Month: August 2007

Infinite Uncertainty

In a similar vein to my previous post, I’d like to rant a bit about the glaring idiocy of the so-called scientists who announced, a few years back, that they had calculated the chance that God exists*. Rest assured I don’t want to get into a discussion about the question of God’s existence. I’m pretty […]

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Enough Already

In this month’s Scientific American, a book is reviewed in which yet another scientist makes a complete fool of himself by referring to […] the perplexing fact that many basic features of the physical universe seem tailor-made to produce life. Every time someone comes up with this amazing fallacy I want to weep and wail. […]

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More Progress: <Working Title>

That was indeed where the story was headed. One more scene was right, and a culinary epilogue as well. I’ll let this first draft simmer for a while, and return to it (much) later, probably after my honeymoon. Time for a new project!  

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Progress: <Working Title>

Three more pages, as well as a clear idea of where this story is headed. I’ve revised the word count; the second scene, the one I’m writing now, will probably be the final scene, not counting a very short culinary epilogue.  

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A Lesson In Mass Murder

Twice as far with half the word count. What happened while Don was watching the game (affectionately known as Whwdwwtg) made it through the initial round of reading at Andromeda Spaceways and is now being considered by editors for inclusion in the magazine. Killing my darlings may have been painful, but apparently it did help […]

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Craving Recognition

Cycling home from the song improvisation workshop, I complimented my fellow student on her amazing performance. She blushed, looked away, and to drive the point home stated that she was terrible at accepting compliments. “Of course you are,” I replied, “or you wouldn’t be practicing improvisation theatre, or any other brand of performing art.” A […]

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Prisoner of War Re-Released

In my depression over Dark Wisdom’s rejection of Prisoner of war, it took me a while to look into where else it might go. Fortunately, the only other market that rejected it so far was Agog! Ripping Reads (in favor of Queen of diamonds, which also got rejected, this time for length). Which means there’s […]

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Big No-Nos

In a discussion on the private forum of my online writers group Codex, a thread grew that discussed all the things a writer should not do in his fiction. The thread was fed mainly by editors venting their frustrations about all the ways in which hopeful would-be writers contaminate the slush pile with bad writing. […]

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Great Story But

Well, it didn’t take them another nine months, but nine months in total. Prisoner of war spent five months in the ‘Recommended folder‘ at Dark Wisdom before the editors rejected it. The rejection message was nice enough: Thank you for submitting “Prisoner of War” to Dark Wisdom. The story was very good but competition for […]

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Progress: <Working Title>

Another three pages added to this odd tale, and the first scene completed, I think. Which brings me to a difficult choice: do I switch point of view now to the antagonist, or do I stick with my protagonist all through the story? Not to mention the slight detail of deciding how the story ends. […]

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