Brad Beaulieu joined us to talk about his trilogy, The Lays of Anuskaya. The three books in the trilogy are The Winds of Khalakovo, The Straits of Galahesh, and The Flames of Shadam Khoreh. They tell an epic fantasy story about a changing world. Prince Nikandr discovers a boy who might hold the key to healing a blight, but he isn't the only one who wants to unlock the boy's secrets. He spoke to us about his worldbuilding.
He started by describing his maps. He uses "Fractal Terrains" mapping software to generate a world, then raise and lower land masses. In the case of this trilogy, he wanted a place that would be cold and inhospitable, and used Russia as a basis for one of the major cultural groups because he didn't want to use Europe. He wanted the place to feel new, but not completely foreign, so he modeled it after Muscovite Russia with gunpowder and magic, and used Russian for the names (often looking at maps of Russia for place names). The Russian-based group isn't the only one in this world, so he also looked at Persian and Turkish.
I asked him if it was always a trilogy. He said he thinks of stories in terms of trilogies, having absorbed the style from much of his previous reading. That said, he didn't know at first precisely where it was headed.
Brad explained to us the metaphor of the writer as architect vs. gardener. Brandon Sanderson, he explained, is an architect who plans out the structure of everything very carefully. George R.R. Martin is more of a gardener, who plans a bit and then lets things grow. Brad describes himself as more of a gardener, but he does want to know where the story ends up. He sometimes uses snowflake plotting, which allows you to expand a very short description of a book idea into larger and more complex structures. He says he tends to write up to a turning point, then reconsider his plan and re-plot as necessary.
He sees history, cultures, and conflicts as the bedrock of a story, and says that the story will be unstable if those elements aren't there. Characters are born from culture, and experience societal and familial pressures as well as pressure from friends. If he runs into sticking points, he goes back to character and cultural grounding to exploit points of tension.
I asked him if the world develops as he goes, and he said he uses exploratory drafts to try out voice, explore the world, and find out what is cool about it.
As an example, he told us a little bit about a new project he's just finished, about a pit fighter in a Tales of Arabia-like setting who goes about bringing down the 12 Kings of Sharakhai. There are gods of the desert, who are real, and meddle in human affairs. He said that he didn't know what the gods were doing at first, but that it clicked for him mid-book.
He likes to look for ideas all over the place, including Inspiration Midnight, NPR, or outside sources. He combines ideas and collects images of swords, costumes, jewelry and faces. Trawling for images often inspires him. He also feels inspired by musical playlists that keep him in the right headspace.
He told us a bit about the magic system in his trilogy. Rules are very important to him; magic needs to be a natural part of the world, not arbitrary. The series has more than one type. Elemental magic involves the summoning of spirits of water/fire/air/life, but the magic is changing, and using it is becoming more difficult. There are also ships made of magic wood that fly along ley lines, and a form of telepathy where women of the islands, the "matri" (mothers) can submerge themselves in cold baths and communicate through the ether, astrally projecting and detecting magic. He said that part of the process of development was simplifying his system. Magic and the plot affect each other organically.
For 12 Kings, he wanted the magic to be "easier" and took inspiration from Thieves' World. The Lays of Anuskaya trilogy has few magical artifacts, but 12 Kings has gifts from the gods, and blood magic. He's also working on a middle grade project in an Endor-like environment with treetop villages, and lynx that fly like flying squirrels. Kids in this world can glide with wing-cloaks.
Reggie asked how many different forms Brad has written in (books, plays, collaborations). Brad said he started with novels, and then took a number of conferences and workshops where he began networking. He then started playing with the idea of short stories, because though short and long forms aren't the same, some elements of skill translate well. It's easier to play with ideas in short form. 7500+ words is a typical length for his short fiction. He's written one comic book script, and tried a couple of collaborations.
Christian picked up on Brad's thoughts about sources for ideas, and suggested 'This American Life' on NPR and the Moth Radio Hour. These are true stories, 15 minutes long, and they have a lot of variation.
Brad suggested that going out and asking people about themselves can be really fascinating and give you unexpected ideas.
