Quick links
- Essays on Literature and Writing
- Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Author Interviews
- Book and Magazine Reviews
- General Essays
- Selected Nonfiction Articles
Note: If a publication isn't given for an essay, that means it was originally published on my website.
Essays on Literature and Writing
- "Singing the Songs of Distant Earth"
(SF Signal, June 21, 2011)
(Originally published in a slightly different form as "Singing the Songs of Arthur C. Clarke's Distant Earth" in The New York Review of Science Fiction, October 2008, Number 242.) - The World's Smallest Essay on Our New Miniaturization of Literature (April 10, 2011)
- Why We Write Literary Reviews and the follow-up essay Why It's Worth Expressing Opinions on Literature
(November 19 and 23, 2010) - World Fantasy Convention's Authors and Ideas Panel
(November 1, 2010) - A Writer's Guide to Social Media
SFWA blog, Nov. 14, 2010.
(Please note this is a rewritten version of an earlier post on my website) - The bad writer's tripping point
(July 19, 2010) - Living in a world where most writers suck
(May 6, 2010) - Simultaneous submissions: Should you sim sub or not?
(January 13, 2010) - Will Online Magazines End the Eternal Slugfest Between Genre and Literary Fiction?
(SF Signal, May 22, 2010) - "The Liar's Review of James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning."
(Monsters and Critics, May 16, 2008.) - "Dipping Their Toes in the Genre Pool: The U.S. Literary Establishment's Need-Hate Relationship with Speculative Fiction" (The New York Review of Science Fiction, June 2007, Number 226. You can also read Matthew Cheney reaction to my essay in "The Shibboleth of "The Literary Establishment," the combination of which resulted in coverage in places like The Guardian newspaper in England.)
- "T. Coraghessan Boyle and Surviving the Baby Boom"
(The Pedestal Magazine, Issue 28, June 2005. Reprinted in storySouth.) - "How to Expose New Writers: Online Versus Print Magazines"
(storySouth, winter 2002.) - "Returning Insight to Stories: Science, Stories, and Loren Eiseley"
(Cosmoetica, revised and reprinted in storySouth, winter 2003.) - Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust
(Cosmoetica, revised and reprinted in storySouth, fall 2004.)
Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Our science fiction isn't your father's SF
(August 16, 2010) - The Noticing of SciFi Strange
(August 12, 2009) - The online SciFi Strange anthology
(August 19, 2010) - For students: A few words on genre and literary fiction
(August 10, 2010) - On the learning tool that is genre gossip
(July 7, 2010) - Why science fiction predictions hold back the genre
(June 17, 2010) - Positively positive that positive SF doesn't have to be positive to be positive
(December 19, 2009) - Is the term SciFi still derogatory?
(August 27, 2009) - To Dump or Not to Dump
(January 10, 2009) - Singularity blues, or how science fiction and humanity will survive the not so looming technological crunch
(March 11, 2008)
Author Interviews
- "Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: One Southern Boy's Ramblings with Mike Resnick"
(storySouth, Feb. 2007) - Interview with Larry Eisenberg
(SF Signal, Nov. 23, 2009) - Interview with Tobias Buckell
(Monsters and Critics, August 15, 2007) - Interview with Jim C. Hines
(Monsters and Critics, March 6, 2008) - Interview with Matt Cook
(Monsters and Critics, Oct. 8, 2007)
Book and Magazine Reviews
- Review of Brave New Worlds, edited by John Joseph Adams
(SF Signal, May 18, 2011) - Review of Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
(SF Signal, December 20, 2010) - Review of I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (pseudonym of James Frey and Jobie Hughes)
(SF Signal, August 9, 2010) - Review of Dark Faith anthology, edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon
(SF Signal, July 26, 2010) - Review of And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer
(SF Signal, February 15, 2010) - Review of Tokyo Godfathers, directed by Satoshi Kon
(SF Signal, December 24, 2009) - Review of Booklife by Jeff VanderMeer
(SF Signal, October 29, 2009) - Review of Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
(SF Signal, October 8, 2009) - Review of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
(SF Signal, Sept. 8, 2009)- Translated into Romanian for the Romanian Science Fiction & Fantasy Society
- Reviews of Strange Horizons fiction from 2009: January, February, March
(All from The Fix Short Fiction Review) - A Sleuth of Poe Books
(Monsters and Critics, January 28, 2009) - Review of Review of Tesseracts Twelve, edited by Claude Lalumière
(The Fix Short Fiction Review, January 18, 2009) - Review of Shortshortshort.com
(The Fix Short Fiction Review, January 11, 2009) - Featured book review of Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
(Monsters and Critics, October 28, 2008) - Reviews of Strange Horizons Fiction from 2008: June, July, August, September, October
(All from The Fix Short Fiction Review) - Featured book review of The Hounds of Ash and Other Tales of Fool Wolf by Greg Keyes.
(Monsters and Critics, June 25, 2008) - Review of Tales of Moreauvia Number 1
(The Fix short fiction review, June 10, 2008) - Featured book review of Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, edited by John Joseph Adams. (Monsters and Critics, May 16, 2008)
- Featured book review of Jim C. Hines's Goblin War.
(Monsters and Critics, March 6, 2008) - Featured book review of Paolo Bacigalupi's Pump Six and Other Stories.
(Monsters and Critics, Feb. 26, 2008) - Featured book review of Matthew Cook's Blood Magic.
(Monsters and Critics, October 8, 2007) - Featured book review of Nathalie Mallet's The Princes of the Golden Cage.
(Monsters and Critics, August 28, 2007) - Featured book review of Tobias Buckell's Ragamuffin.
(Monsters and Critics, August 15, 2007) - Review and essay on The Dark Knight Strikes Again.
(Flak Magazine, November 2, 2002) - Review of Better Than Well by Carl Ellion.
(M, spring 2003) - Review of Boneyard by Richard Moore.
(Pop Matters, February 5, 2004)
General Essays
- Remembering the dead through the pattern of their words
(September 27, 2010) - In the future, will anyone care that you have an opinion?
(July 22, 2010) - How to waste your life
(November 21, 2009) - Ageless Arts (storySouth, fall 2003.)
- Radio Wave Ethics and Back-Woods Beatings (storySouth, winter 2004.)
- Not So Posh Corps (storySouth, summer 2004; reprinted in Abroad View Magazine.)
- Casting the Artist: Allen Peterson and Cast-Iron Sculpture (storySouth, spring 2002.)
Selected Nonfiction Articles
- Return of the Poet (Published in the July 27-August 9, 2000 edition of Siren, an alternative newspaper in the Twin Cities.)
- The Journey that Matters (Published in a slightly shorter form in M.)
- Getting Fleeced: "Aggressive Accounting Empties Pockets, Delays Retirements. (Published in M.)
- General College: Access to Excellence for 70 Years. (PDF download; article is halfway down. Published in Kiosk, the staff newspaper of the University of Minnesota. Reprinted in Access, the magazine of General College).