[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] Responding to a comment here on the blog this morning (Thanks to Sarah Wedgbrow over at Folding Fields for jogging my memory), I was reminded of John Connolly‘s novel The Black Angel, the novel I was reading when I decided to write in earnest. Connolly’s story was dark and contained supernatural …
Coffee Break No. 11 – John Connolly and The Seed of a Story Read More »
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] I just checked my post history and today marks a year to the day of my first blog post here at Words and Coffee. I’m not sure what I thought when I launched W&C beyond that I was entering a bit of flash fiction in Ken Scholes’s contest and I needed …
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] I have not read much urban fantasy. In fact, my experience with the genre is limited to Neverwhere and American Gods (probably not truly urban fantasy, but I’ll take what I can get), both by Neil Gaiman. I don’t know if it’s the covers of many of the recent UF offerings, …
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] Paolo Bacigalupi reveals the secrets of his success: Voodoo and liquor. Just kidding, but he does provide insights into where he gets his story ideas and what he wants his stories to do. Bacigalupi also reads from two of his short stories. It’s about an hour, but it’s well worth the …
Coffee Break No. 10 – Paolo Bacigalupi on AuthorsatGoogle Read More »
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] A noir thriller/visionary fantasy set in the failed state of Ambergris, 100 years after Shriek: An Afterword. The gray caps, mysterious underground inhabitants, have re-conquered Ambergris and put the city under martial law, disbanding House Hoegbotton, and controlling the human inhabitants with strange addictive drugs, internment in camps, and random acts …
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] A wood roach scurried from the interstitial spaces of my writing shack (God rest his soul). Shortly after I wiped his mortal coil from my desk, a long-legged spider skittered from what appeared to be another dimension across my wall and behind my outlet plate. Fearing additional insect visitations, I did …
I’ve been making my way through Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer at a leisurely pace. The author, Peter Turchi, juxtaposes the idea that maps need be accurate with the idea that a map reveals only that which is germane to its purpose (e.g., you won’t find mineral deposits on a U.S. road …
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] Some of M. Ward‘s music conjures sepia toned photographs, scratchy Victrola records and cold beer on ice in a galvanized bucket. At least for me (check out the second song to hear what I mean). Since I have no beer on ice, I’ll settle for a cup of strong, black coffee. …
I’ve been working on developing a concise blurb for the novel I’m writing. I’ve gone through no less than four iterations of a back-of-the novel blurb in hopes of distilling the story in my mind. And as of last night, I reduced it further to a one sentence blurb that I’m not embarrassed to put …
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] Back in August of last year, I went to my first Gen Con in Indianapolis. I was but four months into writing full time and excited to check out the pageantry, the games, and the writers. Upon visiting Author’s Alley, what I found were authors sitting at tables with their books …