Caliban’s War (The Expanse) by James S. A. Corey. Orbit Books. 624 pages. This is the second book in the series that the new SyFy TV series The Expanse is based on. And it’s very good. I’ve been trying to determine if it would be classify it as space opera, science fiction or hard science … More Review: “Caliban’s War” by James S.A. Corey
Well, not literally. But essentially, my latest project has me writing what equates to two books at once. And it’s not easy. In Tesla’s Ghost, I tell the story of a secret notebook kept by Fritz Lowenstein, the assistant of Nikola Tesla recording strange goings on that happen as the famous inventor and his team … More The Challenge of Writing Two Books at Once
The longer I write, the more time I seem to take before I actually start putting words on paper. That time is spent running through the storyline time and again, trying to get what happens straight in my head. It’s important for me. Some writers talk about sitting down the day after the finish their … More The Bare Bones of Storytelling
I want to try something different, and I need your help. I read that Andy Weir, author of The Martian, started his book off by posting it chapter by chapter on his website and looking for feedback from his readers. I would like to do the same thing. This isn’t the first time that I’ve … More The Great Adventure’s Grand Experiment
I had a journalism student–who shall remain nameless–quite a few years ago, who was a marginal student. He did just enough to get by. I found myself constantly having to push him to put enough effort into classes just to pass the class, and I worried about what his career would be like when he … More Something To Say
“Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.” -Yogi Berra Football season is almost upon us, and I am fondly watching my own Oakland Raiders getting into training camp and getting ready for their first official game in September. This, I hope, will be the year that Oakland returns to the playoffs … More Bringing Back the Swagger
One of the websites I’ve gotten quite fond of is quora.com. It’s simply a forum where people can ask questions or go and answer other people’s questions. I get asked a lot of questions about writing there, and get to ask professionals questions that help me in the writing of my books. Yesterday someone asked … More Beyond the Big Picture
I’ve been asked what the hardest part of writing a novel is, and my answer tends to be directly related to how well my novel-building is going at the time. My dad used to have a saying: “Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you.” Some books come together quickly … More Brick By Brick
Back in 1998 I was hired to come to Texas and teach students how to be a book, newspaper and magazine editor and how to write books and magazine articles. I had 25 years experience in doing that very thing, and I figured that would be my claim to fame from that point on. But … More The Medium Isn’t the Message
“This is the place,” Irene said. She set down the basket heavily in front of me. “Are you sure?” I said, looking around us. The wide riverbed spread out in front of us, large round river stones scattered like so many baby skulls tossed around by some careless giant to bleach white in the hot Texas sun. … More “Crossing the River”
The Great Adventure 