Reading Time: 11 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes four cozy, witchy mysteries — and some epic space battles.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for July 26, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Hugo Awards, set to be awarded on August 11, has disqualified nearly ten percent of the votes cast this year due to fraud.
Reading Time: 8 minutes Explore how to weave backstory well and keep your reader’s attention on the present.
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes some epic epic fantasies, including one by Nora Roberts — yup, the Nora Roberts!
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for July 19, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes While NASA researchers are directly combing the surface of Mars for signs of life, scientists are also using a site here on Earth to approximate ancient environmental conditions on Mars.
Reading Time: 7 minutes Settings in stories have lives of their own and become characters in themselves, living from the first pages of a story, experiencing challenges and changes.
Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a college student at the center of a mysterious conspiracy, and a man with no memory marooned on a planet trapped between two dimensions.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for July 12, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutes Science fiction and technological innovation feed off each other in an ongoing back-and-forth that can play out over decades.
ChatGPT and the movie ‘Her’ are just the latest example of the ‘sci-fi feedback loop’ Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes The balance of the four elements of the MICE Quotient (milieu, idea, character, event) in narrative fiction carries forward a story succinctly and cohesively to engage readers. Here’s how to use it.
Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a cursed merman king, orcs and vampires, and a superhuman soldier called back into action to fight in an interstellar war.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for July 5, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes Subjective interpretation of appearances and other facets of being human means each person has a different reaction to what they’re seeing with varying levels of intrigue, disgust, indifference, and deference. Show your readers who your characters are, rather than telling, for greater emotional effect. Here’s how.
Humanize Characters By Appearance and Interpretation Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes lots and lots of cozy fantasy — and invading alien monsters.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for June 28, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutes Readers look for emotional connections to the stories they read, and your characters are poised to deliver those emotional connections with staying power when developed in a robust and well-rounded way.
Humanize Characters Using Dialogue, Thought, and Action Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes so much romantasy. And all the fae and forbidden loves anyone could ever want.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for June 21, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutes Choosing your point of view and narrative perspective was one of the first choices you made when penning your manuscript, but how can you be sure that default perspective was the right one for your story? Immerse the reader in your story world and set them on a path to build emotional connections to your characters and their circumstances.
Reader Experience Depends on Perspective (Use it Well) Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a gun-toting private eye, a magical artifact-toting private eye, alien messages, and a human real estate agent who falls in love with an orc billionaire.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for June 14, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutes Knowing that sustainable change is important is one thing. Putting sustainability into practice, however, is something else entirely.
Writing Advice of the Week: Change is Hard (but Necessary) Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a space opera, and fantasy both epic and urban — and wild western.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for June 7, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes Small actions allow the reader to feel the bigness of the emotion. Plus: more than 100 all-new links to articles, podcasts and writing advice videos from around the Web!
Writing Advice of the Week: Small Moments Make Big Stories Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes witches, a war with Russia, and a hard sci-fi box set.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 31, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes Setbacks are going to happen along the success journey. One way to adapt is through appreciation. Plus: nearly 100 links to writing advice articles, podcasts and videos from around the Web!
Writing Advice of the Week: Setbacks Happen. Adapt and Overcome. Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. And the top book on today’s list totally gets the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy vibe!
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 24, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 11 minutes Revising a story means assessing what the story is and re-envisioning what it can become. Plus: more than 100 all-new links to writing advice articles, podcasts, and videos from around the web!
Writing Advice of the Week: Editing is Out (Revision is In) Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a witch who makes robots die when they get near her, space battles, and a spoiled rich woman who’s kidnapped when the elf slaves rebel.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 17, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutes Starting today and running through May 20, Amazon is holding a giant book sale with tons of great book deals, including gorgeous collectible editions and box sets of classic fantasy books.
Awesome fantasy sets and special editions on sale on Amazon through May 20 Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes 15 of the best sci-fi books ever written, including some box sets, are on massive discount this week on Amazon.
Classic sci-fi books on sale on Amazon through May 20 Read More »
Reading Time: 11 minutes Humans are rule-breakers. What writing rule will you break? Plus: links to 100+ articles, podcasts, and writing advice videos from all around the Web!
