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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
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: April 2014
CONTRACTIONS AREN’T BAD
I’ve often cited various common writing habits as being indicative of less experienced writers, and a few—like excessive capitalization of common nouns—as peculiar to the SF and fantasy genres. Well, here’s another one, and the one I seem to see … Continue reading
Posted in Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
3 Comments
PICK MY BRAIN
Yuck. I’ve always hated that phrase. But thanks to my good friends at Writer’s Digest, there’s now an easy, simple, anyone-can-use way to get me on the phone for a substantive talk about your work in progress, questions about publishing, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, monsters, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, comic books, creative process, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, story consulant, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing consultant, writing process, writing teacher
1 Comment
WRITING MONSTERS
At last it can be revealed in all its glory: my upcoming book from Writer’s Digest: Writing Monsters. Picking up where The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction left off, at least in the case of monsters, this book … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Arron of the Black Forest, Books, comic books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy movies, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Video Games, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, children's book, comic books, Conan, creating monsters, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, monster, monster movies, monsters, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Star Wars novels, teen books, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writers Digest, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing monsters, writing process
6 Comments
CAUTION: ADVERBS CROSSING
I’ve talked with editors who will rant and rave, practically foam at the mouth, on the subject of adverbs. I remember reading Stephen King’s warnings against same. I once went through an author’s manuscript with a search for ly and … Continue reading
Posted in horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged adverbs, author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, teen books, Writing, writing advice, writing process
6 Comments
BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XV: WHY I WRITE
From time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think science fiction and fantasy authors should have on their shelves. Some may be new and still in print, some may … Continue reading
Posted in Books, how to write fiction, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, George Orwell, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
Fantasy Author's Handbook 