Are you following me?
- Another Vesak already? What if people celebrated YOUR birthday? tinyurl.com/83ebfuv 8 hours ago
- Good news on the writing front today. Too early to say more, but so far this is a good Friday! 16 hours ago
- What’s that I hear? The Watercourse Trilogy is now on audio! tinyurl.com/c34tjma #dnd #fantasy 1 day ago
Fantasy Author’s Datebook
Arron of the Black Forest
- Dragon's Cliff Dungeon Tips: Joe Kushner on using The Haunting of Dragon’s Cliff in your D&D game.
- Arron Review: A great review of The Haunting of Dragon’s Cliff.
- Arron of the Black Forest Blog: Keep up on the series and learn more about the world of Arron of the Black Forest.
- Post Modern Pulps on Arron: A thoughtful review of The Haunting of Dragon’s Cliff.
Blogroll
- WordPress.com
- KINDLE SUBSCRIPTION: Subscribe to Fantasy Author’s Handbook for your Kindle!
- Annual Report 2012: Fantasy Author’s Handbook.
Buy My Books
- BARNES & NOBLE: Online and in-store!
- AMAZON: Look at all those books on an Amazon page. I’ve been busy!
- POWELL'S: Powell’s Books is a Portland, OR landmark. Support the independents!
- The Guide to Writing Fantasy & SF from Adams Media: Buy directly from the source!
- SONY READER Buy my books in e-book form from the Sony Reader Library.
- Diesel eBook Store E-books in EPub, Palm, and Mobi formats.
- Australians, Buy Here! Order from Boomerang Books in Australia.
- Google eBookstore Buy ebooks for various readers.
- WHSmith: For our friends in the United Kingdom.
- BooksOnBoard: Another fine ebook retailer.
- Stories in the Ether #3: Featuring my story “I Made a Friend.”
- Amazon Author Page: More about lil ol me!
Communicate With Me
- FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: Admit it, you need to keep up with me at least a couple times a day.
- LINKEDIN: Here’s my public profile on LinkedIn.
- Athans & Associates Creative consulting services from an IP development pro.
- Facebook: Eventually, it happens to us all.
- GOOD.is What’s so GOOD about me?
Gamasutra
- The Case for In-house Publishing My featured post at Gamasutra, which includes a TSR history lesson.
- There Has Been a Reckoning On the subject of a friend’s new game.
- Is IGDA Membership Worth It? Turns out, not really.
- A Little Respect: Writers deserve respect. There, I said it.
- The Gaming Revolution Will Be…Read? My case for more video game tie-in novels.
Grasping for the Wind
- SEPTEMBER 7: NATIONAL BUY A BOOK DAY Go to Grasping for the Wind, read my column, then buy a book on September 7!
- Content is King: My Grasping for the Wind swan song. Be a CONTENT PROVIDER!
- ROBOT IS THE NEW VAMPIRE Read my first column on Grasping for the Wind!
- THE WORLDS THAT OUTGREW THEIR STORIES September Column: Two Roads to Intellectual Property Success
- THROW YOUR BOOK A PARTY Advice for Authors on Signings and In-store Events
- Five Things Every Aspiring Author Should Know Don’t say I never warned you!
- Is Science Fiction Bad for Us? My December 2010 column on the desensitizing effect of SF.
- Convention Etiquette for Professionals and Panelists Tips for conventioneers with help from Jack Emmert, Richard Garfield, James Minz, Matthew Stover, and Kristine Katheryn Rusch
- Pile on the Huge: In which I discuss scale in SF books and movies.
- The Knee-jerk Reductionism of our Ill-considered Bloggers I jump in on the debate: Is fantasy morally bankrupt?
- Why I Read Five Books at Once The method to my (reading) madness.
- Been There, Survived That: Notes from the “bookpocalypse” as seen from the “recordmaggedon.”
- SFFWRCHT: The transcript of a wild-and-wooly Twitter chat session.
Interviews and Other Stuff
- I'VE BEEN WIKIPEDIAD: Don’t believe everything they say about me!
- CLARKESWORLD INTERVIEW 2: Read the rest of the editors roundtable in Clarkesworld.
- CLARKESWORLD INTERVIEW 1: I took part in a roundtable interview with other speculative fiction editors.
- WIZARDS.COM INTERVIEW: Philip Athans, interviewed on wizards.com.
- MAKE-BELIEVE MONDAYS INTERVIEW: Debra Parmley’s Make-Believe Mondays is a must-read blog for SF/Fantasy fans, and she’s interviewed lil’ ol’ me!
- Pat's Fantasy Hotlist Review of The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction!
- Celebrity Game Table: A detailed look at my Tegel Manor Campaign from 2003.
- Publisher's Weekly “Is the Universe Expanding or Contracting?”
- FANTASY BOOK CRITIC reviews The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction
- Qwiki: This kinda freaked me out, though it’s a little out of date.
- Guys Can Read: Wondercon 2011 podcast interview.
- ISFDB: My entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Nevermet Press Interview, Part 1: Jonathan Jacobs and I discuss SF/Fantasy, and publishing in 2011.
- Nevermet Press Interview, Part 2: More inside information surrounding “I Made a Friend.”
- Bolthole Interview: I talk Warhammer, writing, and more with a great Games Workshop fan site.
- I Made A Friend: A new short story by me, published by Nevermet Press!