Writing Advice of the Week: Break a Rule (for Voice’s Sake) Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a no-nonsense small town cop taking on werewolves, a private eye specializing in cheating spouses pulled into a magical war, and a servant forced to pretend to be a prince.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 10, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutes Dive into 16 enchanting tales of love that transcend time, space, and even the boundaries of reality, plucked right from the pages of MetaStellar.
Reading Time: 11 minutes Readers naturally gravitate to a cadence, or style, done well. Plus: links to 100 articles, podcasts, and writing advice videos from all around the Web!
Writing Advice of the Week: Rhythm Reaches Readers Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a sexy horned alien, two apocalyptic events, and two different maids living in fantasy worlds.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 3, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 13 minutes Three big things you don’t need to start writing? Motivation, purpose, or vision for the future. The one big thing you do need to start writing? Grit.
Writing Advice of the Week: Skip the Hacks, Find the Grit Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes shifters and warlocks, vampires and hellhounds, faerie cities, and a magical princess about to enter into an arranged marriage.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for April 26, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 13 minutes Sure we have innate storytelling skills, but if we’re not using those skills regularly, they get rusty. And rusty storytelling skills make for a clunker of a story. So, how can we pull those dormant storytelling skills to the surfaces of our overstimulated brains and make good use of them?
Writing Advice of the Week: Experience is Storytelling’s Companion Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a mysterious bookshop, cursed swans, and two different books based on the Hades and Persephone myth.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for April 19, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutes If the story is important enough to start writing, it’s likely to be important enough to finish writing… and more than 100 brand-new writing advice links from around the web.
Writing Advice of the Week: Finish the Story You Start Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a college student who makes things explode with her mind, a vampire killer stalking the streets of London, and two complete series box sets.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for April 12, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Floating Hotel has the optimism of Becky Chambers and the beautiful imagery of Arkady Martine, all in the setting of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Floating Hotel is Optimistic, Beautiful, and Grand Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutes Committing yourself to your writing, no matter what form that commitment takes, is a big part of successful writing. Plus: Over 100 all-new links to writing advice articles, videos, and podcasts!
Writing Advice of the Week: Write While Nobody is Watching Read More »
Reading Time: 11 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes an EMP apocalypse, a time-travel romance, a sexy ice giant, and a gun-toting human trapped in a distant part of the galaxy.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for April 5, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes Working hard is part of any success journey and continuing to push forward is key. Plus: 100 brand-new links to the best writing advice from around the Web.
Writing Advice of the Week: Done? Start the Next One Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes There’s a $1 trillion industry that is about to be decimated by AI, and they’re spending billions to figure out how to survive. Any writer, artist, or editor can use their strategies.
How creatives can survive AI — lessons from a $1 trillion industry that’s fully at risk Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a deadly plague, a sexy alien, and a space opera with a kick-ass female lead and a creepy alien menace.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for March 29, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutes Adobe Firefly, which is only trained on fully licensed images and pays artists, has added some new features that make it even easier for authors to create illustrations.
Reading Time: 7 minutes Writing a book allows you to have a conversation with a reader you’ll never meet. So, what do you want to say? Plus: 75 all-new links to writing advice from around the Web.
Writing Advice of the Week: Your Book is a Conversation Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a Scottish time traveler, an immortal vampire warrior and Spartacus’s daughter.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for March 22, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutes I want to know what’s really going on with AI. And, as a writer and journalist, I have a personal stake in figuring out what’s happening because I have a strong feeling that my whole career is on the line.
Everything a writer needs to know about AI (for now, at least) Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutes I ask authors to let their imperfect scenes and chapters lie, especially until the rest of the story is on paper. And 100-plus links to best writing advice, videos and podcasts from around the web!
Writing Advice of the Week: Love Your Imperfect Creation Read More »
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced the finalists for the 59th Annual Nebula Awards.
Reading Time: 10 minutes We read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes sexy aliens, epic dragons, and mysterious computer messages,
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for March 15, 2024 Read More »
