Saturn Slingshot
Reading Time: 18 minutesPirates attack a solar sail above the rings of Saturn.
Unsticking a Stuck Manuscript
Reading Time: 5 minutesFacing a stuck manuscript and unsure how you’re going to unstick the story and finish?
Nosferatu Is an Homage to Classic Horror Movies, Not Just to F. W. Murnau’s Version
Reading Time: 3 minutesRobert Eggers directed the most recent adaptation of Nosferatu, which is a frankly cynically plagiarized version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But that’s a story for another day (and a really fun one). In terms of plot, not much differs from F. W. Murnau’s 1922 version: a centuries-old vampire living in a remote castle somewhere in
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 17, 2025
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes apocalypses, witches, and romantasy from a USA Today bestselling author.
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Slip
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe plan failed, or I wouldn’t be here assisting a paramedic as he straps my corpse onto a gurney. Confusing? Yeah. Try being me.
Life In 2050
Reading Time: 32 minutesThis novel is a pastiche of the classic novel by George Orwell 1984.
Generate Story Ideas with Tarot (Here’s How)
Reading Time: 6 minutesTarot cards offer powerful ways for creative people to generate story ideas and work through storytelling issues, including character development and problem-solving challenges.
Best Speculative Fiction Books Read in 2024
Reading Time: 3 minutesAnother year has come and gone, and I thankfully never had reader’s block. I even surprised myself by out-reading my own reading challenge. From yours truly, here are the best speculative fiction books I read in 2024 in no particular order. Disclaimer: Most of these were not published in 2024. Ansibles, perfiladores y otras máquinas
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 10, 2025
Reading Time: 11 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a magical hairless cat, a serial killer on the loose in a steampunk London, a telepathic monkey on a distant planet, and a girl who is admitted to a magic academy despite the fact that she has no obvious magic.
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All In The Game
Reading Time: 4 minutesIn a battle-ridden world, lives are spent like currency, and one soldier tries to understand what happened to his comrade.
The Rarest of Contraband
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe best thing about running the ship’s laundry was the many nooks and crannies to hide contraband. I had powder, of course, and weapons, the bread and butter of any smuggling outfit. But a month ago things changed when the hyperdrive malfunctioned.
Gods and Monsters Installment 45: Love Without Compromise
Reading Time: 5 minutesHe will miss the fog and the light on the Bay. But he hungers for the solace of the Redwoods’ towering shadows. He needs to hear waves break endlessly on wild rocky shores.
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Imaginary Children
Reading Time: 24 minutesA lonely, powerful woman takes part in a risky experiment that allows her to see visions of the children she could conceive with certain men—strangers whom she would find deeply attractive. She becomes obsessed with finding a man who is triggering visions of one child in particular.
Add a Writing Ritual to Your Routine
Reading Time: 5 minutesRecognizing opportunities to introduce rituals and modify our routines for the better can help us create writing habits that stick.
Our Share of Night Review: Horror, Legacy, and Everything in Between
Reading Time: 3 minutesMariana Enriquez is mostly known for her short narrative. We included her in a little list to keep spreading the Halloween cheer last year. Our Share of Night, for its part, is a big, chunky girl. It is also Enriquez’s most ambitious novel to date that keeps her style intact and introduces more horrors and
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Jan. 3, 2025
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a human discovering a long-lost Earth, elves and vampires, time-travel romance, and a solar flare that could destroy humanity.
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From an Ixil, To a Gringo
Reading Time: 4 minutes“Juana has stopped ageing,” the village elder tells Theo as they step towards the distant shack. “She ceased about five years ago. Said she couldn’t grow any older without dying. And if Juana dies, there’s no telling what Edna might do.”
The End Is Nigh: Gods and Monsters in Retrospect
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe release of the final installment of Gods and Monsters is only a week away, so we now invite you to look back on the story and hear from King herself about what the writing and publication process has been like for this unique and thrilling novel.
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Red Jenny and the Pirates of Buffalo
Reading Time: 25 minutesIt is a time our children will know better. The sloth and frivolousness we wallowed in has left them a world with new players in different positions, where the spotlight has shifted and those that were once proud are now desperate. In this new world, the North American center of political and economic power has moved up above the 49th Parallel, and the relationship between the old and new superpowers is not as warm as it had been before.
Winter Is For Writing
Reading Time: 6 minutesIf during this time of year you’re thinking, “I need something to do,” January is the perfect time to stop wandering, set goals, and adopt new writing habits.
Snow White and the Huntsman: The Power of Gesture
Reading Time: 2 minutesA look at the power of gesture in establishing resonance and character evoked through the interplay of acting, scriptwriting and direction with brilliantly woven callback scenes as the heroine Snow White shows maternal grace to her nemesis Ravenna. Snow White protects herself, heart and kingdom, while holding on to the grace of who she truly is, relating with love and innocence even at the end of a tough battle with a selfish antagonist.
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 27, 2024
Reading Time: 13 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list is all romantasy with two USA Today bestselling authors.