Christian asked Brad about his experience breaking into the field. Brad said he wrote something in college that he never finished, then wrote three trunk books. He tried to publish after the first one but got no answers, only form letters. So he started attending conventions and conferences, including Pike's Peak Writer's Convention and Colorado Gold (from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers). He went to workshops as well, including Viable Paradise in 2003, Writers of the Future, Orson Scott Card's Boot Camp in 2005 and Clarion in 2006. He has even run his own workshop at this point. Networking helped him a lot and got him connected with his first novel publisher, Nightshade Books. He got the rights back to his trilogy from Nightshade after the first two books and ran a Kickstarter for the third, having already run one once for his short story collection. He says that in order for Kickstarter to work it has to be "the right project," but that it's a great option and helps to test the market. He feels he is a hybrid traditional/independent author.
Brad says writers have a strange combination of self-consciousness and overconfidence. He urged us to enjoy the steps along the way, to be proud, market ourselves. There is no avoiding pain. He told us he still has a day job in IT, writing at night and on weekends.
Thanks so much, Brad, for joining us, and thank you to everyone who attended! I hope to see many of you again this Thursday.
#SFWApro
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Let's have more than just "kickass," please!
My son has started reading a book where the protagonist is a young girl who is a pirate. And boy, is she tough. She can fight, drink, swear, etc. etc. and he finds her delightful. This is all well and good. But we see so many kickass girls these days. And while they represent progress in the fight against entirely male-centered stories, they are only one part of the picture.
I have spoken before about how a strong character is not necessarily a violent one. I firmly believe that the battle has not been won when we allow women to take on "male characteristics"* - because until "female characteristics"* are also valued in all kinds of characters, feminism still has an important job to do.
*These are stereotypes, of course. It's shorthand, and highly inaccurate, to call toughness/roughness "male" etc. These views are nonetheless common.
In my writing right now I am exploring some female characters who fall in different places relative to these stereotypical views.
Kitano Naoko, from "Suteta Mono de wa Nai (Not Easily Thrown Away)," (Clarkesworld 90) is a Gothic Girl cosplayer. She's not kickass, though - that's not what her story is about. Kicking butt won't solve her problem - just as it won't solve a lot of tough real world problems like the one she's facing. She needs patience, self-knowledge, a trust in her ability to make good decisions, and the ability to accept the possibility of failure without being destroyed by it. I'm convinced, though, that she finds strength by the end of her story, and a greater understanding of her relationships with the people around her.
Hub Girl, from the forthcoming "Mind Locker," (Analog July/Aug 2014) is a slum kid and hacker in a world where the internet is in your head. She's got a lot of attitude, swears a lot, and has to put on a brave face because she's surrounded by people she can't trust. She's not a big person, though, and when she fights physically she tends to lose. She protects herself with her ability to hack into other people's systems if they threaten her. She also leads and coordinates a large gang of kids. I suppose you could call her kickass in that she has the ability to take care of herself. What makes her story compelling to me, though, is when she feels softness toward particular characters, like her father, or her friend Fisher - that's when you understand what is most important to her, because that softness shows what she really cares about, even when she's disguising it to protect her reputation.
Pelisma, from a work in progress called "Soul's Bargain," is a woman who has always defined herself by her work as a cave engineer, who values herself for what she's able to accomplish for the people of her underground city. In the twilight of her life, she's questioning her faith, and questioning her own abilities, trying to determine what is most important to her as she goes blind and becomes more vulnerable. In the end, though, her determination is going to take her to a place she didn't expect. She'll have a decision to make, to fight or yield, and she'll discover that yielding accomplishes things that fighting won't.
What are you working on? What are your female characters like? Do they have goals? Where do they find their strength? There are so many possibilities here, and we need to keep exploring them. I also want to see more male characters who don't deny their softer strengths (and of course, everything in between).
It's something to think about.
#SFWApro
I have spoken before about how a strong character is not necessarily a violent one. I firmly believe that the battle has not been won when we allow women to take on "male characteristics"* - because until "female characteristics"* are also valued in all kinds of characters, feminism still has an important job to do.
*These are stereotypes, of course. It's shorthand, and highly inaccurate, to call toughness/roughness "male" etc. These views are nonetheless common.
In my writing right now I am exploring some female characters who fall in different places relative to these stereotypical views.
Kitano Naoko, from "Suteta Mono de wa Nai (Not Easily Thrown Away)," (Clarkesworld 90) is a Gothic Girl cosplayer. She's not kickass, though - that's not what her story is about. Kicking butt won't solve her problem - just as it won't solve a lot of tough real world problems like the one she's facing. She needs patience, self-knowledge, a trust in her ability to make good decisions, and the ability to accept the possibility of failure without being destroyed by it. I'm convinced, though, that she finds strength by the end of her story, and a greater understanding of her relationships with the people around her.
