Storytellersunplugged

by David Niall Wilson   (This is posted a day early - we had no new essay on the 30th, and I didn't want us to go another full day without a post...)         Every day, it seems, I read an article, or see a news item on television about something that stirs or outrages me. I can’t imagine the number of times I must have said, "God, if that was ME I'd have…" Our ancestors had the leisure to read much more occasional ... Read More

There are day jobs and then there are day jobs. Many of us storytellers have them (even if they’re at night), and writing time must be stolen from whatever leftover hours we can scrounge. Jeff Thomas recently posted a terribly perceptive essay about the tradeoffs and sacrifices involved in living such a double life; consider this one something of a corollary.Many is the time that I’ve wished I wasn’t just another cog in the machinery of corporate America; that I could essentially ... Read More

by Richard Dansky   E3 (or “The Electronic Entertainment Exposition”, as absolutely nobody other than the show’s laywers call it) is the biggest video game show on the North American continent, and possibly the world. It sucks up all of the Los Angeles Convention Center – yes, even the morlock-haunted caverns of Kentia Hall and the meeting rooms up in the aeries where nobody ever goes. Well, nobody below management level, anyway. The show floors are a thundering carnival of 60 foot ... Read More

by Janet BerlinerGood thing I wrote my essay ahead of time because I've been basically sans computer for over two weeks. Given my particular limitations, that leaves me with little alternative but to read, think, watch television, think, look out of the window at the flowers, think…. I had just finished the rough of my next book when the computer quit. One of the things I think about is the possibility that the universe is telling me that the ... Read More

Hi.And goodbye.I have so much enjoyed being part of Storytellers Unplugged, especially getting to know the writer's on this blog. However it's time for me to move on. Fresh blood needs to be spilled. Thank you everyone for your comments and especially for your insights into the business of writing. I've really learned a lot, and even though I will no longer be an active participant, I certainly will continue to check in.So long for now, and perhaps when ... Read More

by JEFFREY THOMASA few weeks ago, one of my publishers made me an offer. Since they knew I’d be out of the country on vacation the whole month of July, and thus couldn’t afford another trip in August, they offered to take care of my expenses in bringing me to Los Angeles for the next Worldcon. They’d pay for my flight, my hotel for the week, even buy me dinner. This was how much they wanted to meet me in person, and ... Read More

Fact or Fiction:For most of my adult life, I’ve believed in the possibility that Bigfoot exists. I live in Eastern Washington State, where the flow of new sightings and “evidence” is almost constant. I’ve never actually seen the legendary Sasquatch with my own eyes, but after hearing about something so frequently you begin to wonder. Up until the past few years, I’ve had no hard proof of the existence of the illusive Literary Agent. Even now, after a ton of rejection ... Read More

by Richard Steinberg “White shadow on a blackened wall. Picture of young boy standing tall, Pointing skyward where ashes fall On nothing. “Are we gone without a trace, A burning ball in empty space. Even God turns away his face From nothing,” Amanda McBroom Horror. Dark fantasy. They’re the words, to the right of this column, that in part define the contributors to STORYTELLERS. Words that immediately conjure slightly indefinable images as they’re read. Ideas with so many subgenres and corollaries that even the most dauntless forensic philologist would come away ... Read More

By Jeff MariotteWriting for a living involves a lot of waiting, sometimes for things that you will never, ever get. We put a lot of ourselves down on every page, we writers, and often we’d like to hear from editors that they were moved, or amused, or scared, or thrilled, by what we turned in to them. Wait as long as you like, but some editors just don’t provide that kind of feedback. You’ll hear what’s wrong, you’ll see ... Read More

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