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Monthly Archives: December 2019
The New Rude Masters of Fantasy & Science Fiction – and Romance
We’re closing the doors on 2019 and with that, I’ve finally finished up this essay, which I’ve been working on for over a year and which keeps having to be updated as new scuffles are played out. I have many thoughts on the modern publishing scene, many of them related to class/race/gender/disability issues, but I will focus on a particular question because right now we’re seeing a lot of this getting played out in the Romance Writers Association debacle, where author Courtney Milan was officially censured, suspended from membership for a year, and banned for life from RWA leadership after two other members complained that she had repeatedly/intentionally engaged in conduct injurious to the RWA through comments on social media. As part of the resulting furor, which seems to me just a flaming trainwreck and shining example of how an organization shouldn’t handle something like this that has included moments like Chuck Tingle disavowing knowing RWA President Damon Suede, authors of color (and queer authors) are once again being called rude for speaking out. So let’s begin.
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Guest Post: Jasmine Arch on A Safe, Inclusive Haven for Writers
I do my writing in between the cracks of a fulltime job, four dogs, two horses, and the renovation of our house, in which a lot of the work is done by my husband and myself. So yes, my writing … Continue reading
End of 2019 $5 Sale
Happy holidays, no matter what form you celebrate them in! Here at Chez Rambo, we mix a lot of traditions, all focused on friendship, food, and lots of lights, the last symbolizing our determination to keep shining brightly in 2020.
To celebrate, here’s the special end of the holidays sale, starting NOW and going through midnight of January 1, 2020. After that the coupon code will no longer be valid, alas. Stock up now!
Every on-demand class in the Rambo Academy is on sale for $5. Here’s the list of classes! The coupon code to use is HOLIDAYDAZE. If there’s any trouble, drop me an e-mail. That coupon is good on every on-demand class, so even if you stocked up on them last year, you’ll find some new to 2019.
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Guest Post: Deby Fredericks on What Are We Fighting For?
I joked recently that it seems like every story has to end with some gigantic battle. That’s how we know it’s the end, right? Think about it. Which of the world’s great legends tell us that our problems should be … Continue reading
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Tagged guest blog post, guest post, story climax, writing nonviolent solutions
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Guest Post: Kyle Winter on The Power of Passive Representation
Treading the waters of diversity is tricky because we never want to disrespect the struggles that women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, or others have had to endure. As writers, we often want to include people like this in our stories because their stories are powerful and can make a difference. This sometimes manifests itself as ‘the gay friend’ or ‘the black friend’ or if you’re really batting for a home run ‘the gay black friend’. This character is great for diversity. He shows that those people exist and that we shouldn’t be afraid of them. But over time, if we see the gay black friend over and over it creates a subliminal message that all gay black men behave a certain way, and that can damage the community. I think we should allow those characters to break the mold and keep it to themselves.
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Posted in guest post
Tagged diversity, guest blog post, guest post, kyle winter, passive representation
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Some Favorite F&SF Reads of 2019
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but includes many of my favorites. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. The success of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians trilogy has led to quite a few other “college for mages” books. This was … Continue reading
Guest Post: Ellie Coverdale on Top Tips for Writing Better LGBT Characters
As a writer, it’s normal to want to share stories about the diverse and interesting world around you. That can be difficult if you have to write a character with a completely different background and life experience than you. The important thing is to stay away from writing a stereotype or a character that’s unbelievable. To help you, this article will share five helpful suggestions to create excellent and multi-layered LGBT characters.
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Free Fiction: Stories Newly Enrolled in Kindle Unlimited
If you’re into short stories and have Kindle Unlimited, I made all of these free: Women of Zalanthas are all stories based in the game I used to write for, Armageddon MUD. The game’s still going strong, and you can … Continue reading
