Captain's Blog
Ahoy, Critterfolk!
New entry Dec 20
Critter Notices
P&E Readers' Poll
Preditors & Editors / Critters annual best-of Readers' Poll is now open! Vote for your favorites!
How to Write SF
Hot off the presses from ReAnimus Press! The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells by Ben Bova, best-selling author and six-time Hugo Award winner for Best Editor. (This is one of the books your ol' Critter Captain learned from himself, and I highly recommend it.)
Free Books
I've got five review copies of my newest ebook, A PRIVATE MUTINY and of the Vonnegut/Catch22-esque SIDE EFFECTS available for those who'd like one.
Book Recommendation
I wholeheartedly think you'll like this book ("Biff America" - humor) and want to recommend it to you.
Announcing ReAnimus Press
If you need help making ebooks from manuscripts or print copies—or finding great stuff to read—look no further! An ebook publisher started by your very own Critter Captain. (And with a 12% Affiliate program.) [More]
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FEATURED BOOK
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The Rules of Writing
> Learning to create art--drawn, written, musical--has its rules. You > don't hold the trombone with your toes and play with your nose > (although there's probably someone who can break even those rules and > create something meaningful). The problem with the word "rules" is that it can mean either "mandatory" (as in law) or "customary." "Rules" in art are the latter, but many beginners assume the former when they hear the word "rule," and thus may inappropriately demand compliance by others. I think of art as having "conventions": "A practice or procedure widely observed in a group; a custom". By convention you hold the trombone in your hands, you don't split infinitives, etc. You should learn what the conventions are, but not feel they are Laws, nor demand others follow them. In critiquing, you can, instead, offer your opinion that someone's unconventional usage didn't work for you. (Now, in the "mandatory" sense, computer programming has Rules. If you misplace a semi-colon in a program, it simply doesn't work. :-)
