Use Reader Feedback (Without Losing Your Mind)
Reading Time: 5 minutesExternal feedback — from beta readers or editors — will help you see your blind spots so you can fill them and meet reader expectations while staving off overwhelm.
Reading Time: 5 minutesExternal feedback — from beta readers or editors — will help you see your blind spots so you can fill them and meet reader expectations while staving off overwhelm.
Reading Time: 9 minutesA new year often means new releases! At MetaStellar, we’re very excited about what 2025 is going to bring, so we took a deep dive into the internet and found several gems. Here is our curation of 10 science fiction books we’re definitely pumped to read this year. Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto I only
Reading Time: 12 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes two visions of the dystopian future, a sexy romantic fantasy, and magic-wielding detectives.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Feb. 7, 2025 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe best stories live on the edges of movements, as if the authors who pen them take up silent calls to action and then rally their readerly troops for battle.
Reading Time: 4 minutesJan Byron Strogh’s novel Act of God presents a simple premise: What will happen when Earth becomes inhabitable? In the novel, the apocalypse comes in the form of ice spreading from the poles towards the rest of the world. And because ice has frozen all fertile land, humanity now faces not only extreme climate change,
Act of God Review: One Man’s Journey to Save Humanity Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes an epic fantasy by a USA Today bestselling author, a box set about post-apocalyptic survival, and a college for monster hunters.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 31, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesLine editors look at the structure of your writing, including your meaning, syntax, concision, and word choices. Pull it off like a pro this way.
Reading Time: 5 minutesDid you recently watch Nosferatu and were left wanting more vampire content? So did we. That’s why we scoured the internet for novels featuring vampires. We have curated a short list of books that caught our eye, and maybe these will also appeal to you. Happy reading! The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
5 Vampire Novels to Read After Watching Nosferatu Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list is all magical — magical romances, magical mysteries, and magical academies.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 24, 2025 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesFacing a stuck manuscript and unsure how you’re going to unstick the story and finish?
Reading Time: 3 minutesRobert Eggers directed the most recent adaptation of Nosferatu, which is a frankly cynically plagiarized version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But that’s a story for another day (and a really fun one). In terms of plot, not much differs from F. W. Murnau’s 1922 version: a centuries-old vampire living in a remote castle somewhere in
Nosferatu Is an Homage to Classic Horror Movies, Not Just to F. W. Murnau’s Version Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes apocalypses, witches, and romantasy from a USA Today bestselling author.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 17, 2025 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesTarot cards offer powerful ways for creative people to generate story ideas and work through storytelling issues, including character development and problem-solving challenges.
Reading Time: 3 minutesAnother year has come and gone, and I thankfully never had reader’s block. I even surprised myself by out-reading my own reading challenge. From yours truly, here are the best speculative fiction books I read in 2024 in no particular order. Disclaimer: Most of these were not published in 2024. Ansibles, perfiladores y otras máquinas
Reading Time: 11 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a magical hairless cat, a serial killer on the loose in a steampunk London, a telepathic monkey on a distant planet, and a girl who is admitted to a magic academy despite the fact that she has no obvious magic.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 10, 2025 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesRecognizing opportunities to introduce rituals and modify our routines for the better can help us create writing habits that stick.
Reading Time: 3 minutesMariana Enriquez is mostly known for her short narrative. We included her in a little list to keep spreading the Halloween cheer last year. Our Share of Night, for its part, is a big, chunky girl. It is also Enriquez’s most ambitious novel to date that keeps her style intact and introduces more horrors and
Our Share of Night Review: Horror, Legacy, and Everything in Between Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a human discovering a long-lost Earth, elves and vampires, time-travel romance, and a solar flare that could destroy humanity.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 3, 2025 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesIf during this time of year you’re thinking, “I need something to do,” January is the perfect time to stop wandering, set goals, and adopt new writing habits.
Reading Time: 2 minutesA look at the power of gesture in establishing resonance and character evoked through the interplay of acting, scriptwriting and direction with brilliantly woven callback scenes as the heroine Snow White shows maternal grace to her nemesis Ravenna. Snow White protects herself, heart and kingdom, while holding on to the grace of who she truly is, relating with love and innocence even at the end of a tough battle with a selfish antagonist.
Snow White and the Huntsman: The Power of Gesture Read More »
Reading Time: 13 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list is all romantasy with two USA Today bestselling authors.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 27, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesWorried about lackluster scenes? Something feeling broken in your story? Return to basics and think through what a scene is and what it can and should do for your story.
