Traveling around cyberspace, some links:
CP Matchmaker -- my friend Paty Jager has launched CP Matchmaker to help those in need of finding a critique partner. For those seriously interested in improving their writing. Critique partners is one of the best ways to break out of your own head and learn to improve your craft. I learn as much from giving feedback on my partners' work as what they have to say on mine.
Ten Rules for Writing Fiction -- Rules for writers written by top selling, respected authors.
Urban Dictionary -- for up-to-date lingo and ugly lingo other dictionaries won't publish
The Fiction Writer's Guide to Psychology -- create characters beyond the cliche
Preditors and Editors -- a place to check out potential publishers and other too-good-to-be-true offers made to writers
In the same vein,
Writer Beware, from Science Fiction Writers of America
On the Twitter from Tor, I won an arc copy of
Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe. His stories blend fantasy with detective.
Bledsoe whips up a perfect blend of Arthurian legend and hard-boiled detecting in the third novel featuring "private sword jockey" Eddie LaCrosse (after 2009's Burn Me Deadly). While tracking a client's wayward husband on the island kingdom of Grand Bruan, which is ruled by King Marcus Drake and his Knights of the Double Tarn, LaCrosse falls under suspicion when a knight dies of a poisoned apple he snatched from a tray prepared specially by Queen Jennifer. Fortunately, the detective manages to convince the king's seneschal that he may not be guilty, and is asked to help identify the real criminal. The mystery and its ramifications for the Grand Bruan royals will seem familiar to readers of Thomas Malory, but Bledsoe skillfully combines humor, action, deduction, and emotion to make the material fresh and engaging for fans of both fantasy and noir.
Sounds intriguing. I look forward to reading it.
I've been burning through
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I caught one of those Klingon bugs week before last [a bug that just won't go away -- mild symptoms persist much longer than is civilized] and cuddled up with this book on the couch. It's the Wistful Bookclub's read for June. It's fabulous. Really fabulous. Raw and gritty dystopian and so rich, I really felt as if I were in Thailand. Intelligently written and written so well, I didn't once think about structure or style or anything else, but getting lost in it. For more on Paolo and his work, visit:
http://windupstories.com/
For more on the Wistful Reads Bookclub, go
HERE
Sci-fi TV:
V's season two ended as juicy and intriguing as the season became. I feel V has gotten better. It started crossing some lines, which is why it interests me more than it used to. Now there's nothing to watch on Tuesdays. Except Glee, which Husband runs in horror from.
The Event came back once
The Cape's brief opening season ended. It's as compelling as it was when it started. Can't wait to see what happens next. Good show.
Stargate Universe began it's final 10 episodes on Syfy on Monday nights at 10 p.m. After The Event, making Mondays the new science fiction night. Universe is my favorite show and I'll be sad once it goes off the air. So, I watch these episodes bittersweet -- knowing they will leave me hanging and knowing I won't get any more of my space opera fix. I hope some other great space opera will fill its shoes.
Husband came home a few weeks back with season one of Babylon5. Ooo! A great blast from the past. It will do when SGU goes off the air. I hope by the time we're done with it Torchwood's season 4 will be out on dvd. Makes me want to move to England this summer.
So what have you been reading and watching?
