I’m not as well read as most SF nuts (I’ve yet to reaed all the classics), but if it hadn’t been for Poul Anderson I don’t think I would have ever started writing SF. Maybe I would have if I discovered some of the writers I admire today, but that’s shaky at best. Poul Anderson was the catalyst for my newfound obsession with SF. Granted, other writers preceded him and it was them that got me to eventually read Poul Anderson (Richard A. Knaak, actually, was my introduction to fantasy literature, with the exception of a little Tolkien and some classics I had read, and without Knaak I probably wouldn’t have jumped into fantasy as much as I did; Knaak is one of my favorite fantasy writers and I’m somewhat disheartened by the fact that he doesn’t write enough of his own stuff and spends most of his writing time on shared world things, which sucks, cause the Dragonrealm books were good).So, here’s to Poul Anderson, a gem among gems, if that makes any sense. And now I’ll bring it back to you:What one author got you to read science fiction or fantasy? Or, what author got you interested in reading at all, since some of us have only recently realized the wonders of reading?