2023-09-22 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}Book Review: The
Ritual by Adam Nevillby Karen S. WiesnerThe Ritual by Adam Nevill is a supernatural horror novel published
in 2011. Four males who were in col… Read More
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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.
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
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
2023-09-15 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}Book Review: Rooks and Ruin Trilogy by Melissa Carusoby Karen S. WiesnerPer my usual, I came into
author Melissa Caruso's high fantasy work through the back do… Read More
2023-09-14 12:00
In Cory Doctorow's latest column, he brings up a potential unintended byproduct of overusing "large language models," aka chatbots such as ChatGPT:
Plausible Sentence Generators
He recalls… Read More
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
2023-09-08 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: Bird Box by
Josh Malerman
by Karen S. Wiesner
Bird Box is a post-apocalyptic
horror thriller published in 2014. Most people know of the stor… Read More
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
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
2023-09-02 00:15
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: Jonathan
Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
by Karen S. Wiesner
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is an epic "alte… Read More
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
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
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
2023-08-24 12:00
Last week I read TERRY PRATCHETT: A LIFE WITH FOOTNOTES, by Rob Wilkins, who worked as the Discworld creator's personal assistant for many years, right up to the end. Two points in this biog… Read More
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
2023-08-18 11:00
Pros and Cons of Taking Break from Writing,
Part 2
by Karen S. Wiesner
In the
final of a two-part article, I evaluate aging, progress, and momentum as well
as talk about the indisputabl… Read More
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
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
2023-08-11 11:00
Pros and Cons of Taking Break from Writing,
Part 1
by Karen S. Wiesner In
this two-part article, I evaluate aging, progress, and momentum as well as talk
about the indisputable value… Read More
2023-08-10 12:00
Nowadays a widely accepted piece of advice about writing fiction sternly rebukes any use of dialogue tags other than the simple, almost invisible word "said." No alternative verb choices suc… Read More
2023-08-06 13:29
When I was a Lower Sixth Former (penultimate year of school), I had an enormous pink rubber (by which I mean an eraser) bearing the printed legend, "I Never Make Big Misteaks". The misspelli… Read More
2023-08-04 11:00
Art by Karen WiesnerIn
celebration of all things Medieval, a simplified black and white sketch I did in
2022 of the painting The Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton (1901).@Karen Wiesnerhttp:/… Read More
2023-08-03 12:00
Watching the first few episodes of STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, which takes place during Captain Christopher Pike's command of the Enterprise, started me thinking about the phenomenon of s… Read More
2023-07-28 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Reviews: The Martian,
Artemis, and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
by Karen S. Wiesner
After I watched The Martian movie with Matt Damon, I
immediate… Read More
2023-07-27 12:00
Could runaway nanobots take over the planet?
"Gray goo is a term used to describe a lifeless world completely occupied by self-replicating nanomaterials that have consumed the energy of all… Read More
2023-07-23 13:55
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association supports the National Writers Union's "Creators call for action on AI copyright exemptions", and shares the link to an article written by… Read More
2023-07-23 12:08
Well, this is embarrassing. Last week, I wrote ignorantly and speculatively about Mars. It turns out, per DISCOVER magazine, that Mars is thought to be very cold indeed, and the most similar… Read More
2023-07-21 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: The Death
of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
by Karen S. Wiesner
In the 2021 Gothic romantic
horror The Death of Jane Lawrence,
Caitlin St… Read More
2023-07-20 12:00
Here's a very lucid essay from WRITER'S DIGEST about the differences between flat (two-dimensional) and round (three-dimensional) characters:
Flat vs. Round
It defines the two types with l… Read More
2023-07-17 12:06
Hmmm. It's the sound of human thought expressed in writing, but could also denote humming. This week, I read ten compendia of the legal blogs and could not find anything inspiring. Of course… Read More
