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Want to Support Cat? Buy Some Books!
Twenty fantasy stories of our world and others. Publisher's Weekly called them 'crisp and compelling'.
"If you want some really excellent stories, get the e-book. If you also want a physical object to warm the heart of any print-book collector, go for the paper version." Don Sakers, Asimov's
Cat's first nonfiction book talks about how to set up and maintain an online presence -- without cutting into your writing time.
Clockwork Fairies, a steampunk short story, originally appeared on Tor.com.
Recent Posts
What I’m Working On: The SFWA Cookbook
Beside all the convulsions of moving and prep for travel, I’m doing the usual writing (working on a YA novel and have a slew of stories I’ve been asked for), but I’m also working on a nonfiction project of a type I never thought I’d work on: a cookbook, which I’m co-editing with Fran Wilde.
It’s a SFWA project, and I’m excited about it for a number of reasons.
Continue reading →Trimming Down
Continuing to pack and sort and dispose of stuff. This morning I’ll take a box over to PC Recycle, send my brother yet another box of books, and haul one more trunk’s worth of stuff to Value Village. I find myself increasing ready to pitch stuff, but I still cling to some: a plastic crate full of notebooks I want to sort through, a few knick knacks, a favorite mug.
Radio Silence
Upcoming plans and publications for 2014.
Continue reading →Cat’s Norwescon 37 Schedule
Here’s where I’ll be. If you’re a SFWA member, you’ll also see me at the Saturday morning meeting. Geek, Geek, Don’t Tell Me! Fri 4:00pm-5:00pm Evergreen 3&4 If you enjoy NPR’s weekly quiz show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” you’ll … Continue reading →
Some Slushpile Thoughts
In reading for Women Destroy Fantasy, I’ve cleared about two hundred stories away so far, and there’s still about a hundred I have yet to read. Some amazing stuff, some familiar names, and all in all, a slush pile that is full enough of solid stories that I could fill several issues. It’s been a great pleasure to be elbow deep in so much excellence. So here’s a few notes on the experience so far.
Continue reading →Creating An Online Presence Now Available for More E-formats
Huzzah! Thanks to the patient labor of Tamara Vining, there’s now plenty of options up on Smashwords, including epub, mobi, pdf and online.
If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s based on my online class, and tries to go through basics of creating and maintaining an online presence for writers. It includes what you need on a website, how to effectively use social media, how to find readers via social media, what free resources and tools are available to writers (and how to use them most effectively), whether it’s worth it to pay for online advertising, and, most importantly, how to promote yourself online without using all your valuable writing time to do so. Because the writing always comes first.
Continue reading →You Should Read This: An Appreciation of Andre Norton
My high school years were steeped in reading from several F&SF authors. Among them, the most influential was quite probably Andre Norton. In arranging my book collection in those early days, Norton was always satisfying, because she wrote a gazillion books and I had most of them. I know three fantasy landscapes well because I wandered them so often as a young reader: Narnia, Middle Earth, and Norton’s Witch World.
Continue reading →You Should Read This: The Past Through Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein
A blog post I read recently used attitude towards Robert A. Heinlein as a measurement of a person’s…I’m not quite sure what, but it seemed to be connected to their worthiness to be part of the F&SF community.
I don’t care so much about that. There are problematic aspects to Heinlein’s writing, yes, and one fascinating thing about that is that they span the range of the political spectrum. But regardless of attitude, if you want to be well-read in science fiction (by which I mean you have read much of the significant material in the field and understand at a rudimentary level where it fits in relationship to other significant works), you need to have at least a nodding acquaintance with Heinlein. And if you are looking for one work that shows his range and also includes some stories that show how marvelous a wordsmith he can be, I recommend The Past Through Tomorrow: Future History Stories.
Continue reading →
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