Spring and summer are awards season in the book world, with many of the major genre fiction award winners being announced. The finalist lists are a good place to find new-to-you authors who are considered by their peers or fans to be at the top of their genre. The Edgar Awards, honoring the best in [Continue reading]
If you learned everything you know about authors from watching TV or movies, you might think we’re all wealthy, that we just send off a manuscript and then get a check in the mail almost instantly, and that we become famous and live like movie stars after publishing one book. Even when you know more [Continue reading]
As promised last month, here’s some more scoop from MileHiCon in Denver. Fantasy tends to come in series, and while some series just keep getting better, others drop off. How does an author keep a series going and keep it interesting? Several authors of successful series discussed this at the convention. One issue series authors [Continue reading]
At FenCon last month, one of the more interesting panels I attended was about cover art. I’ve been lucky in the covers for my books, but I’ve done my share of mocking the covers that aren’t so great, as well as the cover trends that get out of control. In fact, my Halloween costume a [Continue reading]
At the end of August, I headed to Austin for ArmadilloCon. One of the must-see panels for book lovers was the annual “What You Should Have Read” panel, which included reviewers, a bookseller and an editor talking about the year’s must-read books. Editor Anne Sowards of Ace and Roc books mentioned some recent or upcoming [Continue reading]
I recently attended Mythcon 41, which was a real change from the kind of conventions and conferences I usually go to. This was more of an academic conference, sponsored by the Mythopoeic Society. The focus of this organization is on mythopoeic literature, or transformative mythology, which is the incorporation or transformation of mythology into [Continue reading]
Of all the things authors get blamed (and sometimes praised) for in their books, the covers are where we have the least control. I’ve had people tell me what I should have the publisher put on my books instead (yeah, I’ll get right on that). I’ve even run into people who assume I draw the [Continue reading]
Shanna’s Road Journal Shanna Swendson’s Observations … On Line and On the Road It’s 2010, do you have your e-reader yet? The iPad has made its appearance, joining the Kindle, the Sony e-reader, the Nook and a variety of other reading devices. While I’m far from a luddite, I don’t have an e-reader yet, for [Continue reading]