Hub Girl, from the forthcoming "Mind Locker," (Analog July/Aug 2014) is a slum kid and hacker in a world where the internet is in your head. She's got a lot of attitude, swears a lot, and has to put on a brave face because she's surrounded by people she can't trust. She's not a big person, though, and when she fights physically she tends to lose. She protects herself with her ability to hack into other people's systems if they threaten her. She also leads and coordinates a large gang of kids. I suppose you could call her kickass in that she has the ability to take care of herself. What makes her story compelling to me, though, is when she feels softness toward particular characters, like her father, or her friend Fisher - that's when you understand what is most important to her, because that softness shows what she really cares about, even when she's disguising it to protect her reputation.
Pelisma, from a work in progress called "Soul's Bargain," is a woman who has always defined herself by her work as a cave engineer, who values herself for what she's able to accomplish for the people of her underground city. In the twilight of her life, she's questioning her faith, and questioning her own abilities, trying to determine what is most important to her as she goes blind and becomes more vulnerable. In the end, though, her determination is going to take her to a place she didn't expect. She'll have a decision to make, to fight or yield, and she'll discover that yielding accomplishes things that fighting won't.
What are you working on? What are your female characters like? Do they have goals? Where do they find their strength? There are so many possibilities here, and we need to keep exploring them. I also want to see more male characters who don't deny their softer strengths (and of course, everything in between).
It's something to think about.
#SFWApro
Monday, March 10, 2014
More guest blogging, chez Harry Markov: I discuss writing advice!
I have another post out today, at the blog of my good friend Harry Markov. He asked me to talk about pieces of writing advice that I had found less than useful, and why. So I discussed eliminating filter words, and show don't tell. Go here and check it out!
#SFWApro
#SFWApro
Guest blogging chez Janice Hardy: How to Use Foreign Languages (Real or Imaginary) in Your Novel
Today I'm blogging over at Janice Hardy's Fiction University, answering a question about how to handle a language barrier between two populations. Check it out here!
#SFWApro
#SFWApro
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Religious Privilege - a Dive into Worldbuilding! hangout report with VIDEO
We had a fascinating and widely ranging discussion about religious privilege with Pat McEwen, Reggie Lutz, Che Gilson, Lesley Smith, and Glenda Pfeiffer.
I started us off by talking about the historical role of religion in education and literacy. Becoming a nun was one way that women could drastically change their social roles.
Lesley mentioned the translation of the Bible into English. When the learned folk in the priesthood were only speaking in Latin, that effectively cut off common people from ownership of their own faith. Pat mentioned that the Chumash people had a special language for priestly privilege within the context of an oral religious tradition, so the use of language being a sign of religious privilege isn't confined to written contexts.
Reggie noted that privilege also exists within religion-internal hierarchies and between religions where society perceives some religions as more acceptable than others. Here in the US we get Christmas and Easter holidays but there is no expectation that the high holidays of other religions get honored in this way. Using vacation becomes a form of privilege or bias. Many countries show a similar civil alignment with a particular religious calendar, and it's not surprising to see this appear in a fictional setting. The privilege of the Anglican church in England was part of what caused people to emigrate to the American colonies.
Mention of God and religion is also made on coinage and in the American Pledge of Allegiance, but this was a much later development due to the perceived encroachment of "godless" communism in the 1950s.
Here is a link to thirty examples of Christian privilege.
When you are dealing with fiction it can be tricky to create religious privilege from an internal perspective, because when religion is built into a society from the ground up, it can be somewhat invisible. There are religions which assert themselves everywhere, but it's always good to look for more subtle aspects of religious influence. It's also valuable to consider what other religions might be around. Pat told us that there was an active temple to Athena in the Balkans (former Yugoslavia) up until the 15th century, meaning there were pagans in the area. There were also Jews.
Uniformity of religion is created by certain historical factors, but it usually isn't complete. (I often try to have characters question their own belief systems, and interact with them in personal ways). Diversity of religion leads to more complexity.
There is also syncretism, meaning the view that many beliefs can be held at once. Japan was known for its syncretism. Pat agreed that some of the new religions of modern Japan also show syncretism. Buddhism and Shinto coexist and mix. In the Buddhist temple of Sanjusangendo, many of the guardians of Kannon are Hindu deities that have been adopted into the Buddhist pantheon. Che noted that Hinduism itself ended up with so many gods because they were adopted from local religions.
