All right. It's 2019 and the year's first short story recommendations are long overdue. I'm still catching on the Daily Science Fiction backlog in my inbox, which is definitely showing. But that doesn't make today's recommendation any less deserving. These Fine Vistas by Sandra McDonald (DSF): The story was mostly just okay. Solid sentence level … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2019.01.07
2018 Reading List
Happy New Year's, everyone. In 2018 I created the goal for myself that I wanted to read 80 books this year. But as the list below reveals, I only got around to reading just above half of that. Even taking all the short stories I've read into account, I probably still haven't read more than … Continue reading 2018 Reading List
Story Recommendations – 2018.11.30
Wow, time has flown by and it's been way too long since I posted any short story recommendations (or anything else for that matter). So without further delay, here they are. In the End the World Will Break Your Heart by Kurt Hunt (DSF): An excellent story about the end of the world. What set … Continue reading Story Recommendations – 2018.11.30
Story Recommendations: 2018.11.11
I turned to catching up on my Daily Science Fiction (DSF) backlog this week, so they once again wheigh heavy on the list. As alway, any suggestions of your own are welcome in the comments. The Future of Parenting by Jules Jensen (DSF): The story puts a new twist on the familiar trope of a … Continue reading Story Recommendations: 2018.11.11
Short Story Recommendations 2018.11.04
The weekly short story recommendations are long overdue (more than a week), so here they are even though I don't have as many stories to recommend as I would like. This is despite having read quite a fair deal of short stories the last couple of weeks and from a wider variety of magazines than … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations 2018.11.04
The Power of Writing Exercises
A couple of weeks ago I started attending a weekly wall climbing workshop at my local climbing hall (stay with me; it'll tie into writing fiction further down). I didn't know what to expected, how we were going to practice, how much feedback we'd get. I wasn't even sure I would learn anything at all … Continue reading The Power of Writing Exercises
Short Story Recommendations – 2018.10.13
Though I still have a long backlog of DSF stories I need to catch up with after my vacation, I did decide to go outside my usual magazines in the hunt for great short stories this week. Memory Foam by Forrest Brazeal (DSF): This story is by no means a masterpiece, but it shows that … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.10.13
Author Earnings Dropping
This Guardian article certainly is discouraging reading for all us aspiring writers. Even professional writers are finding it harder and harder to make a living through their art. All the while, publishers and Amazon are seeing increasing profits (but they'll probably keep complaining that the market is dwindling, so they can keep the money for … Continue reading Author Earnings Dropping
Short Story Recommendations: 2018.10.05
Once again, a week that is dominated by stories from Daily Science Fiction; I'm still catching up on the backlog of stories I have in my inbox from them since I went on vacation. To the Editor: Monsters belong in schools by Zella Christensen (DSF): A funny piece that plays of familiar fantasy tropes and … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations: 2018.10.05
A Crazy Month
So the last month or so has been pretty strange, exciting, and full of first time experiences for me, with a lot of ups and downs. I went to the US for the first time and got to experience just how simultaneously different and similar it was to western Europe. The sheer amount of second … Continue reading A Crazy Month
Toby Backman 