Sometimes I write short, conversational essays on fiction, media, and publishing. Read them by signing up for Unreality Effect, my newsletter. Occasionally you’ll get an email with some thoughts on fiction — and links to any new fiction or poetry I’ve published lately.
If you sign up, the first thing you get in your inbox is a free short story, “Seven Needles Glinting.”
Recent essays
(Hi! You can skip the mini-essay and scroll down to the bottom for a link to my latest story, if you like.) *** Read the kind of thing you want to write is a common piece of writing advice, to the point where it’s almost not advice so much as it is a basic observation:…
Keep readingI’ve had exposition on my mind lately. I’ve been thinking about how to write exposition well, but I’ve also been questioning how we talk about exposition, trying to figure out what that reveals about the contemporary craft of speculative fiction. Exposition is linked to style. In some corners of the SFF world, it’s held as…
Keep readingIt’s natural for fictional environments to be reflections of other fictional environments. But the ceaseless re-inscription of the same landscapes into the genre’s fabric has led to a curious flattening effect. The unruly physicality of the real world is smushed into a handful of tired images, their enchantment dulled from overuse. A towering oak, a…
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