Religions change over time. They are both strengthened and altered through practice. Christianity often co-opted or translated things into their tradition, such as the ancient Pagan holidays. Some entities who had been deities became saints. There is a difference in attitude between syncretism and assimilation, however.
Some saints have actively contributed to mythologies and the expansion of religious canon. Pat told us that Saint Columba was a Catholic missionary in Scotland and invented the Loch Ness monster as a water demon that had attacked his companion and was banished by the name of Christ.
Many religions have a centralized body perceived as the head of the religion which is responsible for defining its tenets and excluding heresies. However, new beliefs continue to arise and sometimes will break off from the old.
I have sometimes seen science fiction where a corporate entity is used for swear words or portrayed as if it has become a deity. I usually don't find this convincing, because religious beliefs are very resistant to change at their core, and generally it seems as though not enough time has passed, or that there is not sufficient justification for the switch. (So if you are going to do this, think through how it might have happened!)
Pat brought up a really important topic. Religion is not just a feature of a society, but also carries out a lot of its critical social functions. There is the issue of religious charity, which is sometimes contrasted with government charity. But more than that, religion was an organizing force that brought communities together to rebuild towns and muster incredible resources, like cathedrals that take 500 years of community work to build. It often would bring together people who might otherwise fight. Religion has a moral function and also supports and codifies societal cohesiveness. Membership in this community can be very important. Religious groups have also provided sanctuary for people who needed it. A cathedral can be a social message. It also holds the history of a group of people (this can be very valuable for worldbuilding purposes). Lesley also mentioned that the stories that bring a religious community together don't necessarily need to be written down, as when stained glass windows tell a story for children or others who can't read.
My guests recommended these books: Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearne, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Angels in America by Tony Kushner.
We talked about learning and religion. School was always a rest from work in the fields. Some religious groups like monasteries or convents were supported by the community and in this way allowed men and women to pursue learning. At other times, Pat noted, these religious communities had to be self-supporting because there wasn't a lot of excess economic activity.
We asked whether religion was unifying or dividing, and whether this had changed over time. It can have both effects simultaneously. There have been religious wars throughout history, and also there have been large cities where people of different religions can come together and learn from one another and/or have friction. Both Glenda and Reggie noted that religion is often used as a justification for war, but that we shouldn't neglect the underlying causes of war, which are often economic.
I recommended these two books, which have terrific melting-pot cities with very religious diverse populations: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin and Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed.
Pat told us a fascinating historical story about how in the Balkans, a tithe of young Christian men was taken to Turkey and brought up as Muslims. These men were trained as soldiers but then became viziers in the Ottoman empire. They were called Janissaries (and now I want to read a story about them!). Che noted that these weren't the only men brought up in Turkey (Charlemagne was apparently one).
Dietary recommendations came up. Usually we conclude that there were historically sound reasons for the dietary recommendations to be instituted, but then over time they become a way of marking membership in the religious group. Originally, though, they may have had to do with food safety (as Reggie noted, some hoofed animals have pretty nasty parasites) or with what kind of food consumption was more economically viable. It may also have been designed to stop overconsumption or extinction of certain species.
Thank you all for the fascinating discussion! I hope to see you tomorrow at our 10am hangout with author Brad Beaulieu.
And here is the video:
#SFWApro
I started us off by talking about the historical role of religion in education and literacy. Becoming a nun was one way that women could drastically change their social roles.
Lesley mentioned the translation of the Bible into English. When the learned folk in the priesthood were only speaking in Latin, that effectively cut off common people from ownership of their own faith. Pat mentioned that the Chumash people had a special language for priestly privilege within the context of an oral religious tradition, so the use of language being a sign of religious privilege isn't confined to written contexts.
Reggie noted that privilege also exists within religion-internal hierarchies and between religions where society perceives some religions as more acceptable than others. Here in the US we get Christmas and Easter holidays but there is no expectation that the high holidays of other religions get honored in this way. Using vacation becomes a form of privilege or bias. Many countries show a similar civil alignment with a particular religious calendar, and it's not surprising to see this appear in a fictional setting. The privilege of the Anglican church in England was part of what caused people to emigrate to the American colonies.
Mention of God and religion is also made on coinage and in the American Pledge of Allegiance, but this was a much later development due to the perceived encroachment of "godless" communism in the 1950s.
Here is a link to thirty examples of Christian privilege.
