Futures Less Travelled (Page 2)

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Introducing the 'story cone' method for character creation

Introducing the 'story cone' method for character creation

Thursday night UK time, I attended a four-hour (!) workshop on ‘Cracking the Story Code: Character and Structure for Riveting Stories’ [https://ltue.net/masterclasses/].This was an introduction to the Farmer System of Narrative Analysis (FSNA). I’d never heard of it before and – thus – figured I might learn

Taking on the Boloverse: The Triumphant - Book 3

Taking on the Boloverse: The Triumphant - Book 3

A fortnight ago, as part of my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/]project, I blogged about The Unconquerable [http://futureslesstravelled.com/taking-on-the-boloverse-the-unconquerable-bolos-book-2/] , the second in a series of [https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/

Taking on the Boloverse: The Unconquerable - Bolos Book 2

Taking on the Boloverse: The Unconquerable - Bolos Book 2

A few months ago, I began my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/]project and blogged aboutHonor of the Regiment [http://futureslesstravelled.com/taking-on-the-boloverse-honor-of-the-regiment-bolos-book-1/] , the first in a series of [https://www.baen.com/allbooks/

Some (belated) comments on the 2020 Hugo finalists

Hugo Awards 2020

Some (belated) comments on the 2020 Hugo finalists

I voted in the Hugo Awards ballot this year. I also managed to blog about the dumpster fire that was George R. R. Martin leading the Hugo ceremony [http://futureslesstravelled.com/yep-grrm-the-2020-hugo-awards-ceremony-was-a-dumpster-fire/] , largely because I couldn’t believe someone that

Tips for Worldbuilding in Sci-fi and Fantasy

Tips for Worldbuilding in Sci-fi and Fantasy

Here is a write-up of the worldbuilding workshop I attended at virtual Worldcon last month. Fantasy author Claire Bartlett [https://authorclaire.com]ran a sci-fi and fantasyworldbuilding workshop [https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/conzealand/en/conzealand/schedule/1760/Worldbuilding%20-%20Writers%20Workshop%20(Late%20Night)] for eight writers

Taking on the Boloverse: Honor of the Regiment - Bolos Book 1

Taking on the Boloverse: Honor of the Regiment - Bolos Book 1

Last month, I introduced you to my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/]project and blogged aboutThe Compleat Bolo [http://futureslesstravelled.com/taking-on-the-boloverse-the-compleat-bolo-part-i/] , an anthology of Bolo stories written by Keith Laumer. This week, I’m going

Yep, George R. R. Martin @ the 2020 Hugo Awards ceremony was a dumpster fire

Hugo Awards 2020

Yep, George R. R. Martin @ the 2020 Hugo Awards ceremony was a dumpster fire

I didn’t intend to blog about ConZealand [https://conzealand.nz/]. I thought I might blog about my Hugo Awards [http://www.thehugoawards.org/] ballot… maybe. Then I had the misfortune to wake up to Tweets about the Hugo Awards ceremony. I started watching it, began messaging a friend with

Taking on the Boloverse: Does a sentient tank need a crystalline brain?

Big Boys Don't Cry

Taking on the Boloverse: Does a sentient tank need a crystalline brain?

Last week, I asked Tom Kratman [https://tomkratman.com]: aregiant tanks outdated? [http://futureslesstravelled.com/?p=1488]This week, Tom and I talk about his giant tank novella Big Boys Don’t Cry [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Boys-Dont-Cry-Kratman-ebook/dp/B00IKT7HQI]. And I ask: does

Taking on the Boloverse: Are giant tanks outdated?

Taking on the Boloverse: Are giant tanks outdated?

Last week, I blogged [http://futureslesstravelled.com/?p=1481] about Keith Laumer’s The Compleat Bolo. [https://bolo.fandom.com/wiki/The_Compleat_Bolo]This week’s blogpost is a discussion between Tom Kratman [https://tomkratman.com] and I on the topic of whether giant tanks are a viable future

Taking on the Boloverse: The Compleat Bolo - Part 1

Taking on the Boloverse: The Compleat Bolo - Part 1

Last week, I introduced you to my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ project. My aim, to blog my research for a novel based on Tom Kratman [https://tomkratman.com]‘s Hugo-nominated [https://www.tor.com/2015/04/04/2015-hugo-award-nominees/] novella Big Boys Don’t Cry [https://www.

Introducing 'Taking on the Boloverse'!