- Write Tip: Things Pros (including me!) Wish New Authors Knew About Publishing And Don’t
- Age of Legends Review: Positive words for “The City is Theirs.”
- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- Omnivoracious Interview: I talk with Susan Morris on the subject of worldbuilding.
- Chicks with Crossbows on Villains: A nice report on our ECCC panel, even if she spelled my name wrong!
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Five Things Every Horror Author Needs to Know: A Writer’s Digest Tutorial
- The Shelf-Life of Sci-Fi Storytelling A love letter to the pulps.
- SF Signal on The Fathomless Abyss: I’m interviewed by Charles Tan.
National Buy a Book Day
- SEPTEMBER 7: NATIONAL BUY A BOOK DAY Go to Grasping for the Wind, read my column, then buy a book on September 7!
- Grasping for the Wind on NBBD: National Buy a Book Day Foundation board member John Ottinger speaks out!
- The National Buy a Book Day Foundation September 7th is fast approaching!
NEW!
- SpoCon I’m planning on being in Spokane, WA in August for SpoCon…details to follow.
- PNWA Conference I’ve been invited to speak at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference in Seattle in July.
Resources
- SF SIGNAL: A great source of news, opinions, and links for all things SF.
- New York Times Books: Reviews, news, and so on from the Old School.
- GAMASUTRA: News and opinions from the video game universe.
- LOCUS Online: SF’s magazine of record.
- McSWEENEY'S INTERNET TENDENCY: Because it’s frickin’ awesome.
The Fathomless Abyss
- SF Signal Interview with Cat Rambo: “I have to firmly put my more logical side on the shelf when working in the Abyss. Which is weirdly freeing…”
- SF Signal Interview with Mel Odom: “I had a chance to help develop the world.”
- SF Signal Interview with J.M. McDermott: “The thing that excited me was an opportunity to work with, and invent, some creatures.”
- SF Signal Interview with Brad R. Torgersen “It sounded like a lot of fun to me…”
- SF Signal Interview with Jay Lake: “…the world is charmingly cock-eyed, while still possessed of vast possibility.”
- Mel Odom Arron of the Black Forest & The Fathomless Abyss!
- Jay Lake That Which Rises Ever Upward
- J.M. McDermott It’s Mine
- Mike Resnick The Ascent (with Brad R. Torgersen)
- Brad R. Torgersen The Ascent (with Mike Resnick)
- Cat Rambo A Querulous Flute of Bone
- Book 4: A Seed on the Wind The Kindle edition of the new novella by Cat Rambo.
- Book 1: Tales From The Fathomless Abyss The Kindle edition of the anthology that started it all!
- Book 1: Tales From The Fathomless Abyss The Nook edition of the opening anthology.
- Abyss Review: A short review of Tales From The Fathomless Abyss by James Reasoner.
- Writers of the Future: WotF reports on Tales From The Fathomless Abyss.
- SF Signal Interview with Mats Minnhagen: “In fantasy, because the setting is distorted, the timeless themes stand out with greater clarity.”
- Book 3: Nirvana Gates The Nook edition of the novella by J.M. McDermott
- Book 2: Devils of the Endless Deep The Kindle edition of the first follow-up to Tales From The Fathomless Abyss!
- Black Gate on The Fathomless Abyss Spreading the word!
- Book 4: A Seed on the Wind The Nook edition of the novella by Cat Rambo.
- Book 3: Nirvana Gates The Kindle edition of the Fathomless Abyss novella by J.M. McDermott
- SF Signal Interview with Mike Resnick “The possibilities within the framework are endless, and it’s a type of fiction I haven’t written in decades.”
- Fantasy Hotlist on Nirvana Gates: And the Fathomless Abyss in general.
Fantasy Author’s Feeds
Past Posts
Monthly Archives: June 2010
THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEWS IV: TERRY BROOKS
As part of the process of writing The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction, I interviewed a few key players in the SF/fantasy community. Their wisdom and generosity is liberally sprinkled throughout the book, but I couldn’t use every … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Shannara, Terry Brooks, Writing, writing advice, writing process
2 Comments
END OF PART TWO
It was September 27, 1995 when I walked in the door at the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin offices of TSR to begin my new job as editor on the book publishing team. Talk about twists and turns. Barely more than a … Continue reading
Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, TSR, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing process
45 Comments
THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S EXERCISES I: ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ah, another ongoing series of blog posts, sort of like the recommended books and interviews, but this series was inspired by an edit. Cut out of the final edition of The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction was a … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Dungeons & Dragons, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged About the Author, author, author bio, authors, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, R.A. Salvatore, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
1 Comment
SONY READER: THE (PROBABLY) FINAL WORD
After my initial negative reaction to my free Sony Reader, which I detailed in the blog post “When You Die, Can I Have This?” I promised not to give up too soon, not to dismiss the gizmo off hand. After … Continue reading
Posted in E-Books, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, e-books, e-readers, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, read more, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
4 Comments
THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEWS III: PAUL S. KEMP
As part of the process of writing The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction, I interviewed a few key players in the SF/fantasy community. Their wisdom and generosity is liberally sprinkled throughout the book, but I couldn’t use every … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Dungeons & Dragons, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, Author Interview, authors, best sellers, Books, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, Paul S. Kemp, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Wars novels, Writing, writing advice, writing process
4 Comments
