What I’m Reading

I finished How to Teach Physics to Your Dog this week and reviewed it here: http://margaretfisk.mmfcf.com/blog/?p=951

I read a short story on Strange Horizons that is a mellow mood piece with a real kicker ending. You know it’s coming, and you start to guess just what the big secret is. You probably won’t get it. I didn’t, and I’m quite good at that process. But it’s still a gut-punch. After We Got Back the Lights by Eric Del Carlo: http://www.strangehorizons.com/2010/20100208/lights-f.shtml

And a fun tale about a scallywag by a writer I’ve enjoyed for years up at Subterranean Press. Harboring Pearls: A Lucifer Jones Story by Mike Resnick – http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/winter-2010/fiction-harboring-pearls-a-lucifer-jones-story-by-mike-resnick/

Writing

Why writing advice should not be taken as gospel, no matter what the source:
http://chrisfholm.blogspot.com/2010/02/kill-your-idols.html

The other side of show vs. tell:
http://cornelldeville.blogspot.com/2010/02/show-vs-tell-in-creative-fiction.html

Telling points in description is something I’ve taught workshops on, so while I’d add “when not describing confuses the reader,” I think this post has important description advice:
http://doycetesterman.com/index.php/2009/12/more-on-the-descriptions-the-when-and-why/

Science

The real reason to learn how to cope with a higher than hospitable planet temperature: the first water world discovered.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/17/super_earth_waterworld/

Publishing

Results of a survey about the road to publication for children’s novels:
http://www.jennadolbooks.com/blog/?p=1158

A reasonable evaluation of the elements that make up the steampunk subgenre:
http://cornelldeville.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-steampunk.html

A look at the rights conveyed by the purchase of a book, whether print or electronic, that helps clarify the issues at hand:
http://jaylake.livejournal.com/2056406.html

Research

Bulletproof dress wear. How cool is that? Not that I want to be in the circumstances of needing one, but a little name dropping in a thriller?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/01/bogota.bulletproof.tailor/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Pictures of awe-inspiring natural wonders in the US:
http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/album_view.php?gid=1693&page=1

Religious relics discovered via metal detectors. Probably a million stories in there:
http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/relics-from-pilgrimages-found-from.html

Reading

Read for your heart health!
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/314426/reading-cuts-stress-levels-by-68.html

A list of steampunk books for those interested in checking it out. Oddly, I have read a good number of these already :
http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2009/07/recommendations-so-much-steampunk-so.html

Editing

A useful guide to common proofreading symbols:
http://www.colorado.edu/Publications/styleguide/symbols.html

Life

Not sure where to categorize this article, but it’s something to consider when setting your stories in the real world. The effect of Twilight on the Quiluete tribe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08riley.html

Financing is a big part of pretty much everyone’s life, but writers and other artists are usually more at risk. This is a blog of grants, residencies and other funding opportunities:
http://miraslist.blogspot.com/

Web Programming

I’ve been doing a bit of tweaking to Word Press to make my blog do what I want it to do. This has some interesting suggestions. I haven’t tried any of them yet, and some seem insane, but worth looking at.
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/55-most-wanted-wordpress-tips-tricks-and-hacks/