When you are dealing with fiction it can be tricky to create religious privilege from an internal perspective, because when religion is built into a society from the ground up, it can be somewhat invisible. There are religions which assert themselves everywhere, but it's always good to look for more subtle aspects of religious influence. It's also valuable to consider what other religions might be around. Pat told us that there was an active temple to Athena in the Balkans (former Yugoslavia) up until the 15th century, meaning there were pagans in the area. There were also Jews.
Uniformity of religion is created by certain historical factors, but it usually isn't complete. (I often try to have characters question their own belief systems, and interact with them in personal ways). Diversity of religion leads to more complexity.
There is also syncretism, meaning the view that many beliefs can be held at once. Japan was known for its syncretism. Pat agreed that some of the new religions of modern Japan also show syncretism. Buddhism and Shinto coexist and mix. In the Buddhist temple of Sanjusangendo, many of the guardians of Kannon are Hindu deities that have been adopted into the Buddhist pantheon. Che noted that Hinduism itself ended up with so many gods because they were adopted from local religions.
Religions change over time. They are both strengthened and altered through practice. Christianity often co-opted or translated things into their tradition, such as the ancient Pagan holidays. Some entities who had been deities became saints. There is a difference in attitude between syncretism and assimilation, however.
Some saints have actively contributed to mythologies and the expansion of religious canon. Pat told us that Saint Columba was a Catholic missionary in Scotland and invented the Loch Ness monster as a water demon that had attacked his companion and was banished by the name of Christ.
Many religions have a centralized body perceived as the head of the religion which is responsible for defining its tenets and excluding heresies. However, new beliefs continue to arise and sometimes will break off from the old.
I have sometimes seen science fiction where a corporate entity is used for swear words or portrayed as if it has become a deity. I usually don't find this convincing, because religious beliefs are very resistant to change at their core, and generally it seems as though not enough time has passed, or that there is not sufficient justification for the switch. (So if you are going to do this, think through how it might have happened!)
Pat brought up a really important topic. Religion is not just a feature of a society, but also carries out a lot of its critical social functions. There is the issue of religious charity, which is sometimes contrasted with government charity. But more than that, religion was an organizing force that brought communities together to rebuild towns and muster incredible resources, like cathedrals that take 500 years of community work to build. It often would bring together people who might otherwise fight. Religion has a moral function and also supports and codifies societal cohesiveness. Membership in this community can be very important. Religious groups have also provided sanctuary for people who needed it. A cathedral can be a social message. It also holds the history of a group of people (this can be very valuable for worldbuilding purposes). Lesley also mentioned that the stories that bring a religious community together don't necessarily need to be written down, as when stained glass windows tell a story for children or others who can't read.
My guests recommended these books: Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearne, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Angels in America by Tony Kushner.
We talked about learning and religion. School was always a rest from work in the fields. Some religious groups like monasteries or convents were supported by the community and in this way allowed men and women to pursue learning. At other times, Pat noted, these religious communities had to be self-supporting because there wasn't a lot of excess economic activity.
We asked whether religion was unifying or dividing, and whether this had changed over time. It can have both effects simultaneously. There have been religious wars throughout history, and also there have been large cities where people of different religions can come together and learn from one another and/or have friction. Both Glenda and Reggie noted that religion is often used as a justification for war, but that we shouldn't neglect the underlying causes of war, which are often economic.
I recommended these two books, which have terrific melting-pot cities with very religious diverse populations: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin and Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed.
Pat told us a fascinating historical story about how in the Balkans, a tithe of young Christian men was taken to Turkey and brought up as Muslims. These men were trained as soldiers but then became viziers in the Ottoman empire. They were called Janissaries (and now I want to read a story about them!). Che noted that these weren't the only men brought up in Turkey (Charlemagne was apparently one).
Dietary recommendations came up. Usually we conclude that there were historically sound reasons for the dietary recommendations to be instituted, but then over time they become a way of marking membership in the religious group. Originally, though, they may have had to do with food safety (as Reggie noted, some hoofed animals have pretty nasty parasites) or with what kind of food consumption was more economically viable. It may also have been designed to stop overconsumption or extinction of certain species.
Thank you all for the fascinating discussion! I hope to see you tomorrow at our 10am hangout with author Brad Beaulieu.
And here is the video:
#SFWApro
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Come see me at FOGcon!
So, FOGcon is coming up this weekend! Are you going? I am!
