Author: JRVogt

Why? Simple. I’m left-handed. And as such, whenever I write with pen or pencil, I tend to smear it across the page and across my skin. Since my handwriting is little better than dipping an epileptic spider in ink and letting it crawl across the page, I figured I should…

A lot of fantasy stories seem to have horses as a main mode of transportation, at least for the common folk. Of course, wizards get their teleportation spells, and there are dragon riders, gnomish dirigibles and as many other ways of getting around as there are books and authors. But…

B&N’s 10 Best SF Books of 2006 Bookgasm 5 Best SF Books of 2006 Oddly enough, two books made it on both lists. First is David Louis Edelman’s Infoquake. I’m sure you’ve seen me mention it before, so if I didn’t convince you then, maybe this will help you take…

Writing converted to video media. It’s an odd transition that always seems to lose something in the process. How is that what we see on the page sometimes has so much more power than what we see with our own eyes? Don’t we give something more validity if we actually…

Today’s smattering of links throws in a mix of business, craftwork, inspiration, and fun. First, the business. GalleyCat is a blog about books and publishing–lots of insider industry info (like that alliteration?) to browse through, and as you probably have guessed by now, I enjoy staying up to date on…

Math is something I can do, but I don’t necessarily enjoy doing it. I took calculus in high school and did all the required math gen eds in college…but I’m still impressed when I look over this spreadsheet rundown of a paperback on the market to see exactly what factors…

A year can go by so quickly, yet so much has happened in this last one. How do we manage to cram so much into every moment? So many stories to tell from the last year. So many ready to live in the next. I thank God for the chance…

Okay, trick post title. I’m not talking about the writing craft or art itself, but more the cover art and illustrations that arise from the novels and stories out there. It takes a lot of talent to stir up the words in the head and give it some graphical legs.…

The Annual SF Site Reader’s Choice is now in session. Send in your emails for the best ten books released in the past year (in some way related to speculative fiction) and see the results come February-Marchish. http://sfsite.com/columns/neil238.htm After you’ve done that, check out some incredibly cool links (some of…

How do you do it? How do you get your butt in that chair and make your fingers do their devilish tango? Does your chair have a seatbelt to keep you strapped in? Do you have personal servants who fan you as you write the novel that will shape the…