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Alien Romances Blog
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A by-invitation group blog for busy authors of SFR, Futuristic, or Paranormal romances in which at least one protagonist is an alien, or of alien ancestry.

Santa's Mammogram

2024-04-14 01:30
Why Santa Claus? Why a Mammogram, and not an MRI? Obviously this is an extended metaphor, it might even qualify as an allegory. Santa Claus is a probably not real, he does not fly around the… Read More

Art Versus Life

2024-04-11 12:00
A work of art (specifically, literature, including poetry such as song lyrics) does not necessarily reveal the life or personality of the artist. Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers didn't ma… Read More

Clichés Don't Count

2024-04-07 02:00
Clichés aren't copyrightable, and rightly so. It would be unjust and inconvenient to deprive the populace of the right to express an inoffensive idea (even an over-used and unoriginal… Read More

Technofeudalism

2024-04-04 12:00
Cory Doctorow advances the position that capitalism isn't evolving into socialism (as classical Marxism predicted) but into a new form of feudalism: Capitalists Hate Capitalism His explana… Read More
Guest Author Post

Guest Author Post

2024-03-28 12:00
This week we have a guest blog, in Q & A form, from multi-genre author Karen Hulene Bartell: "What inspired you to begin writing?" IMHO, reading is the inspiration for and entry into wri… Read More

A Bad Week For Security

2024-03-23 21:19
Last week was a bad one, at least for my discretionary (aka writing) time. As writers, we are under pressure to promote, which means populating social media sites, making lots of friend… Read More

Before I Eat Snakes... (Mad Cow And Me)

2024-03-17 13:04
The Red Cross won't take my blood. No matter how overdrawn the blood banks are, some blood is just too muddy to be accepted as a donation to those who desperately need a transfusion.As you m… Read More

Misunderstood Archaisms

2024-03-07 13:00
Confronted with yet another stretch of several rainy days in a row, I'm reminded of the passage in the New Testament that illustrates divine impartiality with the statement that God sends ra… Read More

Controlling The Assault...

2024-03-02 16:51
Do you sometimes see emails that appear to have come from yourself or your author name? Only when you hover your cursor over your name do you see that the email address is actually from an a… Read More

Intermediaries On The Internet

2024-02-29 13:00
Another post by Cory Doctorow about how good platforms go bad and, by extension, how the internet goes bad: Intermediation Why didn't the internet, as promised, "disintermediate the world"… Read More

Trademarks, Keywords, And Bother

2024-02-25 02:00
Some superstars get to trademark a word and buy themselves trouble, and others have to persevere for many years before their brand and image is shielded. As far as I know, no one has tr… Read More

Hooking Without Overwhelming

2024-02-22 13:00
One of my publishers hosts weekly author chats. I recently read the transcript of a chat that warned against "overwhelming" the reader. Specifically, it discussed the hazard of overwhelming… Read More

Gender Pronouns In SF

2024-02-15 13:00
This week T. Kingfisher's new horror novel, WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT, was published. Sequel to WHAT MOVES THE DEAD (a retelling of "The Fall of the House of Usher"), it features the same narrato… Read More

Not Bad

2024-02-11 00:00
"Two wrongs don't make a right," directly contradicts "An eye for an eye", which notion of equal justice predates Exodus, and is thought to come from the ancient Mesopotamian Hammurabi's Cod… Read More

Parallel Lives In Different Worlds

2024-02-08 13:00
Speaking of living one's life over again, have I mentioned Jo Walton's novel MY REAL CHILDREN before? Having reread it last week, I'm impressed anew by its unusual approach to alternate hist… Read More

Groundhog Day

2024-02-01 13:00
February 2 is almost upon us -- Groundhog Day, aka Imbolc (Celtic) or Candlemas (Christian). Here's a brief overview of its history: Imbolc This date constitutes one of the major seasonal… Read More

Period, Full Stop

2024-01-29 14:53
Who cares if a late night comedian's voice-over says PERIOD and displays an exclamation point? How influential is that? It is thoroughly illiterate, and wrong... or is it, if a powerful gove… Read More

Deities In Fantasy Worlds

2024-01-25 13:00
Recently T. Kingfisher published the fourth book in her "Saint of Steel" series, PALADIN'S FAITH. (The others are PALADIN'S GRACE, PALADIN'S STRENGTH, and PALADIN'S HOPE.) Also in the same s… Read More

Untrained Melody

2024-01-21 15:06
I was planning to regurgitate some of the current discussions about AI, particularly with respect to copyright (this is, after all, a blog by and for authors), but I have just changed my tit… Read More

WEIRD TALES Centenary Tribute

2024-01-18 13:00
I've recently finished reading an anthology called WEIRD TALES: 100 YEARS OF WEIRD, edited by Jonathan Maberry, current editor of "The Unique Magazine." As the subtitle implies, this book wa… Read More

Once A Pirate...

