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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
Tag Archives: pulp fiction
ART VS. CRAFT
A month ago I wrote a short post in which I tried to backpedal a bit from all the talk about pulp and action I’ve been doing lately. You should read that post first, if you haven’t already. I’ve tended … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged art vs. craft, author, authors, best advice for writing pulp fiction, Books, craft of writing, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, pulp fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
8 Comments
BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XIX: POETICS
From time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think fantasy authors should have on their shelves. Some may be new and still in print, some may be difficult to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, characters, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged Aristotle, author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, Books on writing, books on writing fantasy, books on writing science fiction, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, Philip Athans, Poetics, Publishing, Publishing Business, pulp fiction, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process, writing pulp fiction
7 Comments
PULP FICTION WORKSHOP
I’ve written more than once here at Fantasy Author’s Handbook of my love for the pulp fiction tradition, especially in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Though there have been some recent events in SF/fantasy fandom that may have temporarily … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, horror novels, how to write fiction, monsters, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Romance Novels, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, science fiction technology, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best advice for writing fantasy, best advice for writing horror, best advice for writing pulp fiction, best advice for writing science fiction, Books, comic books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, fantasy-romance, Fiction, genre fiction, Philip Athans, Publishing, pulp fiction, Science Fiction, teen books, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process, writing pulp fiction
2 Comments
WHAT PULP CAN TEACH US
I know I’ve been talking about pulp a lot lately, but bear with me. I’m in the middle of teaching a two-session Pulp Fiction Workshop, with the second session coming this Saturday. Students have been sending me their stories and … Continue reading
Posted in Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, 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, J.M. McDermott, new pulp, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, pulp fiction, Science Fiction, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process, writing pulp fiction
6 Comments
THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEW XXI: TOMMY HANCOCK
Tommy Hancock is doing something almost no one else has had the courage to do: run a publishing company from the state of Arkansas. Though only “geographically undesirable” from the point of view of the lumbering old giant of traditional … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, Author Interview, authors, Books, creative process, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, new pulp, Philip Athans, Pro Se Productions, Publishing, Publishing Business, pulp fiction, Science Fiction, Small Press Publishing, Tommy Hancock, Writing, writing advice, writing process, writing pulp fiction
2 Comments
A PICTURE INSPIRES A THOUSAND WORDS
I recently sat down, via Skype, with Pro Se Productions’s Tommy Hancock to talk about new pulp, my story in his anthology Sixguns & Spaceships, and a new project I’m working on for him: a short story based on an … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, horror novels, indie publishing, POD, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, new pulp, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, pulp fantasy, pulp fiction, pulp horror, pulp science fiction, robots, Science Fiction, Wizards of the Coast, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
4 Comments
Fantasy Author's Handbook 