Fantasy Author's Handbook

Francis Bacon died four hundred years ago this past April—a fact I only discovered when I picked up the next in the Harvard Classics series, which begins with a collect...

You know I’m a huge proponent of the technique of show, don’t tell, and never miss an opportunity to proselytize on that subject. This week, let’s dive into the weeds on this and disarm a trap I see authors fall into fairly often.

That trap is to both show and tell in the same sentence. I see this most of the time in dialog. I’ll let our friends Galen and B...

Honestly, I debated even continuing, but…

From time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think fantasy authors should have on their shelves. Some may be new and still in print, some may be difficult to find, but most of the others will be, at least in my humble opinion, essential texts for the fa...

This is the second part of my look at The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism edited by Basil Davenport.

Last week I cringed my way through