Tag Archives: Star Trek

SHOULD WE STOP CONJURING THE APOCALYPSE?

Right from the start let me make sure you know that I in no way subscribe to any version of the “Satanic Panic” or its second incarnation, which was to blame “violent video games” for any and every real life … Continue reading

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FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION AS INVENTED HISTORY

Are we all writing historical fiction, but the history is invented? When I was working as the Forgotten Realms novel line editor at Wizards of the Coast, this idea became something of a mantra to me. When it comes to … Continue reading

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A REMINDER TO READ!

Writing without reading is like… …I don’t even know. Analogies fail me. If you’re out there writing fiction and you aren’t avidly, voraciously reading  fiction, you’re in the wrong business. How can you create something you don’t love? I will never … Continue reading

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A WEIRD STORY MINI-FORMULA

In my look, last April, at the book Science Fiction Handbook, Revised, by L. Sprague de Camp & Catherine de Camp (Owlswick Press, 1975), I wrote: Speaking of the pulp tradition, the de Camps quote Jack Williamson and Edmund Hamilton’s “formula” for a science fiction story … Continue reading

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WHO IS PHILIP ATHANS NOW?

Fantasy Authors Handbook snuck out into the world exactly twelve years ago today. My first post was a long-form author bio, in the hope of introducing myself to the world. On the occasion of this anniversary, I thought it time to … Continue reading

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SOME THOUGHTS ON HORROR

All fiction is shared experience. Authors reach out to some unknown other people, across time and distance, and say: “I felt this.” We look to horror in the same way we look to all genres of fiction, to experience what … Continue reading

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CONTENT IS KING

I had an opportunity to chat with Joanna Penn on her Creative Penn Podcast and the concept of writers as “content providers” came up. This is something I’ve been preaching for at least nine years now, as this former Grasping … Continue reading

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FAREWELL TO THE OBJECTIVIST “HERO”

If you’ve been following Fantasy Author’s Handbook for any length of time you know how reluctant I am to get into politics—something I avoid not just in my work but in my day-to-day life to the absolute best of my … Continue reading

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WORLDBUILDING THE OTHER

All fantasy authors are free to create their own elves, and all science fiction authors are free to create their own aliens. But the key to this are the words “their own.” If the elves in your fantasy novel are … Continue reading

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THE VIRTUE OF SHELFIENESS

Hey, Objectivists, see what I did there? I’ve been seeing so-called “shelfies” all over social media for a while now, and have even shared a few glimpses of my own shelves from time to time, but this week, I want … Continue reading

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