jongibbs

From the following list, please select any short story titles which you think should progress to the final round

View Answers

THEY CAME BEARING DANGEROUS GIFTS
8 (18.6%)
TRANSLYMANIC
3 (7.0%)
UNDER THE PAPER
4 (9.3%)
UNITED WE SOAR
1 (2.3%)
VICTIM OF LOVE
1 (2.3%)
WARBLING THEIR WAY TO WAR
4 (9.3%)
WATER TO SHARE
7 (16.3%)
WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU RETAIL
5 (11.6%)
WHAT THE CARP SAW (AND COULDN'T TELL WHILE STILL ALIVE)
7 (16.3%)
WHEN THE LIGHT WAS ON
3 (7.0%)

Voting in Heats 1 through 8 will close on Sunday, June 3rd 2012 at 6:00pm (US/Eastern). Heat nine will take place soon after.

Good luck to all who take part! Vene, vidi, puddli!

xanthalanari

• Fri, 12:34: The Chronicles of Towel: The Magician's Towel; The Towel, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Towel; #BookTowel 1/2
• Fri, 12:34: The Voyage of the Towel Treader; The Silver Towel; The Horse and His Towel; The Towel Battle. #BookTowel 2/2
• Fri, 12:35: The word "towel" is starting to look odd and wrong to me now.... #BookTowel
• Fri, 12:37: I wonder if @stephenfry has spotten the #BookTowel trend. #towelday
• Fri, 12:47: Jonathan Strange and Mr Towel. #BookTowel
• Fri, 12:48: The Treachery of Beautiful Towels. #BookTowel
• Fri, 12:50: The Forgotten Towels of Eld. #BookTowel
• Fri, 12:58: It's a bit of a cheat, but - The Complete Works of Towel. #BookTowel
• Fri, 12:59: The World According to Towel. #BookTowel
• Fri, 14:31: Ice cream van is taking far too long. I fear he may not reach us.

matthewsrotundo

Am pleased and proud to announce that I’ve been accepted into Launch Pad this year.

For those who don’t know, Launch Pad is a NASA-funded astronomy workshop for writers, held on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie.  You can well imagine how valuable something like that would be to a science fiction writer and geek.  I mean, I’ll even get telescope time.  Dude.

Let me tell you, this is not an easy gig to get.  I’m thrilled and honored to be studying with these fine folks.

Please permit me a small woo-hoo!

So.  What are you doing this summer?

ETA: The one downside to all this that Launch Pad conflicts with OSFest.  I wish it weren’t so, but there’s no getting around it.  To those who are attending, have a great time, and I’m sorry I won’t be there with you.

jimhines

We just watched the latest (I think) episode of Legend of Korra, “The Aftermath.” I’m continuing to really enjoy this show for a number of reasons.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Pacing: One of the things that bugged me was the love triangle between Korra, Mako, and Asami. It felt, not necessarily cliche, but easy. It’s an oft-repeated trope, one that could push characters into more cardboard, stereotypical roles and — if other shows are any example — drag out for far too long.

Instead, Asami’s character quickly developed more depth and conflict. The plot moved along, changing her role in the story. The conflict between Korra and Asami progressed through conflict into understanding and sympathy. I loved the quiet moment at the end where Korra tells Mako, “She’s going to need you.”

I’ve seen that pacing elsewhere, and I appreciate that the show doesn’t seem to get bogged down. There’s always a sense of movement.

Lin Beifong continues to be awesome. In many ways, I think she’s my favorite character. Partly because she’s an older woman kicking all sorts of ass. Partly because she, more than anyone else I’ve seen, seems to take full advantage of her bending abilities. The firebenders throw fire. Earthbenders throw rocks. Beifong, on the other hand, manipulates metal cables like Spider-Man, grows blades from her armor to punch through mechs, and seems to push the “What else can I do with this?” angle.

Complexity: The scene with Tahno’s character really jumped out at me. This is a character who’s introduced as a full-on asshole. He’s arrogant, he cheats, and you really wanted Korra to kick his butt in the tournament. Instead, the White Falls Wolfbats won … and thus became the targets of an Equalist attack.

In the next episode, you see Tahno without his powers, and he’s utterly broken. Korra feels for him. She knows what he lost and how close she came to losing her own bending. It was a fairly short scene, but that’s all it took.

The relationship between Tenzin and Lin Beifong is another interesting example. Their history, the contrast of their apparent discomfort with how well they work together in a crisis … I have no idea where that’s going, but I like the dynamic, and at this point I’m trusting the show not to go somewhere overly cliche with it.

While there are certainly characters who seem flat-out Evil, at least at first, I appreciate that things generally aren’t presented in a simplistic black-and-white way. Neither people nor power are simple, and this show respects that fact.

The Animation: This is a very pretty show, particularly in the way it portrays movement and the grace of the different benders. I get done watching, and other cartoons suddenly seem clunkier.

Trusting the Viewers: I was trying to figure out how to phrase this last bit, and “trust” is the closest I can come. I’ve never seen a single episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it hasn’t stopped me from enjoying Korra. It doesn’t surprise me that they wanted a show that could welcome new viewers as well as old, but it struck me that there just isn’t a lot of exposition or hand-holding, period. There’s no talking down, no assuming that things will be too complicated or difficult to understand. Elements are explained as they become relevant to the story.

I know there are things I’m missing from Avatar, but I can catch up on my own, and I like that they don’t slow down the story to spoon-feed information.

In Conclusion: Okay, I get it. I’m officially a fan, and I have added Avatar: TLA to my list of things to catch up on (when I find the time).

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

jongibbs

Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:

What Happens After Writing 3 or 4 Books a Year (Elizabeth Spann Craig)

Traditional vs. Self-publishing is a False Dichotomy (Nathan Bransford)

The Art of Pacing in a Novel (Elissa Cruz) [Jon’s Pick of the week]

Why I'm A Writer & Not a Fighter Pilot (Maggie Stiefvater aka m_stiefvater)

Sounds Great, No Substance (Mary Kole)

Do We Need An Authors Code for Online Conduct? (Jannette Johnson aka darke_conteur)

Who's helping who in the cover blurb game? (Anthony Horowitz)
by way of April Henry (aka aprilhenry)

How to Win a Writing Competition (Dr. John Yeoman)

All About Advances (Rachelle Gardner)

Damn Yankees, and Other Ways Self-Publishing Holds Itself Back (Sarah LaPolla)

The Highs and the Lows of Becoming an Author (Cassie Alexander)

The scariest question: "Why should I care about this story?" (Juliette Wade)


If you have a particular favorite among these, please let the author know (and me too, if you have time).  Also, if you've a link to a great post that isn't here, feel free to share.

If you found these useful, you may also like my personal selection of the most interesting blog posts from 2011, and last week’s list.