2023-07-14 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}Book Review: The Expanse Series by James S. A. Coreyby Karen S. WiesnerI started reading The Expanse
Series when I found the boxed set with the first three nov… Read More
2023-07-13 12:00
Few, if any, readers and writers of science fiction believe it exists to predict the future. Strikingly on-target foretellings of future events and technology are occasional, serendipitous a… Read More
2023-07-08 15:59
Not for the first time, I wish to talk about dishonest reviews. It's not sour grapes on my part. It's relevant. If one solicits five-star reviews, and perhaps offers a meaningful incent… Read More
2023-07-07 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore
by Karen S. Wiesner
I came into the character of
Drizzt Do-Urden through a side door. I hadn't read t… Read More
2023-07-06 12:00
I've recently reread Sharyn McCrumb's mystery novel IF I'D KILLED HIM WHEN I MET HIM, which includes a subplot about a woman who wants to marry a dolphin. That character argues that dolphins… Read More
2023-07-02 13:04
Don Quixote tilted at windmills, which is to say that he leveled his lance at a windmill, spurred on his horse to the greatest speed of which his horse was capable, and drove the point of hi… Read More
2023-06-30 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: The Mrs. Quent Trilogy by Galen Beckett
by Karen S. Wiesner
Galen Beckett is the alter ego
of fantasy author Mark Anthony, who's best known… Read More
2023-06-29 12:00
Historical fiction typically places invented characters and plotlines against the backdrop of real events, sometimes including encounters with famous people of the past. But historical novel… Read More
2023-06-25 14:10
There are some scientific facts about space travel that are inconvenient. Again, I am talking about astronauts and their bodies. First, it should be said since my usual topic on this pl… Read More
2023-06-23 11:00
{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Book Review: The
Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
by Karen Wiesner
In the 2019 sci-fi horror The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling's
first novel, the prot… Read More
2023-06-22 12:00
I'm reading an enthralling new vampire novel, THE GOD OF ENDINGS, by Jacqueline Holland. The first-person protagonist grew up in the 1830s in a small town in New York, as the daughter of a g… Read More
2023-06-18 19:50
This will be dry... and esoteric.For owners of blogs, websites and such, one is supposed to register a copyright agent. Then, not only is one required to change ones password almost every mo… Read More
2023-06-16 11:00
Read What You Love, Part 3
by Karen S. Wiesner
In this three-part article,
I talk about what conditions, if any, cultivate or discourage a love of… Read More
2023-06-15 12:00
This week I acquired a new HP computer to replace my old Dell, which had started unpredictably freezing up at least once per day. Installing Windows 11 didn't fix it. It had reached the poin… Read More
2023-06-11 20:22
This week, most of the law blogs are discussing either AI or the Warhol case, however, I came upon a fascinating podcast discussing derivative works and fan fiction.The law office is Davis W… Read More
2023-06-09 11:00
Read What You Love, Part 2
by Karen S. Wiesner
In this three-part article,
I talk about what conditions, if any, cultivate or discourage a love of the
written word as well as about the imp… Read More
2023-06-08 12:00
As you may have seen in the news lately, dozens of experts in artificial intelligence have supported a manifesto claiming AI could threaten the extinction of humanity:
AI Could Lead to Exti… Read More
2023-06-04 14:07
I may have used "You Can't Make It Up" for an earlier post, so have added a disclaimer. My apologies if the disclaimer [Double Entedre] weakens the title, does not make sense, or comes acros… Read More
2023-06-02 11:00
Read What You Love, Part 1
by Karen S. Wiesner
In this three-part article,
I talk about what conditions, if any, cultivate or discourage a love of the
written word as well as about the imp… Read More
2023-06-01 12:00
Elon Musk's Neuralink Corporation is developing an implant intended to treat severe brain disorders and enable paralyzed patients to control devices remotely. As a long-term goal, the compan… Read More
2023-05-28 20:52
Never in my life have I pleasured myself in front of a computer. Have you? That is rhetorical. I do not want to know. So, today, when I received an email that appeared to come from an I… Read More
2023-05-26 11:00
Reflections of Life, Part 5
by Karen S. Wiesner
In looking back over the course of my life as an author
who's looking forward to becoming an artist in retirement, I've learned to slow
down… Read More
2023-05-25 12:00
A publisher called Obsidian Butterfly is assembling an anthology to be titled "NecronomiRomCom," comprising Cthulhu Mythos romantic comedies:
Obsidian Butterfly
Working on a story to submi… Read More
2023-05-21 15:08
Happily, my title for today's rag bag of copyright-related news from the legal blogosphere is not as nihilistic as it ("NIL Protection") may sound on first glance.N.I.L. is the acronym for "… Read More
