Saturday, October 29, 2011

Fiction Friday: Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is science fiction at its best.  The tale follows the adventures of teen skateboard courier Y.T. (Yours Truly) and pizza deliveryman Hiro Protagonist, who coincidentally, bills himself as the world's finest swordsman. Working together they discover someone is attempting to loose a deadly computer virus that might bring about the destruction of humankind as we know it.

This one has it all.  Suitcase nukes, a sociopathic killer who specializes in killing with weapons of plate glass, a nuclear submarine, the Mafia, Japanese rappers, Biblical references and a virtual world (very much like Second Life and other mmorpgs) called the Metaverse.

But don't take my word for it.  Check out this nifty book trailer featuring Legos and the voicework of high school English students.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Writer's Block Wednesday

If you want to beat writer's block, your best tactic is to plan ahead.  Devote a specific amount of time each day to writing.  Once you've done that, devise a writing schedule.  Set goals.  Work on your novel Monday, Wednesday and Friday and maybe on short stories Tuesday and Thursday. Saturday you can work on your blog and maybe freestyle Sunday (write whatever strikes your fancy). Stick to the schedule you design and you should be fine. It also helps to have a target word count (think 1,000 words a day). 

If you have it set in your mind what you are going to write about before you even sit down in front of the computer and start typing, then you are likely to struggle less with the actual writing. 

Here is one writer's take on writer's block.  There are a couple s bombs, but no more than you might find in a PG-13 movie.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Fiction Friday

John Barnes' Directive 51 (ACE, 2010) is a futuristic apocalyptic novel that explores what might happen to the national government (and the rest of the world for that matter) when a major catastrophe strikes, and the president is no longer capable of continuing in his role as commander in chief.

The titular directive refers to one that actually exists today, providing "that in a case of unprecedented disaster a specific Federal official will become temporary dictator, with nearly unlimited power and a mission to restore Constitutional government as quickly as possible."

Barnes explores this in Directive 51, but does not allow the politics to bog down the rest of the book.  The novel is filled with acts of terror, dramatic tension, survivalism and even romance.  The characters, even those secondary to the plot, experience real change throughout the course of the novel. 

Called "the thinking person's techno-thriller," by S.M. Stirling, I'd recommend this to any reader of science fiction.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Writer's Block Wednesday!

Today is the beginning of a new feature on the blog: Writer's Block Wednesday!

Everyone who's done any writing is familiar with the term, though there are those who don't like to admit it. It's that all too familiar state of being in which you just can't write anything.  It's a frustrating feeling, but there are ways to combat it.

Different writers offer differing opinions on how to deal with writer's block.  I'm of the opinion that you have to write your way through it.  Write through writer's block, you ask? Wasn't the problem being unable to write?

That's right.  And the only way to get back on track is to start writing and keep writing until you find yourself back on track.  Do this by writing about how you feel sitting in front of the computer staring at a blank screen.  Write about the frustration you're feeling. 

If that's not substantive enough for you, take it to another level.  Start writing about the room in which you are writing.  Describe the curtains, right down to the thread count if you must.  The important thing is to start writing and keep the flow of words running.  Eventually, you'll find your creative juices are coursing once more and you'll get back to whatever is your current project.

And here's a musical take on writer's block:

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Moving and anthologies

So I'm in the midst of moving the Coaterack from another blogging site, here to Blogger.

Please pardon the dust during construction.

In the meantime, here are a few anthologies I'm looking forward to in the near future that you may find interesting as well:

The Spirit of Poe is an anthology of Edgar Allan Poe inspired short stories and poems produced by Literary Landmark Press.  Every cent earned from the sale of the anthology will go to the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, which recently lost $80,000 worth of funding from the city.  The anthology is planned to be released on Halloween of this year.





Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations is what you might expect from the title.  As the editor's site says, the anthology will be filled with "dark tales of horror, speculative fiction, and to a lesser degree science fiction, relating to civilizations that are lost, or have been forgotten, or have been rediscovered, or perhaps merely spoken about in great and fearful whispers. Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations is currently set for Spring 2012 publication.



Mutation Nation from Rainstorm Press is the anthology for the lover of horror, science fiction and all things strange.  This looks to be interesting, with an infinite number of possibilities for stories.  From the publisher's website: "Who are these human oddities? How do these characters and/or the people in their lives deal with the curse-or the blessing-of their mutations? This anthology will contain stories that explain these human mutations-and their consequences." Mutation Nation is set for release Dec. 1.