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Point of View: There Are No New Ideas. Or Are There?

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I sometimes pine for the Golden Age era of sci-fi, when everything was new. Each story idea shone with fresh brilliance, and many of the tropes we still use today were just being invented by Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury and others. Sure, it was pretty much a white-men-only club (with a few notable exceptions). Yes, you had to write everything on a typewriter (they didn’t even have correction fluid until the late fifties), and there was no such thing as self publishing, or home computers, or Amazon, or the web in general. Still, as a sci-fi writer in the late Thirties … Read more

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New Release / Giveaway: The Magic Users of Greenford Trilogy – Lisa Oliver

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The Magic Users of Greenford Trilogy - Lisa Oliver

Lisa Oliver has a new MM paranormal romance trilogy out: The Magic Users of Greenford. And there’s a giveaway. Lucifer Fireborn is a high magic user with a taste for the high life. He spends his days, along with his anchor brother Darwin, chasing the rogue magic users who don’t follow the rules all magic users live by. When his brother claims his own fated mate, and can’t anchor for Lucifer anymore, Lucifer has to find someone else to anchor for him, or risk setting everything and everyone around him on fire. But there’s a problem… Lucifer really doesn’t want … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Aldrea Alien

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Aldrea Alien logo

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Aldrea Alien is an award-winning, bisexual author of fantasy romance with varying heat levels. Born and raised in New Zealand, she lives on a small farm with her family, including a menagerie of animals, who are all convinced they’re just as human as the next person. Especially the cats. Since discovering a love of writing at the age of twelve, she hasn’t found an ounce of peace from the characters plaguing her … Read more

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Two Great Reviews for The Gauntlet Runner!

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Two great reviews already this morning for my just-released book The Gauntlet Runner. Maryann – Queer Sci Fi https://www.queerscifi.com/double-review-the-gauntlet-runner-j-scott-coatsworth/ Aik (Aiken Erio) want’s to save his best friend (and now boyfriend?) Raven, but to venture out on his own would mean a sure death. If he travels into the Ce’Faine country it would violate the Highlands Treaty, and beheading would be his likely end. And even if he manages to save Raven, Kerrick (Ser Kek) will likely take Raven to stand trial for thievery. Aik is lost. Then Silya’s mother Tri’Aya comes to his rescue. she has planned a ten-day trade caravan … Read more

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New Release / Giveaway: The Gauntlet Runner – J. Scott Coatsworth

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The Gauntlet Runner - J. Scott Coatsworth

J. Scott Coatsworth has a new queer sci-fantasy book out, The Tharassas Cycle Book Two: The Gauntlet Runner. And there’s a giveaway! A GUARD AND A THIEF. WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Aik has fallen hopelessly in love with his best friend. But Raven’s a thief, which makes things… complicated. Oh, and Raven has just been kidnapped by a dragon. Now Aik is off on a quest of his own, to hunt down the foul beast and make them give back his … friend? Lover? Soulmate? The whole not-knowing thing just makes everything harder. Meanwhile, the world of Tharassas is falling … Read more

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Point of View: Break the Rules

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So many rules. Every part of our lives is governed by them, and sadly writing is no exception. There are rules of grammar: 
If you made it through high school English and you want be a writer, you probably have a pretty decent handle on these rules. But there are others, too. For instance, formatting rules, which can shift and change over time: There are many more… for standard formatting guidelines, check out William Shunn’s formatting guides online—these have become industry standard
. There are rules for characters: There are many more of these that the typical writer picks up in … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Lisa Oliver

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Lisa Oliver logo

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Lisa Oliver lives in the wilds of New Zealand, although her beautiful dogs Hades and Zeus are now living somewhere else far more remote than she is. Reports indicate they truly enjoy chasing possums although they still can’t catch them. In the meantime, Lisa is living a lot closer to all her adult kids and grandchildren which means she gets a lot more visitors. However, it doesn’t look like she’s ever going … Read more

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Point Of View: Hitting The Beats (It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint)

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One of the hardest tricks to learn when writing novels is pacing. It’s a little easier with a short story—at 5-15,000 words, it’s harder for readers to become bored with your characters’ exploits. But with a novella or novel, pacing becomes more important. The classic example of a pacing template comes from the historical Romance market. Once upon a time, there were very specific plot expectations laid out for romance books by the major Romance publishers: • The characters meet • They’re in denial about their connection • They decide to give it a chance • They date • There’s … Read more

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Author Spotlight: C.J. Baty

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Author Spotlight: C.J. Baty

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: C.J. Baty loves a good mystery, hot sexy guys, the mountains, and a happily ever after. When she decided to try her hand in the book world, it only made sense to combine those things. She firmly believes that love is love in all of its shapes and forms. Her books contain broken spirits that need to be mended and a mystery, often a murder, which needs to be solved, so those … Read more

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New Release / Giveaway: Transform the World Anthology

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Transform the World Anthology

There’s a new hopepunk book out in the Writers Save the World anthology series from Other Worlds Ink: Transform the World. And there’s a giveaway. FOURTEEN WAYS TO CHANGE THE PLANET Income inequality is worse than it was in the Roaring Twenties. Corporations are moving fast and breaking things, and the social contract seems to be falling apart, aided by social media disruption and division on steroids. There has to be a better way. We asked fourteen sci-fi writers to come up with innovative ways the world could work better. Universal basic income, smaller communities, AI voting, and learning to … Read more