Category Archives: reading

That Difficult Second Novel by Jacey Bedford

Posted on 31 March 2020 by

First published on Jacey Bedford’s blog This blog post was written in November 2013, after I got my first three book deal from DAW, but before any of my books had been published. My first book, Empire of Dust, was … Continue reading →

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His Majesty’s Starship, part 2: B5, bad guys and by golly, a sequel – by Ben Jeapes

Posted on 17 March 2020 by

Originally posted on Ben Jeapes’ blog on 10th December 2018 Like me, Babylon 5 was also on a mission to do right what Star Trek got wrong. Its key innovation was the story arc – the idea of an overall plot across the entire … Continue reading →

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His Majesty’s Starship, part 1: origins by Ben Jeapes

Posted on 10 March 2020 by

Originally posted on Ben Jeapes’ blog His Majesty’s Starship hit the stands on 10 December 1998. I am inspired to reminisce. In the best spirit of present-day science fiction I shall do it in three parts. When I was young … Continue reading →

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Science for Fiction 2020 by David Gullen

Posted on 3 March 2020 by

The excellent Science for Fiction (S4F) event at Imperial College, London, properly known as The Imperial College & Science Fiction Foundation workshop, is back once again. Designed specifically for SF and other writers to meet and talk to scientists presenting … Continue reading →

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Writing: Art or Craft? by David Gullen

Posted on 25 February 2020 by

I remember a conversation in my first writing group from many years ago about whether or not writing could be taught. Some people thought no, that writing alone in all the fields of human endeavour, was somehow special and the … Continue reading →

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How (Not) to Write a Steampunk Novel by Gaie Sebold

Posted on 11 February 2020 by

Originally posted on May 20, 2014 on Jacey Bedford’s blog To start with, I didn’t actually really intend to write what ended up as a fantasy Victorian spy adventure, with a trickster heroine, set partly in 19th century Shanghai.  It … Continue reading →

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Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations By Ben Jeapes

Posted on 4 February 2020 by

Originally posted on May 3, 2014 as a guest post on Jacey Bedford’s blog   I read Lois McMaster Bujold’s Barrayar series at various points over the 90s and 00s, out of order and out of sequence, which is easy … Continue reading →

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