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Books on Writing
- The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction The book at the heart of all this!
- Writing Monsters Advice for SF, fantasy, and horror authors
- The Best of Fantasy Author's Handbook Volume I, 2009-2013
Buy My Books
- Six Guns & Spaceships Featuring my space opera western story “Rendezes”
- Devils of the Endless Deep My trip into the Fathomless Abyss
- Write to the Cover Featuring my story “Bella Lucky and the Titan of Tarvos”
- Australians, Buy Here! Order from Boomerang Books in Australia.
- The Best of Fantasy Authors Handbook …is now available–58 revised and expanded essays from the first five years of FAH!
- Tales from the Fathomless Abyss The anthology that started it all!
- The Haunting of Dragon's Cliff with Mel Odom, a new sword & sorcery barbarian is born!
- Completely Broken A novel of contemporary horror
- Annihilation My entry in the Forgotten Realms series R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen
- A Reader's Guide to R.A. Salvatore's the Legend of Drizzt An essential companion to the greatest hero of the Forgotten Realms world
- I Made a Friend An alternate history/dieselpunk story for your Kindle!
- Morbid Dread of the Dawn Read my story in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias!
- The Dogs Are In the Alley Again: A new horror story in Jitter #7
- Harbinger Asylum: Published one of my poems!
- The Lighthouse Keeper That Left A new poem in Harbinger’s Asylum!
- MegaTraveller: MANHUNT: Thirty-two years late, but better than never!
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Interviews & Guest Posts
- CLARKESWORLD INTERVIEW 1: I took part in a roundtable interview with other speculative fiction editors.
- 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!
- Celebrity Game Table: A detailed look at my Tegel Manor Campaign from 2003.
- Monsters in D&D, Books, Movies… Dicegeeks Podcast interview with Phil!
- Longwinded One Podcast: Episode 158: Philip Athans: The Years of Phil
- Classic Monsters, Modern Love: How a New Generation of Fans is Keeping the Universal Monsters Alive
- Publisher's Weekly “Is the Universe Expanding or Contracting?”
- Hunting for MANHUNT: The behind the scenes tale of my lost MegaTraveller adventure!
- Inside Storytelling: Writing Monsters, Creatures & Villains
- Porter Anderson vs. Movie Examples: With some nice things to say about my Living Dialogue seminar at the Writer’s Digest conference.
- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Ask the (Book) Editors: Panel video from 2013 Emerald City Comicon!
- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
- Horror Authors: How to Scare the Heck Out of Your Readers A guest post at The Write Life with practical tips for scaring the crap out of your readers.
- Writer's Digest Interview: On Writing F&SF.
- How To Write Monsters With Philip Athans The Creative Penn Podcasts me!
- Roleplaying Tips: Interviews me!
- The Fanitarium Podcast: Interviews Philip Athans
- How to Create a Magic System: M.S. Farzan and Storyteller’s Handbook features The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
- How to Write Horror: Reading, Breathing and the Long Sentence (at Writer’s Digest)
- Worldcasting: I join the guys from Worldbuilding Magazine for a chat about… everything!
Past Posts
Monthly Archives: January 2013
NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR GREAT IDEA
Years ago, I was chatting with my friend Jess Lebow, and told him about this great idea I had for a video game. I don’t even remember the idea anymore, but I do remember his response: “No one cares about … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, creative team, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Video Games, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, Writing Community, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Leonardo Da Vinci, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing process
15 Comments
WHAT ARE YOUR WRITING GOALS FOR 2013?
Last week I admonished you to actually sit down and write, and I’m happy to report that in the last seven days I’ve managed to follow my own advice, and though one project is running late, I’m well on track … Continue reading
Posted in Books, horror novels, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, setting goals, SMART goals, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
SIT YOUR ASS DOWN AND DO IT!
A couple weeks ago, my fellow Fathomless Abyss explorer Mike Resnick posted on Facebook about all the books and stories he finished in 2012 and I was simply blown away by his output. It put my meager word counts to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, National Buy a Book Day, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, The Fathomless Abyss, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, e-books, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Mike Resnick, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, resolutions, Science Fiction, watch less TV, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
3 Comments
EVERY WRITER MUST HAVE INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY
I’ve been asked before what I thought was the most important thing every writer should possess, and I’ve given various answers. Those answers have ranged from the practical (a laptop) to the more-or-less nonsensical (a “thick skin”), but I’ve been … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, Writing Community, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged August Strindberg, author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, intellectual curiosity, Philip Athans, Science Fiction, what every writer needs, Woody Allen, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing process
6 Comments
RESOLUTIONS, 2013
A new year again? Already? The older you get the shorter years seem to be. When I was a kid, a year seemed to take forever. But then if you’re ten years old, a year is a tenth of your … Continue reading