2024-01-14 15:11
"Once..." is an odd and exciting word. It sets up expectations for what is to come next. Three possibilities come to mind.Once... Twice, as in "Once bitten, twice shy," the proverb, and the… Read More

Robotic Companions

2024-01-11 13:00
A robotic device called ElliQ, which functions as an AI "companion" for older people, is now available for purchase by the general public at a price of only $249.99 (plus a monthly subscript… Read More

Scammer Time

2024-01-07 14:52
Just what we need for an AI-enhanced Happy New Year: AI-enhanced scams, data breaches involving everything a "population health technology company" has on millions of patients, trademark sca… Read More

AI As A Bubble

2024-01-04 13:00
Cory Doctorow's latest LOCUS column analyzes AI as a "tech bubble." What Kind of Bubble Is AI? Although I had a vague idea of what economists mean by "bubble," I looked it up to make sure… Read More

ANATOMY OF A SCAM

2023-12-30 16:00
My topic for the day is "Pig Butchering", which is a brutal name for a type of scam. For my title (not to borrow someone else's title), I took Anatomy, with reference to meaning #6, Examinat… Read More

Celebrating Public Domain Day

2023-12-28 13:00
January 1 is Public Domain Day for works still under copyright that were first released in 2028: Public Domain Day 2024 The article includes selected lists of books, plays, films, and musi… Read More

TONGUE IN CHEEK WITH A TROLL

2023-12-24 02:30
If you do an internet search for images of Trolls, you are likely to find small, colorful creatures with wild hair, big toothy grins, and retrousse noses with large, wide nostrils.The nostri… Read More

Dangerous Gifts

2023-12-21 13:00
The solstice is upon us! There's hope that within a few weeks darkness will stop falling at 5 p.m. Happy winter holidays! It might seem natural that if people with arcane psychic talents ex… Read More

The Netflix Of His Time

2023-12-17 10:55
It was a time when all women were men, at least on the stage. Boys and men played the female parts. The "nurses" and other character parts were the Mrs. Doubtfires of the Elizabethan and Jac… Read More

Decoding Brain Waves

2023-12-14 13:00
Can a computer program read thoughts? An experimental project uses AI as a "brain decoder," in combination with brain scans, to "transcribe 'the gist' of what people are thinking, in what wa… Read More

Whose Who?

2023-12-10 21:17
Punctuation is a matter of courtesy to ones reader. I believe that Sir Ernest Gowers wrote words to that effect in his influential "Plain Words". He was a powerful advocate for brevity and p… Read More

The Smartest Animals

2023-12-07 13:00
Here's yet another list of the supposedly most intelligent nonhuman animals, or at least a selection of them: 11 of the World's Smartest Animals How is intelligence defined for purposes of… Read More

What's In A Meme?

2023-12-03 12:40
What's In A Meme? In a fund-raising email, with the subject-line "Fight For The Memes", Christian Romero of the EFF Membership Team wrote of memes:"Support your right to have fun online.""De… Read More

Animal Facial Expressions

2023-11-30 13:00
A study at the University of Kansas Medical Center "discovered that cats use nearly 300 distinct facial expressions to communicate with one another": Cats' Facial Expressions In contrast… Read More

Per Ardua

2023-11-26 21:34
Now this is interesting if you happen to want to be legally correct while writing about a naughty astronaut.Per ardua ad astra is the motto of the British Royal Air Force, and means (roughly… Read More

Thanksgiving And Traditions

2023-11-23 13:00
Happy American Thanksgiving! Ordinarily we spend the weekend after Turkey Day at ChessieCon, formerly Darkover Grand Council, which has traditionally occurred every Thanksgiving weekend for… Read More

Your Shot?

2023-11-19 14:33
Whether the photo is of your wedding or is taken as you arrive at a glamorous event or awards ceremony (not that the latter two are mutually exclusive) or even if it the one-in-a-million pas… Read More

Bad People Versus Bad Institutions

2023-11-16 13:00
In his latest LOCUS essay, Cory Doctorow discusses whether "all the internet services we enjoyed and came to rely upon became suddenly and irreversibly terrible – as the result of mora… Read More

Tatters

2023-11-12 12:49
Today's earworm is not a song about Tattoos, but the lyrics include "I'm in tatters".Since the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided that Andy Warhol's use of the Goldsmith ph… Read More

Considering Adaptations

2023-11-09 13:00
That is, one adaptation in particular: CONJURE WIFE, by Fritz Leiber. It was first published as a magazine serial by UNKNOWN WORLDS in 1943, later revised and expanded for reprint in book fo… Read More

Scary Solstice

2023-11-02 12:00
I recently read a lavishly illustrated book about midwinter folklore, THE FRIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, by Jeff Belanger, featuring Krampus, the Yule Cat, Belsnickel, and many other Christmas-sea… Read More

