Jul 13, 2015 | Fantasy, On Writing, Past Notes
How to Write & Read Great Fantastical Fiction: Techniques & Tools in Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature The Sorcery of Withholding The best stories feel as if you have simply stepped inside them and that the events of the story are...
Jul 7, 2015 | Past Notes, Reviews
“A considerable achievement… powerful and elegant… morally complex and challenging.” Wilderness of Mirrors is “about the events of 9-11 and the War on Terror, but of course it’s also generally about many other topics—religion, history, international politics, the...
Jul 6, 2015 | Fantasy, On Writing, Past Notes
How to Write & Read Great Fantastical Fiction: Techniques & Tools in Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature Grounding Magic in Reality One of the keys to multivalent use of magic in a novel is the author’s refusal to characterize the...
Jun 29, 2015 | Fantasy, On Writing, Past Notes
How to Write & Read Great Fantastical Fiction: Techniques & Tools in Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature Character Matters It’s not easy writing fiction that contains fantasy or supernatural elements. One out of two tries at such work...
Jun 26, 2015 | Fantasy, On Writing, Past Notes
How to Write & Read Great Fantastical Fiction: Techniques & Tools in Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature Introduction and Techniques Strange things happen in books. Supernatural things are often described that can’t happen in real...
Apr 28, 2015 | On Books, Past Notes
Ariana Franklin is the master of historical suspense, and I love what she did in MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH. My favorite part of the book is her mock-Chaucerian beginning, where she quickly sketches the different characters who are approaching Cambridge after their...
