Clippings

Clips or Clippings are articles cut from a newspaper or magazine. In the Internet Age, they tend to be links to the websites where your writing appears.

Regular Columns

ATFMB Column: Bottled Water (FunctionalNerds.com)

It’s hot, freaking hot. The A/C in your car doesn’t seem able to keep up with the heat bubbling up from the blacktop-road, causing sweat to bead on your forehead, in your armpits and, let’s face it – some other places you probably don’t want to advertise.

ATFMB Column: Used Books (FunctionalNerds.com)

Going to the library always bugged the shit out of me. Here was a building full of books and someone had gone through and put stickers on them – stickers! – with numbers and letters on them. They’d ruined the spines. Worse, they glued a pocket to the inside cover, defacing the poor, defenseless book even more.

TV Genre Smackdown: Quantum Leap Vs. Doctor Who (SFSignal.com)

It’s time…time to settle, once and for all, which genre shows rule and which ones drool. Talk to the fans and you will always run into people who feel one show with a premise of x is so much better than that other show based on x. To that end, here’s today’s Smackdown: Quantum Leap vs. Doctor Who. The Premise: Traveling through time, fixing little moments in history.

TV Genre Smackdown: Supernatural Vs. Kolchak: The Night Stalker (SFSignal.com)

It’s time. Time to settle, once and for all, which genre shows rule and which ones drool. Talk to the fans and you will always run into people who feel one show with a premise of x is so much better than that other show based on x. Today’s Smackdown: Supernatural Vs Kolchak: The Night Stalker. The Premise: Investigations into the supernatural world to solve mysteries and crimes.

 

Articles / Essays
Get Your Teddy Bears Out of My Bookstore (SFSignal.com)

This post is about book stores – I swear. I don’t go to BestBuy looking for advice. I know that BestBuy has spent a good deal of time and money attempting to brand themselves as being quite knowledgeable about the products that they sell and I salute them for that effort, but it has never been my experience that their general employees are particularly knowledgeable.

Whatever Happened To Scary Vampires? (SFSignal.com)

Whatever happened to scary vampires? Did vampires slowly transition from creatures of horror to this romanticized ideal or did it happen over night?

Passion and Pleasure (GraspingForTheWind.com)

I saw a tweet that someone was going to be rereading the Malazan books by Canadian author Steven Erikson in anticipation of the forthcoming book in the series, The Crippled God. Five years ago, this wouldn’t have even pinged on my radar, but when I read that today, I kind of had to pause.

eReaders bringing back the classics or ripe for pirating & rip-offs? (GraspingForTheWind.com)

Today, let’s talk about eReaders. People seem to be enjoying them. They’re becoming quite passionate about them too. You have your Kindle lovers and your Kindle haters; they were pretty much the first one’s out there ‘doing something right’ after all, so there’s a lot of opinions about them floating around.

 

Reviews and Recaps

Recap: Chuck Versus Phase Three (Technorati)

Sarah, Morgan and Casey are on the hunt to find Chuck and rescue him from the Belgian. Chuck’s inability to flash has been a frustration for him and team Bartowski in recent weeks but tonight, his mind is at stake.

Review: Buck Rogers (Comic Book) (ATFMB.com)

My memories of Buck Rogers are of spandex white suits and disco music, courtesy of one Gil Gerard and an 80?s interpretation of the character. But really, Buck Rogers has been around a lot longer than that.

Review: Welcome to the Jungle (Comic Book) (ATFMB.com)

With a name like Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, how could you not become a Wizard? At the tender age of six years old, Harry Dresden became an orphan. His mother, Margaret Gwendolyn LeFay McCoy Dresden, had died giving birth to Harry and his father, Malcolm, died of a brain aneurysm leaving Harry all alone.

A Game Of Thrones in Graphic Form (Kirkus Reviews)

Whether you are a fan of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy novels set in the fictional world of Westeros, or the hit HBO series now in its second season, you’ve probably heard the title A Game of Thrones.

Michael Moorcock’s Elric: The Balance Lost (Kirkus Reviews)

Talk to a fan of the sword and sorcery genre, and it won’t take long for the conversation to turn to Elric, the 428th Emperor of Melniboné. With alabaster skin and wielding the soul-eating sword Stormbringer, Elric is the Eternal Champion, someone who is chosen to fight for the cosmic Balance. In Michael Moorcock’s stories, Elric is one of many such Champions, who exist in every different version of reality throughout the multiverse.

 

Guest Blogs

A Closer Look at Writing Scifi & Fantasy

So, you want to write Science Fiction and/or Fantasy? You are ready to join some of the great minds who have taken us to the center of the earth, the bottom of the sea, beyond the moon and stars, into parallel worlds and ancient times to visit fantastic worlds full of drama, intrigue, adventure and heartache.

A Critique Template for Authors and Writer’s Groups (BookLifeNow.com)

A couple of years ago, I wanted to take the next step in my journey to become a published author. For me, that meant joining a writer’s group and getting some feedback from other authors. I found a well established group (founded in 1996) with a good mix of authors (folks who write poetry, science fiction, fantasy, horror, general fiction) and, after a few months of visiting (similar to auditing a college class except I was expected to read all of the material and comment/critique as well), I was welcomed as a member and could submit my own stories.

Podcasting and Promotion: The 21st Century Author (InkPunks.com – co-written with John Anealio)

First off, we’d like to thank the Inkpunks for inviting us to contribute to the blog. Second, we thought we’d talk a little bit about podcasting and self promotion. The 21st century author has far more opportunities for self-promotion and control than ever before. Technology has put the power squarely in the hands of the author, making it easier to control your content, and reach your audience.