Tag: writing

“A Book’s Natural Fate”

So you’ve written a book that fits the current vogue perfectly – let’s say it’s a grimy cyberpunk novel in the mid-1980s – does that mean you’ve guaranteed long-lasting fame for yourself? Probably not. But don’t worry, a lot of your compatriots are suffering the same fate. Oh, […]

Sauron For the Win

When a writer puts a story down on paper, one version of all possible outcomes becomes the final version. The ending is part of a carefully constructed framework of theme and comment and all that good literary stuff, and it’s never going to change. For example, the evil […]

Reading Between the Lines

Like the singer/songwriter — a lank-haired warbler in patchouli-stained flannel — the artist/writer in comics is a very peculiar bird. Our logographer resembles a forked tongue, licking in two directions: to the left, where Staedtler crumbs and ink spills lie, and the right, to a boundless thicket of […]

The Grouchy Snob

When people find out that I like science fiction (and write about it), they often try to find a familiar example to talk about. This is a better reaction than to say, “Oh, that crap?” or something along those lines. But recently, the example has inevitably been Star […]