http://valingstoneways.com/blog Ramblings about Politics, Economics, and Writing Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:00:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I should start by saying I hated The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Read it on a long plane trip, and the only reason I read The Girl Who Played with Fire was because I'd already bought it for the trip home. But, being the incredibly positive guy ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/08/18/sam-who-likes-some-things-the-girl-who-played-with-fire/ I should have liked this book. I thought I'd like it. The Culture is a very cool construct, and Iain Banks is a talented writer with or without the middle initial. But I didn't like the book. For a number of reasons. My biggest problem was my dislike of ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/08/17/sam-who-likes-nothing-consider-phlebas/ Publishing and Class. Check it out at SFNovelists.com. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/08/16/my-latest-sfnovelists-post-is-up/ Blood River is a book that describes the author's 2004 descent of the Congo River from Lake Tangaynika to Boma following the path Stanley took 117 years before. It's not a particularly good book (I dislike the modern journalistic technique of reporters injecting themselves into the story), but its ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/07/22/sam-who-likes-some-things-blood-river/ My latest post, Not Yet A Professional, is up at SFNovelists. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/07/15/not-yet-a-professional/ The contracts are signed and mailed back to Daw - mine and many others. We'll all have stories in Daw's new anthology next spring - AFTER HOURS: TALES FROM THE UR-BAR, thanks to editors (and contributors) Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray. There are several other contributors, but I don't know ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/07/07/now-it-can-be-told/ ...that irony is the worst thing that ever happened to fiction. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/06/21/how-ironic/ My latest post is up at SFNovelists. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/06/15/writing-sf-vs-writing-fantasy/ From a vegetarian rancher, no less. At the Atlantic. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/06/04/interesting-article-about-the-environmental-and-ethical-aspects-of-eating-meat/ Author Michael Ventrella has interviewed me at his blog. Seek our wisdom here: http://michaelaventrella.wordpress.com/ http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/05/28/shameless-self-promotion/