In September 2010, author and all around goddess Mary Robinette Kowal (The Glamourist Histories, Ghost Talkers) took a month off from the internet. During her vacation, she told people that they could correspond with her by paper letter. “It was fun,” she wrote, “so in 2011, I issued the […]
While the variety shows and special events were fun, and the panels and workshops were informative, while being around a crowd of like-minded people and be able to rub elbows with all sorts of fun folks is wonderful, what makes NerdCon: Stories so memorable for me is how it […]
I am an extremely lucky person. At times when I am feeling particularly magnanimous, I would even say that I am blessed. I live in an existence where I am surrounded by books. I own books, I can download books electronically, I have a library nearby where I can not […]
So, when I took the parcel I was going to send out for the first day of the 2016 A Month of Letters Challenge to the local post office, I was the 10th or 11th person in line. There was only one person working at the counter, and she was […]
It’s that time of year – when everyone comes out with an end-of-the-year “best of” list. Maybe I’m more sensitive to them now, or perhaps it’s because I’ve added so many literary and publishing sites to my social media feeds, but this December seems to be absolutely bursting with […]
Due to my participation in NaNoWriMo, I again beg your indulgence in allowing me to revisit a Gimbling that first ran in 2013. It’s been updated just a touch, but I kind of like it even now! Hope you do, as well. ~ * ~ * ~ In ancient times, […]
A Writer’s Notebook by Somerset Maugham Somerset Maugham’s A Writer’s Notebook was first published in 1949, and though his work may have fallen out of fashion since then, in his time he was a literary light, outselling contemporaries like Joseph Conrad and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Guardian called Maugham “the […]
Along with Monday’s announcement of their Lifetime Achievement Award going to editor extraordinaire Ellen Datlow and author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, the World Fantasy Convention – an annual convention of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of fantasy – has released its list of nominees for the 2014 World […]
Well, Litstackers, it doesn’t look like winter is going to hurry on its way. For most of the country, the frigid temperatures and icy streets will be sticking around for a while (yes, even here in the humid south, if you can believe it). What better way to warm up […]
We adore her and couldn’t be happier for our friend, Queen of steampunk and all around grand writer, Cherie Priest. Priest announced on her blog that she has scored a deal for two more books published by Tor. MORE STEAMPUNK? No. Fiddlehead will wrap up the major arc of The Clockwork Century, and […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.