2023-05-19 11:00
Reflections of Life, Part 4
by Karen S. Wiesner
In looking back over the course of my life as an author
who's looking forward to becoming an artist in retirement, I've learned to slow
down… Read More
2023-05-18 12:00
Cory Doctorow's column in the May issue of LOCUS discusses what we'd probably think of as paranoid conspiracy theorists, vehemently protesting imaginary global plots against our lives and li… Read More
2023-05-14 13:14
My title for today --which is American "Mothers' Day"-- is a downbeat twist on Gene Kranz's famous quote that "Failure is not an option." There are plenty of inspiring words about the r… Read More
2023-05-12 11:00
Reflections of Life, Part 3… Read More
2023-05-11 12:00
A vintage short story that was filmed as a TWILIGHT ZONE episode features an elderly millionaire who wants to relive his life, with his memories intact, for the thrill of making his fortune… Read More
2023-05-07 13:45
My internet is out, and heavy thunderstorms are impending, so I will keep this short.The copyright alliance has some excellent resources for creators, and membership is free for creators.htt… Read More
2023-05-05 11:00
Reflections of Life, Part 2
by Karen S. Wiesner
In looking back over the course of my life as an author
who's looking forward to becoming an artist in retirement, I've learned to slow
down… Read More
2023-04-30 17:36
I came upon "falsity" within a copyright-related Law Review article about the protected speech, and I was intrigued.Is "falsity" a lesser known synonym for "falsehood"? Apparently, not… Read More
2023-04-28 11:00
Reflections of Life, Part 1
by Karen S. Wiesner
In looking back over the course of my life as an author
who's looking forward to becoming an artist in retirement, I've learned to slow
down… Read More
2023-04-23 14:02
The "natural right" to own property is one of the acid tests of whether a society is a free market democracy or not.Simply from the grammatical perspective, one might call an acid test a "ha… Read More
2023-04-21 11:00
Details of Life
by Karen S. Wiesner
In
this article, I talk about changing your perspective from the negative to the
positive when writing an obituary for yourself or for a loved one who's… Read More
2023-04-20 12:00
A relatively recent (2021) article on plant intelligence, which includes an interview with Monica Gagliano, a professor in Evolutionary Ecology at Southern Cross University in Australia:
Pl… Read More
2023-04-17 19:40
Don't Sleep In The Subway, Darling.There are probably several messages there. For me, one is that this song by Petula Clark did enormous and lasting damage to the English language because sh… Read More
2023-04-13 12:00
According to columnist Tyler Cowen, "In the future, middle-class kids will learn from, play with and grow attached to their own personalized AI chatbots."
I read this essay in our local new… Read More
2023-04-08 21:44
One of the lesser-discussed intellectual property rights is the right of publicity, and until recently, the right to use --or more importantly to stop other people using--ones voice was not… Read More
2023-04-07 11:00
Taking the Bucket Out of the Bucket List,Part 2by Karen S. WiesnerIn this final of a two
part article, I discuss the wisdom and benefits of, and strategies for, drawing
up a personal bucket… Read More
2023-04-06 12:00
I recently read FANTASY: HOW IT WORKS, by Brian Attebery, a distinguished scholar of fantasy and science fiction. In addition to the solid content, he has a highly readable style. While I ca… Read More
2023-04-01 15:54
The earworm is "Call Me Irresponsible". The lyrics are a strange choice to associate with a medication that helps some patients to relieve migraine, but that has side effects such as unrelia… Read More
2023-03-31 11:00
Taking the Bucket Out of the Bucket List,
Part 1
by Karen S. Wiesner
In this two part
article, I discuss the wisdom and benefits of, and strategies for, drawing up a
personal bucket list… Read More
2023-03-30 12:00
Cory Doctorow's column for the March 2023 issue of LOCUS, for once, asserts a position I can support without reservation: End-to-End Concerning the many problems involved in making the inter… Read More
2023-03-26 12:56
My title should be lorum ipsum, but it indicates to printers not to waste ink, and I fear that the bots might over ride publishing when I click the Publish button.The copyright/trademark/adv… Read More
2023-03-24 11:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner Three-Dimensional Writing, Part 3 Based on Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing (formerly titled Bring Your Fiction to Life {Crafting Three-Dimensiona… Read More
2023-03-23 12:00
Last week the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts was held in Orlando (as usual). This was the second in-person conference since the two-year pandemic hiatus (which… Read More
2023-03-18 21:00