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Gods and Monsters Installment 44: Premonitions of Endings
Reading Time: 5 minutes“Tarantulas are loners, like you,” says Ryo, resting a weightless hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I was a loner too. Perhaps if I had it to do over… But that’s foolish talk. I don’t, I can’t. I don’t know if you can, but…”
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Company Man
Reading Time: 3 minutesSam was a company man. He was exactly what the company needed and what the company wanted. That is what made him so disturbing.
Writing Fiction Scenes that Work
Reading Time: 5 minutesWorried about lackluster scenes? Something feeling broken in your story? Return to basics and think through what a scene is and what it can and should do for your story.
The Werecleaner Review: Werewolves Against Capitalism
Reading Time: 2 minutesOne of this year’s surprises is The Werecleaner. You play as Kyle, a janitor at a corporate company. But — you’re actually a werewolf!
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 20, 2024
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list has dinosaurs, warlocks and vampires, and a time travel romance by a New York Times bestselling author.
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Tuning
Reading Time: 11 minutesA mother who is frustrated with her teenage daughter comes across a magical object that can repair items. She wonders what effect the object might have if she used it on her daughter.
Let the Salt Decide
Reading Time: 4 minutesZeke looked out a kitchen window, into his backyard. Waves crested and lapped the shore, leaving salt-soaked artifacts in their wake. The sea always has a say.
Gods and Monsters Installment 43: Predator and Prey
Reading Time: 8 minutesRiver enters Bert’s. In spite of himself, his heart leaps at the sight of Pam. He wants his heart to be stone. He wants never to have met her. But wishes are overrun by desire. Love triumphs over fear.
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Mothermind
Reading Time: 12 minutesAmong war’s victims are the soldiers and those who care for them. Nothing in our shared future will change that, though some of the details will be new. What will be the reality for cloned soldiers?
4 Magical Must-Haves for Fantasy Stories
Reading Time: 6 minutesInclude these four elements in your story to fit it within the fantasy genre and reach your intended fantasy readers.
After Yang: The Case for Slow-Moving Sci-Fi in a Superhero-Dominated World
Reading Time: 3 minutesSuperhero movies are no doubt the largest science fiction movies that are being released at this time, but I long for films that give the audience to sit, think and reflect. Kogonada’s After Yang gives viewers that opportunity. It’s a gem of slow moving science fiction that we desperately need more of in today’s short form dominated world.
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 13, 2024
Reading Time: 9 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes epic fantasy, cozy fantasy, dark fantasy — and an EMP attack against Ohio.
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Arachnophobia
Reading Time: 7 minutes“First contact” is an underexplored sub-genre with many opportunities for miscommunication. Sometimes deadly, sometimes not so much.
The Race
Reading Time: 4 minutesA young man starts a new job at a seemingly disused rocket ship yard.
Gods and Monsters Installment 42: Death and Memory
Reading Time: 7 minutesRiver wants to forget her, yet he knows that if he does, a part of him will die. Though he feels betrayed, he cannot keep away. He hangs the chain around his neck. He will go to Bert’s and fasten it about hers. Then he will leave, never to return, the prism remaining, a crystal kiss, a tangible memory, a concrete regret.
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When Characters Do the Unexpected
Reading Time: 6 minutesYour character has done or revealed the unexpected. Now, you must figure out how to navigate your story when the path no longer adheres to your writing plan.
High Vaultage Review: Lovable Detectives in the Big Chaotic City
Reading Time: 3 minutesHigh Vaultage comes fresh off the heels of the Victoriocity podcast, also written by Chris and Jen Sugden. As a disclaimer, I hadn’t listened to the podcast before reading the book, so I was pleasantly surprised the more I read. The book centers on Archibald Fleet and Clara Entwhistle’s efforts and misadventures trying to solve
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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Dec. 6, 2024
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes two romantic fantasies by best selling authors, dragons battling it out over Detroit, and a space opera box set.
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Goodbye, Nathan, Goodbye
Reading Time: 10 minutesIt’s a little boy’s last chance to leave the planet. Can he talk his mom into letting him go?
Gods and Monsters Installment 41: The Color of Empathy
Reading Time: 7 minutesBeethoven does not merely drain his victims, he eviscerates them. When there are no more cats, he moves on to dogs and babies, climbing the food chain with grisly effect.
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The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead
Reading Time: 26 minutesSuki finds herself prematurely awoken from an induced suspension between life and death. With her retinas deactivated and her government persona suspended, it’s up to friend and P.I. Gabe, to recover her identity, before she dies for good.
Plot Turning Points and Story Development
Reading Time: 5 minutesYour story’s plot must include key turning points, which move your characters through the story milestone by milestone.
A Love Letter to Dredge
Reading Time: 3 minutesI cracked my brain trying to come up with a review for Dredge, but what always came out was a lot of gushing over the game itself. So, I decided to change gears a little: This is not a review, it’s a love letter.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Nov. 29, 2024
Reading Time: 10 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top five free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes an adventure in the multiverse, mysterious artifacts, and a dangerous academy of magic.
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Alexander the Gray
Reading Time: 15 minutesAlexander, an extraterrestrial botanist whose mission to collect plant samples, is tasked with the emergency abduction of Roger Smith. Alexander has never come into contact with a human being, and when he meets Roger, he wishes wish he never had.