Author: Queen Of The Abyss Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:07 pm For DVD's of my favourite movies I usually wait until I see them for $15 or less. I'm more generous when it comes to books and I will pay up to about $50 for small press books if I want them badly enough. For...

Author: Queen Of The Abyss Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:55 pm I like stories in settings that are bizarre or twisted reflections of our world, be it metropolitan or rural. In other words, I don't much care for anything in space or completely made up countries. I'm not sure if...

Author: Queen Of The Abyss Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:48 pm I, too, am guilty of ARWZ neglect. I've been back in school the last couple of years so I haven't been able to do much reading except for study purposes. Unfortunately, this also means I haven't done much writing....

Author: ljim2000 Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 10:22 pm The 2011 Author August is upon us at the Science Fiction Message Board! We seek your nominees. With 31 to fill, your nominees are sure to get a day in our annual post-a-thon, if you act now! Come August each day will have an...

Author: Nik Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 7:25 pm I prefer upbeat endings providing they're the logical conclusion of the story's arc, not a 'deux ex machina' or equivalent , eg a 'with a leap, he was free'... It's the little things, sometimes: Saving the galaxy is hard to keep...

Author: mephisto Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:27 pm It depends how fgar into a story I am; the further in, the less I will be inclined to work on something else. If I am headed for the final climax, I won't want to work on or start anything else until I am done. Mainly I...

Author: mephisto Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:23 pm Hmm ... I hadn't heard that about the events of a chapter making the events of the following chapter possible, but that is essentially how I operate. Let's see, I haveto admit that when I first start I don't have much...

Author: mephisto Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:11 pm It varies with how centrally the character's role is to the story. For important characters, I usually start out with a general concept of the type of person the character is. Sort of like archetypes; not in the sense of role...

Author: mephisto Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:32 am That question is raised on just about any subject. In my leadership classes, the question is often posed as to whether leadership is an inborn trait or learned. My answer here is the same as my answer there. evryone has...

Author: mephisto Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:01 am Hi Vio, You were always good at coming up with great questions. In reference to Queen's "con" (or is it Qota for short?) the writing really shouldn't have anything that doesn't forward the story line. (And before you...

I recently finished the most recent Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Reckoning, and I've been debating whether it's worth writing a review. I've written a couple Sookie Stackhouse book reviews before ( Dead in the Family , All Together Dead and so I think my general feelings of affection for this series of books is well known and had not changed with the reading of this latest book. ...

I suppose the most accurate thing I can say about Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker is that I didn't hate it. Further, I can credit it with keeping my attention. So many enormous epic fantasy audiobooks get returned to the library before I finish reading them (which did happen here) and never get re-ordered (this one actually did). Brandon Sanderson is a newly crowned heavy-hitter in mo...

Famed for his canonical novel, <i><a href="https://arwz.com/zinereviewSKS31.php">Neuromancer</a></i>, William Gibson is among the few classic SFF authors still producing regularly today. His latest novel, <i>Zero History</i>, echos my experience with some of his other recent works, including <a href="https://arwz.com/zinereviewVIO54.p...

Moonlight is one of those phenomena you hear about among cult cadres of SFF fans bemoaning the cancellation of a promising show before its time. I finally got my hands on the DVDs the sole season of Moonlight a few weeks back, and while it's no <a href="https://arwz.com/zinereviewRYH1.php">Firefly</a>, there is some merit to the cult complaints. Still, I think this...

I will say right off that Towers of Midnight is the THIRTEENTH book in the Wheel of Time series, and so anyone not familiar with the series needs to go back to the beginning and read the first twelve books before starting in on this one. It may take you awhile, but believe me, it will be worth it. Once you're caught up to speed on the first twelve books Towers of Midnight will of...

I recently popped in the audiobook version of Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning. I have not read any of the earlier books in the series, and perhaps that is partially where I went wrong, but I frequently start with later books in this type of series (i.e. semi-episodic paranormal romance/thriller) without trouble. After listening to the first two CD's of this audiobook, I found I simp...

Better known for his literary fiction in more or less contemporary settings, Michael Chabon is a writer I have often been curious to try, but previously have not had the time or motivation to read. I was excited recently when I happened upon an audio version of Gentlemen of the Road.  This story turns out to be a calculated departure from the "literary fiction" of his ...

We are pleased to introduce our newest feature here on ARWZ: Unfinished Fiction. Many of us reviewers here on ARWZ are fiction writers ourselves, and so we know that one of the necessities of good storytelling is to keep the readers' interest, to create a sense of urgency so that the reader feels driven to find out what happens next.  Unfortunately, even this fundamental element ...

There has always been a certain dichotomy in fans of the Ender series. There are those who favor the books that feature the characters as children, and those who prefer the books detailing the lives of the characters as adults. It seems I meet more of the former than the latter, but whatever camp you fall into, there is no denying that Ender in Exile attempts to fill in the gap betwee...

Lover Avenged is the seventh book in JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It is only the second book of the series that I have read. It may be helpful to know the characters from at least one other book before plunging into this novel, however, like most urban fantasy series, this one is primarily episodic and any astute reader should be able to pick up here without feeling lost...