The theme this year is SECRETS. I love this theme. Here's how they describe it:
Theme: SECRETS
Science Fiction has a long history with secret identities, secret hideouts, secret societies, even secret worlds. So who decides what is secret? How do we keep secrets? How do we discover what is secret?
I'll be there on Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8th. My schedule is as follows:
Friday, March 7
Salon A/B
4:30-5:45pm Fantastical Secret Histories
Fantasy has a tradition of secret histories: hidden bloodlines with entailments of powers, old grudges that are inconveniently revealed, and age-old prophecies that finally come to bear. What kinds of secrets are more interesting to read about? What about their revelation makes them exciting?
Friday, March 7
Contra Costa Room
8:00-9:15pm Reading, with Cassie Alexander and
Come hear my current Clarkesworld story: Suteta Mono de wa Nai (Not Easily Thrown Away)
Saturday, March 8
4:30-5:45pm Ultra Super Party Fun Revision Time
Salon C
Okay, maybe it's not quite that fun. Many writers dislike the revision process. How can you learn to be a better reviser? What are you looking for in early revisions versus late revisions? How many passthroughs should you take on the work? Should you revise the story sometimes after you've circulated it and it hasn't sold, or is that a trap? How do you know when you're done? How about REALLY done? Are there some balloons we could have to cheer us up?
It should be a great time. I hope you can come!
The theme this year is SECRETS. I love this theme. Here's how they describe it:
Theme: SECRETS
Science Fiction has a long history with secret identities, secret hideouts, secret societies, even secret worlds. So who decides what is secret? How do we keep secrets? How do we discover what is secret?
I'll be there on Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8th. My schedule is as follows:
Friday, March 7
Salon A/B
4:30-5:45pm Fantastical Secret Histories
Fantasy has a tradition of secret histories: hidden bloodlines with entailments of powers, old grudges that are inconveniently revealed, and age-old prophecies that finally come to bear. What kinds of secrets are more interesting to read about? What about their revelation makes them exciting?
Friday, March 7
Contra Costa Room
8:00-9:15pm Reading, with Cassie Alexander and
Come hear my current Clarkesworld story: Suteta Mono de wa Nai (Not Easily Thrown Away)
Saturday, March 8
4:30-5:45pm Ultra Super Party Fun Revision Time
Salon C
Okay, maybe it's not quite that fun. Many writers dislike the revision process. How can you learn to be a better reviser? What are you looking for in early revisions versus late revisions? How many passthroughs should you take on the work? Should you revise the story sometimes after you've circulated it and it hasn't sold, or is that a trap? How do you know when you're done? How about REALLY done? Are there some balloons we could have to cheer us up?
It should be a great time. I hope you can come!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Dive into Worldbuilding - Special Schedule this week, and March topics!
Welcome to March!
If you haven't had a chance, check out my story which is up this month at Clarkesworld - especially fun for those who love Japan! Here's the link to Suteta Mono de wa Nai (Not Easily Thrown Away)
Now, onto the Hangout Schedule!
We're kicking off this week with a visit at 10am PST from the super-cool author Brad Beaulieu, who will be chatting with us about worldbuilding in his series, the Lays of Anuskaya - The Winds of Kalakhovo, The Straits of Galahesh, and The Flames of Shadam Khoreh. Here is a picture to tempt you!
Here is the complete schedule for the month:
March 6th - Special Guest Author Brad Beaulieu discusses his Lays of Anuskaya series (10am PST)
March 13th - Fantasy Cartography with special guest Christian Stiehl
March 20th - Literacy and Technology (11am)
March 28th - Matching Culture and Character Motives
I hope to see you there!
If you haven't had a chance, check out my story which is up this month at Clarkesworld - especially fun for those who love Japan! Here's the link to Suteta Mono de wa Nai (Not Easily Thrown Away)
Now, onto the Hangout Schedule!
We're kicking off this week with a visit at 10am PST from the super-cool author Brad Beaulieu, who will be chatting with us about worldbuilding in his series, the Lays of Anuskaya - The Winds of Kalakhovo, The Straits of Galahesh, and The Flames of Shadam Khoreh. Here is a picture to tempt you!
Here is the complete schedule for the month:
March 6th - Special Guest Author Brad Beaulieu discusses his Lays of Anuskaya series (10am PST)
March 13th - Fantasy Cartography with special guest Christian Stiehl
March 20th - Literacy and Technology (11am)
March 28th - Matching Culture and Character Motives
I hope to see you there!
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