Double Takes

2023-10-29 13:36
Did you ever glimpse an attractively grizzled former President of the United States, dancing barefoot on a beach with a lady who did not look like his famous first lady spouse, in an adverti… Read More

A World Without Christmas

2023-10-26 12:00
The Hallmark channel has already begun its annual Countdown to Christmas movie marathon. For us (Episcopalians) the season runs from the first Sunday of Advent (early December) to Epiphany (… Read More

Say, Say, Say

2023-10-22 22:10
"Say, say, say..."  Is that one word? Or is it three? Is that a quibble? Does it matter?It might. Some would say that the context matters very much, for instance as in how and why a nov… Read More

Defining Death

2023-10-19 12:00
I've been reading a book called WHEN THE "DEAD" ROSE IN BRITAIN, by Nicole C. Salomone. After a forty-page overview of the history of medicine in Europe and Britain, the author delves into "… Read More

Enunciation

2023-10-15 13:00
Enunciation matters.Enunciation is the art or skill or ability to pronounce words clearly. Some minor celebrities have it, and some don't. If, as an author, you are paying substantial prices… Read More

Learning Without Brains

2023-10-12 12:00
Can creatures without brains think? Many of them can learn, so are they thinking? This article highlights several brainless life forms capable of learning: Organisms Without Brains Of cour… Read More

Mental Illness In Horror

2023-10-05 12:00
The Horror Writers Association's monthly newsletter has started running a column about the treatment of mental illness in horror fiction -- how it's been done wrong in the past and how to do… Read More

On Moderation

2023-10-01 11:19
To the people who leave comments that get flagged by our host for moderation, thank you. Thank you for your support and for the very kind words.We read and appreciate all the comments, but w… Read More

In Celebration Of Happy Endings

2023-09-28 12:00
In fiction, is a sad conclusion more "realistic" than a happy one? "The belief seems to be that tragic or unhappy endings are 'real' and therefore 'worthy' while happy endings are an easy co… Read More

What's Moral Turpitude Got To Do With It?

2023-09-24 14:06
Isn't "turpitude" sufficient? Isn't "moral turpitude" somewhat tautologous? In any case, it is all about when one's morals take a deep dive into unrighteousness, depravity, debauchery, liber… Read More

Character Brainstorming With AI

2023-09-21 12:00
Here's a WRITER'S DIGEST article about how an author might use ChatGPT as an aid to composition without actually having the program do the writing: Using AI to Develop Characters The autho… Read More

Defamation In Progress

2023-09-16 15:50
One of my favourite quotes attributed to Voltaire is, "If you would converse with me, you must first define your terms." Of course, this exact wording is almost impossible to find, firs… Read More

Do This, Not That

2023-09-09 20:38
I am posting half a day early because there is a 24-hour, short story contest opening today run by Writers Weekly, a publisher and one of my favorite sources of "what-not-to-do" examples of… Read More

SF Terminology Goofs

2023-09-07 12:00
I've started watching the second season of MY DAD THE BOUNTY HUNTER, a cartoon series on Netflix. Some dialogue passages reminded me of a few of my "pet peeves" concerning language too often… Read More

Rocking Like A ...Windstorm

2023-09-02 21:24
Do you rock your blog? I'll get to reportage on the most interesting, copyright-related issue of the last two weeks, but first I should like to share a shout out to Karen Lange's article "8… Read More

On Character Growth

2023-08-31 12:00
There's an essay on the WRITER'S DIGEST website called "The Importance of Character Growth in Fiction," by bestselling author Annie Rains: Importance of Character Growth She lists and disc… Read More

Wrack And UAIN

2023-08-27 12:53
There's "wrack and ruin", which means destruction and is somewhat tautologous (it says the same thing twice), and there is "rack and ruin" which means stretching torture and subsequent usele… Read More
Stop And Smell The Roses By Karen Wiesner

Stop And Smell The Roses By Karen Wiesner

2023-08-25 11:00
Stop and Smell the Roses by Karen Wiesner A memorial for a dear friend who passed away recently, including some of my colored pencil flower artwork. A dear friend of mine passed away rece… Read More

The Right Buzz

2023-08-20 13:03
One really should not exploit someone's name for the joy of word play. But, I just did, so I apologize. It's four months until the Holiday Season, so it is high time for those-with-book… Read More

Ideal Writing Day

2023-08-17 12:00
The e-mail list for authors of one of my publishers had a fun discussion thread last week: What would your ideal writing day be like? I envy the kind of writing day some of those apparently… Read More

How Long Is A Piece Of String?

2023-08-13 19:18
Or for that matter, and this is my point, what is the price of a cup of coffee?If one is staying at a Best Western, or a Hampton Inn, the coffee flows freely all day (from industrial-sized t… Read More

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