Archive for the 'About Writing' Category

The Dangers of Missed Deadlines, or Pretty Ruby

This spring, I attended a writer’s workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona.  There, I agreed to get the final draft of my current WIP novel, The Creative Fire, done by August 31.  Now, all of us came up with carrots or sticks.  I came up with a stick, since I am personally motivated by sticks. My stick [...]

Movie Recommendation: Winter’s Bone

Went out to see the movie Winter’s Bone in Queen Anne last night.  I highly recommend it for writers.  It has a strong female character, a society that is itself a character, knockout dialogue, real social dilemmas, and it never missed a beat.
We often think our stories need to be big – to be about [...]

Starry Heaven: Last Full Day

Wow.  All done now except the closing party.  I’d call this a rousing success.  Highlights of the last two days:
We attended a great wine social event complete with excellently interesting science people at The Wine Loft last night.  I could have kept talking to them for hours.  Everyone was interesting and erudite.
I’m quite ready to [...]

Starry Heaven Day 3: The Phase Shift

Workshops have rhythm.  The rhythm for Starry Heaven starts with critiquing the beginnings of each others’ books.  Beginnings matter – they are what sells manuscripts to agents and publishers, and what initiates readers into the world of the book.  So we have been sitting in a large group sharing impressions of each others beginnings. 
Today, we move to a new phase [...]

Starry Heaven Day 2: Fire, a Walk, and the Night Sky

A great morning of critiques.  Excellent food.  We followed that by spending the day hiking.  Good thing we went today since they are going to close the forest tomorrow or the next day.  The fire is still burning, and has gotten bigger.  It is still not too near us, and has burned no structures, although [...]

Starry Heaven Post 1: Fire over Flagstaff

I am in Flagstaff. Arizona, at the Starry Heaven writer’s workshop.  That means there are 11 of us critiquing each other’s novel manuscripts.  We’ve spend months prepping, and it’s quite fun to meet in person.  I knew two of the people from before, and had met a few of the others in passing.  Some are [...]

Pardon my Absence

I have been quieter than usual in the Interwebs the past few weeks.  All is not well.  To be more exact, my youngest brother is not well.  He’s gone and gotten a fairly rare and difficult cancer, which has provided me with time with him (yay!), sadness that he is doing as well as I [...]

Reading Recommendations: The Freelancer’s Survival Guide

I highly recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s online work-in-progress, “The Freelancer’s Survival Guide.”  I am quoted in it.  I have learned from it. I have learned from Kris in other ways.  And to top it off, Kris is a damned fine novelist as well as being  one of the best sf short fiction writers of our [...]

The iPad: After Week Two

This is just a quick update, and then I’ll do my next iPad piece in John DeNardo’s Mind Meld on the topic next week, returning this blog to it’s regularly scheduled programming.
I still love the iPad. 
Promised experiment on reading:  Not as good as the Kindle, but it is readable.  Hint:  turn down the screen brightness [...]

Arundhati Roy: The Woman of True Words

Arundhati Roy came to Seattle last night and spoke to a sold-out crowd at Town Hall.  The rest of my family stayed home in an odd resonance:  the family teenager was putting the finishing touches on a school project about Gandhi.  If they don’t yet, schoolchildren will be studying Arundhati.  For those who don’t yet [...]

Publications

A recent short story of mine is “My Father’s Singularity,” which came out in ClarkesWorld Issue #45

The story is available to read online, to purchase for Kindle, or as a podcast.

Wings of Creation by Brenda Cooper

Reading the Wind cover image

“The sequel to The Silver Ship and the Sea (2007) and Reading the Wind (2008) is intense and increasingly complex. Cooper continues to limn interpersonal relationships in considerable depth, including this time those of some individual fliers. Happily, the ending suggests yet another episode to come.” - Booklist

Available now from Tor Books in hardcover, on the Kindle, and on ibooks.

Reading the Wind by Brenda Cooper

Reading the Wind cover image

Audio promo:

“Brenda Cooper’s newest novel is a feast of character and concept. She depicts the devastation of war on microcosmic and macrocosmic levels, and even more so, the driving motives of young men and women caught in deadly conflict. Cooper is a master explorer of the interaction of society and individuals. She probes the psychology of her genetically enhanced characters with both rare depth and fidelity to scientific plausibility. Moral conundrums drive the plot in this unforgettable narrative. Don’t miss this compelling work by a major new talent.”
- Mary A. Turzillo, An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl.

“Brenda Cooper tells a tale of a powerful brother and sister in a fight for their lives, offering insights along the way into the nature of courage and the hunger for community that burns in every human being. This is a lively book, full of colorful images and a memorable cast of human and animal characters, a worthy successor to The Silver Ship and the Sea.”
- Louise Marley

Available in July, 2008, from Tor Books.

The Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper

Silver Ship and the Sea cover image

Audio promo:

“The first solo novel by Larry Niven’s Building Harlequin’s Moon (2005) coauthor portrays the thoroughly
convincing human colonial society on Fremont, a dangerous planet rife with vicious predators, frequent earthquakes,
and falling meteors….Distinctive characterizations, well-limned interrelationships, and the
vividly realized Fremont contribute to an exciting coming-of-age story with a strong message about the evils of prejudice.”
- Sally Estes, Copyright American Library Association.

Mass Market Paperback, July 2008.
Included by Booklist as a “Best Adult Book for Young Adults.”

Building Harlequin’s Moon by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven

Building Harlequin's Moon cover image

“Fans of both hard and softer, psychological SF will welcome veteran Niven and newcome Cooper’s well-written tale of a 60,000 year layover in space, in which physical challenges of world building are matched by the social challenges of collaboration among disparate groups.” – Publisher’s Weekly

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