My story “Girl Who Asks Too Much” is now available for free on the Daily Science Fiction website.

My flash fiction short story “Girl Who Asks Too Much” is scheduled to come out tomorrow in Daily Science Fiction, which in practice means it will be emailed to subscribers tonight.   Subscribe now!

If you’re eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards, you only have until 11:59:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time on Saturday, March 26, to get your nominations in.   I’ve got a few recommendations to make, and not just my own stuff.   In some categories I’m listing more items than I can nominate, because I think they’re good and you... read more »

Over at the blog of the Association for Mormon Letters, Dan Wells has an insightful post about religion in science fiction.   One of his key points: What Ellie Arroway really wants, when you strip away the trappings of science and technology and alien encounters, is the same thing we all want:... read more »

I definitely believe I am a better writer as a result of going to writing workshops over the past several years.   For those of you who are aspiring authors, I want to bring to your attention two fantastic workshop experiences: Odyssey, the Fantasy Writing Workshop – Despite the name, it’s not just for fantasy writing, but also for science... read more »

Here’s the table of contents for Rejiggering the Thingamajig and Other Stories: Introduction by Dr. Stanley Schmidt Rejiggering the Thingamajig Premature Emergence In Memory Resonance Betrayer of Trees American Banshee The Six Billion Dollar Colon The Man Who Moved the Moon Buy You A Mockingbird Salt of Judas The Final Element Accounting for Dragons Tabloid Reporter to the Stars The... read more »

That’s how many birthdays I’ve had. I’ve decided to set it as a goal to reach age 144.   There are several ways in which I could accomplish that feat: The simplest trick to living that long is, as Garbage sings, to keep breathing. Everyone who died before age 144 stopped breathing. That was obviously a mistake if they were... read more »

I’ve made my fifth sale to Daily Science Fiction. That means I now have three stories forthcoming in DSF: “Girl Who Asks Too Much” – March 24 “They Do it With Robots” – undetermined “Freefall” – undetermined If you haven’t already signed up to receive DSF via email for free every weekday, do so now. “Freefall” is a story I... read more »

I’ve previously mentioned that I have a collection coming out, but I haven’t given too much in the way of details.   That’s about to change. (Well, I hope this post doesn’t give too much in the way of details, but rather just the right amount.) The collection will be titled Rejiggering the Thingamajig and Other Stories, and will include... read more »

Enter scenes late and leave them early, particularly conversation scenes. Trust your readers to fill in details you don't supply. Cut down the number of scenes. Cut down the number of characters. Cut down the number of subplots. Reduce the complexity of the main plot. Tell, don't show, some of the story. Start the story closer to the end and... read more »