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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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- Twitter @PhilAthans Admit it, you need to keep up with me at least a couple times a day.
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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.
- Publisher's Weekly “Is the Universe Expanding or Contracting?”
- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- How to Write Horror: Reading, Breathing and the Long Sentence (at Writer’s Digest)
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
- Writer's Digest Interview: On Writing F&SF.
- Porter Anderson vs. Movie Examples: With some nice things to say about my Living Dialogue seminar at the Writer’s Digest conference.
- 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.
- The Fanitarium Podcast: Interviews Philip Athans
- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
- Ask the (Book) Editors: Panel video from 2013 Emerald City Comicon!
- Worldcasting: I join the guys from Worldbuilding Magazine for a chat about… everything!
- Roleplaying Tips: Interviews me!
- Monsters in D&D, Books, Movies… Dicegeeks Podcast interview with Phil!
- 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 Monsters With Philip Athans The Creative Penn Podcasts me!
- Classic Monsters, Modern Love: How a New Generation of Fans is Keeping the Universal Monsters Alive
- Longwinded One Podcast: Episode 158: Philip Athans: The Years of Phil
- Inside Storytelling: Writing Monsters, Creatures & Villains
- Hunting for MANHUNT: The behind the scenes tale of my lost MegaTraveller adventure!
- G.W. Tirpa Lives! (or lived, anyway) Jordan Sorcery on Dark*Matter…gone but not forgotten.
Past Posts
Monthly Archives: April 2013
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: TRAVELLER5
Some time ago, I recommended the long out of print MegaTraveller role-playing game supplement World Builder’s Handbook as a helpful tool for creating believable planets and star systems. Since then, I have begun work on a new series of tie-in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Traveller, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, editor, Erik Scott de Bie, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Marc Miller, MegaTraveller, Mel Odom, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Robert E. Vardeman, Science Fiction, sophont, Traveller, Traveller novels, Traveller RPG, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
WHAT YOU NEED AND WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE
One of the first things we talk about in my Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction classes are two short lists: What You Need and What You Should Have These lists are meant for students who show up to a classroom … 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, E-Books, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, Publishing Business, Romance Novels, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, 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 author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
5 Comments
MY BICENTENNIAL (AFTER A FASHION)
For all you wordsmiths out there, I know that “bicentennial” means “200th year,” but I’m going to use that word, however incorrectly, to point out that this is my 200th post here at Fantasy Author’s Handbook. As I did with … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Books, conventions, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, Author Interview, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing process
4 Comments
THINGS ARE GOING TO START HAPPENING TO ME NOW
Or are they? Okay, I’ll back up a little. For the past couple years I’ve been reading a lot of advice for indie/self-published authors on the subject of marketing, and giving my fair share, too. Though it’s never been easier … Continue reading
Posted in Arron of the Black Forest, Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, horror novels, NaNoWriMo, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, The Fathomless Abyss, transmedia, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best sellers, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing process
1 Comment
MANUSCRIPT FORMAT
As I get ready for the start of a new term of my continuing education class Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction, and having just participated in a Writer’s Digest University Boot Camp and seminars at Emerald City Comicon here in … Continue reading
Posted in 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, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, manuscript format, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
3 Comments
Fantasy Author's Handbook 