Have you ever sat in English, literature or film classes and been forced to search for symbolism? Have you ever wondered if a spade could …
Essays
Family feud over SevenEves by Neal Stephenson
My son came to visit. “Mum,” he says in that tone of voice that means he wants something MORE. “Do you have the latest Neal …
Editing and publishing: Get it RIGHT!
Formatting ebooks can be a nightmare. Reading poorly formatted ebooks causes headaches. IF the poorly-formatted ebook is begun, it is less likely to be finished …
Nerd Girls discuss tee slogan: In case of emergency, tear off my shirt
CJ Dee, Rebecca Fleming and I have had many conversations on Facebook and Twitter that need to be shared with other fangirls. Today we decided …
Confessions of a Recovering WoW Addict — Nesing-where is ‘e?
By CJ Dee, the titular WoW addict Hemet Nesingwary has been a constant companion throughout every World of Warcraft expansion (including ‘vanilla’ — the original …
Too cool for school: dystopia readings
Dark Matter Zine readers expressed interest in what I’m learning as I wend my way through my Professional Writing and Editing degree. For ‘writing YA’ (not the …
The Village Genius
by CJ Dee On the night Fifty Shades of Grey came out, I had a ticket to see a little movie about arguably the smartest …
The Emperor’s New Prose
Commercially Readable Angst without Plot by Nalini Haynes It’s no secret that I’m studying writing at a tertiary educational institution. What seems to be a …
Copyright applies to reviews too. I’m looking at YOU, Author.
For more on Entitlement in Writer Culture, read the blog post to which the below rant was my first reaction. If you, as an author, …
Herding Cats. Because bunnies are feral in Oz. Happy Easter.
by Nalini Haynes This 800 word essay was submitted for assessment as part of my RMIT Professional Writing and Development (program) Writing Digital Content (subject) …
Invisible anthology edited by Jim C Hines: launched today
Today marks the official release of the INVISIBLE anthology, a collection of personal essays about representation in SF/F by Mark Oshiro, Katharine Kit Kerr, Sarah Jane Bigelow, Charlotte …
Stravinsky’s Lunch: an analysis
by Nalini Haynes This essay was written to comply with an assignment brief for the subject ‘Writing nonfiction’, part of the Professional Writing and Editing …
Public face versus unity by groupthink
“As you know, I’ve been worried about the direction of conventions, of fandom, of the… public face of our field,” begins Sarah A Hoyt as …
An analysis of Point of View in Frankenstein
‘Frankenstein: an analysis’ by Nalini Haynes This analysis of Frankenstein was written to comply with an assignment brief for the subject Writing Fiction, part of …
Jim C Hines series on Equity
Jim C Hines, a fantasy author renowned for his Striking a pose blog, is running a series of guest blogs on equity. Evil Albino Trope is …