Reading Time: 2 minutesOne of this year’s surprises is The Werecleaner. You play as Kyle, a janitor at a corporate company. But — you’re actually a werewolf!
The Werecleaner Review: Werewolves Against Capitalism Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list has dinosaurs, warlocks and vampires, and a time travel romance by a New York Times bestselling author.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 20, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesInclude these four elements in your story to fit it within the fantasy genre and reach your intended fantasy readers.
Reading Time: 3 minutesSuperhero movies are no doubt the largest science fiction movies that are being released at this time, but I long for films that give the audience to sit, think and reflect. Kogonada’s After Yang gives viewers that opportunity. It’s a gem of slow moving science fiction that we desperately need more of in today’s short form dominated world.
After Yang: The Case for Slow-Moving Sci-Fi in a Superhero-Dominated World Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes epic fantasy, cozy fantasy, dark fantasy — and an EMP attack against Ohio.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 13, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesYour character has done or revealed the unexpected. Now, you must figure out how to navigate your story when the path no longer adheres to your writing plan.
Reading Time: 3 minutesHigh Vaultage comes fresh off the heels of the Victoriocity podcast, also written by Chris and Jen Sugden. As a disclaimer, I hadn’t listened to the podcast before reading the book, so I was pleasantly surprised the more I read. The book centers on Archibald Fleet and Clara Entwhistle’s efforts and misadventures trying to solve
High Vaultage Review: Lovable Detectives in the Big Chaotic City Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes two romantic fantasies by best selling authors, dragons battling it out over Detroit, and a space opera box set.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 6, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesYour story’s plot must include key turning points, which move your characters through the story milestone by milestone.
Reading Time: 3 minutesI cracked my brain trying to come up with a review for Dredge, but what always came out was a lot of gushing over the game itself. So, I decided to change gears a little: This is not a review, it’s a love letter.
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes an adventure in the multiverse, mysterious artifacts, and a dangerous academy of magic.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 29, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesHow can we show our readers aspects of our truest selves while giving ourselves enough narrative distance and processing space to write ourselves well?
Reading Time: 3 minutesMaressa Voss’s novel introduces an order of wizards that are able to control the four elements and gain insights from them. These wizards live separate from normal people because they’ve been labeled as charlatans and scammers. However, the order—called dactyli—have to interact with the world surrounding them and multiple people to collect varied points of
When Shadows Grow Tall Review: Sometimes the Road Is the Destination Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes an underground magical society, a plot to move the Earth’s orbit, and an epic historical prophecy.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 22, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutesAmbiguous pronoun-antecedent pairs hiding in your story may make the difference between reader immersion and reader confusion.
Reading Time: 2 minutesNeal Cassidy’s Schroeder presents a man’s one-day killing spree. Although at first the book doesn’t quite explain what is happening, it never slows down or goes easy on the violence. The novel begins with Schroeder starting his daily routine, but it is quickly established this is no ordinary day. Schroeder leaves his house, cruises through
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a creepy cult, a trucker dealing with an EMP aftermath, and a space freighter headed off to a mysterious black site. Oh, there’s also dragons and a sexy and magical Christmas mystery.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 15, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesOnce you understand what story you want to tell and what you want to say about it, your task is to get the story on paper. Here are three items to jumpstart your story.
Reading Time: 3 minutesIf you feel like Halloween didn’t last enough, here are five books to continue spreading the scares.
5 Short Horror Books to Extend the Halloween Cheer Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes sexy gay vampires, sexy blue aliens, magical gryphons, and an EMP attack that involves the Statue of Liberty.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 8, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesIf you wanted to write a story to submit but didn’t, what held you back from becoming the writerly unicorn you know you can be?
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe 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 druid, a sexy necromancer, a sexy werewolf, and a space marine who’s seen too much.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 1, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesThirteen haunting tales from MetaStellar’s archives that remind us why we should fear the dark — and why sometimes the most terrifying monsters are the ones we create ourselves.
13 scariest stories to get you through Halloween Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesThrough showing, not telling, you provide a more immersive experience for your readers. Here’s how.
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes space battles, magical mysteries, and a sexy orc.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Oct. 25, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesLimited word counts in flash stories require you to make careful and judicious choices of what to keep and what to revise away because in flash fiction, there’s little room for coyness or ambiguity.
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes pirates — both the space and the ocean kind — as well as mages and mediums.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Oct. 18, 2024 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesFiction is unique to human communication, which is fascinating on its own. But why do we still look to fictions? What do they do for us in the modern age? Why does fiction matter? And what considerations must go into crafting culturally honest fictions?