One would have thought that drug companies ought to be among the most precise and accurate with the wording of their advertisements. Apparently, some are not.This new "wonder drug" is probab… Read More
2023-03-17 11:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner Three-Dimensional Writing, Part 2 Based on Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing (formerly titled Bring Your Fiction to Life {Crafting Three-Dimensiona… Read More
2023-03-10 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner Three-Dimensional Writing, Part 1 Based on Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing (formerly titled Bring Your Fiction to Life {Crafting Three-Dimensiona… Read More
2023-03-09 13:00
Could techniques that restore markers of youth to old mice have any effect on human subjects? Blood Transfusion Experiment in Mice Cellular senescence, a "state in which cells stop growing a… Read More
2023-03-04 15:46
There was a robot outside my hotel room door last night. It was about the size of R2D2, and its function was to vacuum the corridor carpet. As far as I could tell, and I watched it for… Read More
2023-03-03 13:00
Based on Writing the Standalone Series (formerly titled Writing the Fiction Series {The Guide to Novel and Novellas})“The [series] tiger springs in the new year. Us he devours.”… Read More
2023-03-02 13:00
Arley Sorg's "By the Numbers" column in the March-April 2023 MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION is titled "The Lifespan of a Magazine." After rereading the LOCUS "Magazine Summary" for… Read More
2023-02-25 18:00
I am not going to talk about pronouns! However, that is what "this" and "that" can be, depending on the context. They can also be adjectives, demonstrative pronouns, adverbs, or even definit… Read More
2023-02-24 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner I Want to Write a Series. Now What?Part 2 Based on Writing the Standalone Series (formerly titled Writing the Fiction Series {The Guide to Novel an… Read More
2023-02-23 13:00
To follow up the topic of "creative" artificial intelligence programs, here are some clergy-persons' thoughts about sermons composed by chatbots: Sermons Written by ChatGPT Not surprisingly… Read More
2023-02-19 14:34
This week, the SFWA is talking about Artificial Intelligence, therefore, I will not do so. Any reader of the alien romances blog who wishes to share online-published opinion pieces (about A… Read More
2023-02-17 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner I Want to Write a Series. Now What? Part 1 Based on Writing the Standalone Series (formerly titled Writing the Fiction Series {The Guide to N… Read More
2023-02-16 13:00
Here's an article about an artificial blood substitute being developed by a research physician from the University of Maryland School of Medicine: Artificial Blood One Step Closer It's not m… Read More
2023-02-10 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner The Ins and Outs of Outlining, Part 3 Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS) This is the final of three posts… Read More
2023-02-09 13:00
There's been a lot of news in the media lately about AI programs that generate text or images. One of the e-mail lists I subscribe to recently had a long thread about AI text products and es… Read More
2023-02-05 14:05
Today, my topic is indentity and copyright, rather than Hamlet's existential dilemma.What happens when two creators (authors, photographers, painters) have the same name? In the case of a fa… Read More
2023-02-03 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner The Ins and Outs of Outlining. Part 2 Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS) This is the second of three pos… Read More
2023-02-02 13:00
I recently read a novel with an unusual slant on a world ruled by vampires, DAY BOY, by Trent Jamieson. It takes place in a rather dreary post-apocalyptic world. The narrator is a teenage "d… Read More
2023-01-29 21:14
Two wrongs don't make a right.That is my opinion. It has also been called an idiom, a proverb, occasionally a rebuttal of defence/defense for lack of candour, or for violent retaliatio… Read More
2023-01-27 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner The Ins and Outs of Outlining, Part 1 Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRAFT IN 30 DAYS) This is the first of three post… Read More
2023-01-26 13:00
I've recently read an excellent novel called NEVER LET ME GO, by Kazuo Ishiguro, author of THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. (I've seen the film adaptation of the latter, but I don't plan to watch the… Read More
2023-01-22 22:35
Lollygagging means "messing around" in more ways than one. Delete the frozen, fruity sweet treat portion of the word, and one comes to the meat --if you will pardon the mixed metaphor--of to… Read More
2023-01-20 12:00
Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner The Four Myths Your Muse Desperately Wants You to Believe, Part 4 by Karen S. Wiesner Based on FIRST DRAFT OUTLINE (formerly titled FIRST DRA… Read More
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