“WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COOK!?”: OR, AN EXPLORATION OF LOOSE ENDS AND PLOT HOLES IN FICTIONBy James Wolanyk Believe it or not, I am a keen browser of my own book’s reviews. This should come as no surprise to most of you, but my mentor, Andre Dubus, had a strict “reviews are for buyers” policy.…
YOUR BOOK IS PUBLISHED NOW! (AND PEOPLE HATE IT); OR, ON BAD REVIEWSBy: James Wolanyk Greetings, lovely people. It has been a fair while since I’ve posted anything here, largely because of working full time as a teacher (aka soaking up Winter Break in all its glory), but also because of general holiday food comas.…
Genesis of an obsession…By Ulff Lehmann The Mighty Overlord, hallowed by thy name, Mike, tasked me to write a little piece on how Shattered Dreams came to be. The Mighty Overlord tasks, and since I don’t have anything better to do, at this time, I obey. So this is me enjoying to talk about my…
Heroic Tropes by: Ulff Lehmann Before me now lies this task, this quest if you will, to delve into heroic tropes and squeeze something new out of the dried husk that is this topic. Very well. I shall rise to the occasion and accept this challenge, though I have no bloody idea if I’ll succeed.…
3 KEYS TO MARKETING YOUR NOVEL So, you’ve written a novel. Great—that’s 99% of the battle. Or is it? You see, in 2018 (the time of this post being written), marketing has become of the largest barriers to a book’s success or failure. It’s no longer enough to slave over a novel, edit it, ship…
James Jakins and Robbers Dog Pub.By: Michael Evan I discovered James Jakins and his work when I read an article about last year's Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) as I'm always on the lookout for great indie and self published authors to add to my massive TBR mountain. In this case, one book caught my attention…
I was a freshman in high school when I first sat down to meditate. It was far from the monastic picture painted on desktop screensavers and self-help book covers, however. I remember that five-minute session as a maelstrom of self-criticism, of frustration, of disbelief at the utter chaos going on within my skull. All I…
Fantasy Focus 