Admit it, some books are better than others. And not just because a certain author makes a better work with words than his or her fellow companions. Sometimes, it comes down to a purely emotional reaction to the setting. The Hobbit Shire, the Shannara world, Locke Lamora and his band of thieves. So if you had to choose, what is your ideal type of fantasy, as a reader and as a writer?
Now that I’m done with my anti-hero Rennaissance fantasy novel and my first-person zombie novella, I decided to try yet another new angle at writing. So my curiosity took me to 8th Century BC, the Biblical times. As a man with a very particular taste for religion, or rather lack thereof, writing from a biblical point of view is a most refreshing challenge for me.
In just 34 days! And it’s 102K words! This averages to about 3K words a day, and it’s my new personal record, when we compare it to my best achievement so far, the third, penultimate and upcoming book in The Lost Words series. Now, let me tell you a bit about this new book.
My very first fantasy read was The Hobbit. And I immediately fell in love with the book. I was probably twelve at the time. Next came The Lord of The Rings, which really opened the world of fantasy books before me. I was still a youngster back then, and I struggled slightly with the multitude of characters and plots.
Anyhow, what I want to talk to you is one’s change in the like and dislike of certain authors and sub-genres of the fantasy world, and how my own perception of the literary works changed over time, most likely caused by the inevitable aging and arguable mental maturity gently settling upon my shoulders. So what gives?
Survival is a mean, cold bastard. You think you’ve got it all figured out, then the world ends, and you realize, well, not quite. At least, that’s what the twelve stories in The End, a short story apocalyptic anthology featuring speculative fiction written by the SFFWorld.com forum members, tell us. And so you learn that the end can be faced in many different ways, by being nice to your floor cleaner, by ingesting bacteria, through introspection, with celestial physics making its naughty things.
Anyhow, some of us agreed to do a tour. Each week, someone else would blog shortly about their experience with the anthology, and give a short blurb on a story that impressed them, an angle they liked best, a message they would like to focus on. This week is my turn, and so let me tell you what I had in mind.
Hullo, friends. The End: Visions of Apocalypse is an anthology presented by SFFWorld.com members, and it includes twelve stories that detail various depictions of the end of the world. The anthology features the work of Michael J. Sullivan, Hugh Howey, Tristis Ward, and nine other writers, myself among the bunch, all with their own apocalyptic visions. From grim destruction to tragic suffering, and even humor, no version of the Earth is safe. Well, the world did not end when it supposed to, and now, the book is also available on Amazon.
Dear readers, as you most vividly recall, several months ago, I participated in a writing contest called The End – a short story apocalyptic anthology featuring speculative fiction written by the SFFWorld.com forum members. As you even more vividly remember, I was voted among the winners. And now the book compiling the stories is out, just a few days before the world officially ends, so you’d better hurry and grab yourself a copy. Best thing? It’s free.
If you like my writing, or perhaps if you do not like my writing but would like to see more examples that might change your mind, then you might want to wander over to Dedoimedo.com and grab a dozen short stories posted in the special Here be dragons subsection of the Life category. You will find a decent handful of prose there, and you just might like some of them.
Here’s the thing. Some time ago, SFFWorld.com has organized and launched an on-going writing contest, called The End – a short story apocalyptic anthology featuring speculative fiction written by the site’s forum members. Stories, ranging in size from 2,000 to 5,000 words, are submitted via three contests on the Writing Forum of SFFWorld.com, revolving around Earth, Wind and Fire elements. Guess what, I participated in the recent Wind contest part, and I’m one of the three selected winners!
