Winter 2007—2008 (archived)

I write fantasy and science fiction. My agent is currently marketing my YA fantasy novel Bag of Tricks (formerly known as The Talisman Bag).  I update this site quarterly, with information about me, my fiction, and writing in general.  Older posts are available on the Archive link in the left column.  I update my blog two or three times a week with my thoughts on publishing, life in general, and speculative fiction in particular.

I've also added a short story to this site, a prequel to Bag of Tricks. The short story is called "Aveline's Price", and it is available under the Free Sample link to the left.

Why Speculative Fiction?

I read a lot when I was young.  I can remember reading under the covers with a flashlight.  Until about seventh grade, the stories that most held my interest were adventure stories—Captains Courageous, Kidnapped—and mysteries—Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.  I also liked biography and historical novels.  Andre Norton wrote a lot of what we now call YA (young adult) historical fiction, including Ride Proud Rebel (Civil War setting) Shadow Hawk (ancient Egypt), and Scarface (pirates in the Caribbean).  I loved her stories, so when I picked up one with a rocket ship on the spine, it didn't occur to me that it was a whole different kind of book, but it was.  It was science fiction, and that's how I got hooked.

I knew Andre Norton was really a woman because our school librarian had a thing about pseudonyms.  All the Mark Twain books had a pencil mark through the name Mark Twain on the title page, and the name Samuel Clemens had been written underneath.  The Andre Norton books had Andre crossed out and Alice Mary written in.  So, my first experience with speculative fiction was with a woman author, even though many of her stories had teenage boys as protagonists.  Andre Norton was nothing if not prolific, and I read all her books back then—Star Man's Son, The Time Traders, Beast Master.  I followed her even when she branched into fantasy with the Witch World books.

I liked Norton's science fiction and fantasies so much that I started looking for other books with little rocket ships on the spine.  That's how I found Robert A. Heinlein's YA books, like Starbeast, Podkayne of Mars, and my favorite, Citizen of the Galaxy.  As I grew older, I read Heinlein's more adult books, like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and the more famous Stranger in a Strange Land.  I read Clifford Simak, Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Leigh Bracket, and Lloyd Biggle—pretty much anyone who came along. 

Writing versus Reading

One reason science fiction and fantasy stories appealed to me as a reader was that they could transport me to a different world—a world in which I didn't know what to expect.  And one reason that the genre appeals to me as a writer is that I can create a world that operates by my rules.  I still have to have rules, but I get to make them.

 Just as I, as a reader, enjoyed not being bound to the real and the immediately possible, I, as a writer, enjoyed it even more.  In a sense, it appeals to the control freak in me.  Don't like the past?  Rewrite it!  Don't like the earth's geography?   Change it!  Wish there was a country where women ruled men?  Make one up!

 There's more to it than that, of course.  First, last, and always, you have to have a good story.  No matter how many elves, fairies, aliens, or enhanced humans you put in your story, your readers are going to be human.  The story has to appeal to them.

 Some people say that the term speculative fiction is redundant because all fiction speculates, but I don't think that's true.  I think some fiction is written for the comfort of the known, or even for the cathartic need to go over the past.  Speculative fiction, on the other hand, tends to be written from either exuberance or a profound need to explore. 

 Which is why, I think, it tends to be more fun to write and read.