I stumbled on a great article about writing book descriptions/blurbs, which, to be brutally honest, I suck at. Being in the middle of the publishing process with two long works, and an episodic series, this is something I've have to think about a lot. All of the advice in the article linked below rings true … Continue reading Book Descriptions and Blurbs–How Not to Suck at Them
Author: JM Williams
Author, historian, teacher, veteran. A man full of stories.
“Webs”–read by the Author
One of my flash stories was recently featured on the AntiSF Radio Show. This was one of the first stories I wrote for this blog. The text of the story can still be found on the AntiSF homepage HERE. I love the AntiSF Radio Show. Not only does it feature some great (and usually humorous) … Continue reading “Webs”–read by the Author
Publishing Updates
I recently received another acceptance from The Centropic Oracle! They did such a great job with my story A Brief Glimpse of Everything, that I am excited to see what they do with the next one. This one is a revision of a story called Old Bones that was originally posted on this blog. Of course, … Continue reading Publishing Updates
New Audio Story Released!
Manawaker Studio has turned one of my stories into an audio production. That's two stories I've so far had redone in audio, with a third coming at the end of the month. This story is actually the compilation of three shorter flash pieces that were originally featured on this blog. They are the stories featuring … Continue reading New Audio Story Released!
Not Every Character Needs an Origin Story
I just finished watching "Bangarang: The Hook Prequel", which is supposed to be the origin story for the beloved character Rufio from the film Hook. In the original film, Rufio had become the leader of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan's absence, and it was to Rufio that Peter was forced to prove himself in order … Continue reading Not Every Character Needs an Origin Story
Engineering in SF and Fantasy
Tor.com recently had an article featuring a round-table of leading speculative fiction authors discussing engineering in Science Fiction and Fantasy. It is a very interesting discussion. Engineering, and science in general, can be a great component to a science fiction story. But I find there are some key flaws or weaknesses that make it hard … Continue reading Engineering in SF and Fantasy
Writing Lessons Learned – Don’t Kick the Habit
I've learned a lot about writing in the past several months. I'm the kind of person that learns things best by doing rather than being taught or told how something is. I've been doing this thing seriously for less than a year, but I've already picked up a lot of useful skills and ideas about … Continue reading Writing Lessons Learned – Don’t Kick the Habit
My Story is now out in the Bards and Sages Quarterly!
I'm happy to report the July issue of the Bards and Sages Quarterly is out now at multiple retailers. This issue features my Iric flash story "The Tree Sign." I've been looking over my digital copy and am very satisfied with how the whole thing came out. It's a decent-sized book--Smashwords says it's almost 57,000 … Continue reading My Story is now out in the Bards and Sages Quarterly!
Writing Updates
I've been pretty bad at updating this blog during the past few weeks. I've been on military orders and my work with the Army had been a lot more intense and rigorous than I expected. Add to that the deep academic nature of much of what I do, which tends to leave my brain melted … Continue reading Writing Updates
SHARE: DSF – Story Time by Laura Anne Gilman
This is a nice little story with great narrative voice...despite having almost no narration. The dialogue exchange really delivers that childish curiosity. And the revelation at the end is heartbreaking. That being said, the work is not without its problems. I question the choice of the word "youngling." Why not simply use "child"? In this … Continue reading SHARE: DSF – Story Time by Laura Anne Gilman
JM Williams 