Big Boys Don't Cry

Introducing 'Taking on the Boloverse'!

Ifyou’ve ever fancied a mash-up courtroom drama where the defendant is a giant tank, I may have EXACTLY the book for you… Everyone likes HUMUNGOUS mecha, right? And legal-suspense thrillers? Well, perhaps not everyone. I’m a huge fan of John Grisham thrillers [https://www.jgrisham.com]

Aliens, hamsters in tutus, and the nightmare scenario for particle physics

Aliens, hamsters in tutus, and the nightmare scenario for particle physics

Could aliens be blocking the progress of human science? Well, that’s a science fiction plot, but it has some truth behind it… [http://www.futureslesstravelled.com/aliens-hamsters-tutus-nightmare-scenario-particle-physics/threebodyproblemfilm/] Front cover art for the bookThree Body Problemwritten byLiu Cixin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Was there life on Venus...?

Was there life on Venus...?

In Edgar Rice Burroughs science-fantasy novel Pirates of Venus [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300211h.html], the herocrash lands on Venus ( Amtor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtor]) when his rocket ship is thrown off course. He discovers a verdant world of giant vegetation and unmapped oceans, wreathed in

Celebrating the National Dog Days of Summer - Links: 27/08

Arthur C Clarke Award

Celebrating the National Dog Days of Summer - Links: 27/08

Big news this week: An Earth-like planet was spotted [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/24/earth-like-planet-found-orbiting-our-suns-nearest-star-raises-hopes-for-life-proxima-b?CMP=share_btn_tw] in our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, raising hopes of glowing aliens [http:

How to pitch your novel to Baen Books (maybe)

How to pitch your novel to Baen Books (maybe)

Earlier this summer I pitched my (unfinished) novel toBaen Books [http://www.baen.com]‘ Contributing Editor Gray Rinehart [https://twitter.com/grayrinehart?lang=en-gb] at a face-to-face critique session at LibertyCon [http://www.libertycon.org], a three-day sci-fi and fantasy literature convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Detecting a Death Star and other gravitational wave ideas

Gravitational waves

Detecting a Death Star and other gravitational wave ideas

If you follow the news, you’ll know that last Thursday (11/02) scientists detected for the first timegravitational waves [http://physics.aps.org/articles/v9/17]– tremors in the fabric of space and time. The discovery confirmed the theories of Albert Einstein, who predicted their existence 100 years ago.

[Review] Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang

[Review] Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang

Folding Beijing [http://uncannymagazine.com/article/folding-beijing-2/], a novelette published in Uncanny Magazine [http://uncannymagazine.com/], depictsa fantastical future Beijing where the skyscrapers fold and unfold like origami in a forty-eight-hour cycle. Each time the city folds, a new space is revealed, and its inhabitants begin

[Interview] Allen Ashley on the state of the SF&F short story market

[Interview] Allen Ashley on the state of the SF&F short story market

Is the science fiction & fantasy short story a dying art form? Or is there a growing market driven by push-button publishing and the web? Last year the Guardian newspaper argued that SF&F short fiction was entering a golden age [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/

The trouble with hard SF...

The trouble with hard SF...

Traditional publishers don’t like hard SF [http://anniecardi.com/2015/10/26/the-martian-rejection-and-finding-your-reader/] , says anauthor with a creative writing MFA [http://anniecardi.com/about/]: [http://www.futureslesstravelled.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-Martian.jpg] Which raises a question. As writers [https:

New Wars, New Technology

New Wars, New Technology

Event China is ‘not frightened to fight a war with the US’, according to the Guardian today [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/28/china-not-frightened-fight-war-south-china-sea-uss-lassen] . The comments – in a state-run Chinese newspaper – came twenty-four hours after the US

An Open Letter to Tom Kratman - Big Boys Don't Cry

An Open Letter to Tom Kratman - Big Boys Don't Cry

Dear Tom, Yesterday I read your Big Boys Don’t Cry, which is nominated for the2015 Hugo Award for Best Novella [http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2015-hugo-awards/]. There were bits of Big Boys Don’t Cry that I enjoyed, but your novella was a struggle to read.

I am reality, hear me roar...

I am reality, hear me roar...

During my MFA in creative writing, I had a few critique sessions with a Costa-Award [http://www.costa.co.uk/costa-book-awards/costa-book-awards/] -winning novelist. I learned a lot from him since, unlike most lecturers, who nodded sagely while the class gave feedback, he talked while