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Book reviews

The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
All That Was Asked by Vanessa MacLaren-Wray
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Binary Star by Sarah Gerard
Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead
Can You Sign My Tentacle? by Brandon O'Brien
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdez
Coulrophobia and Fata Morgana by Jacob M. Appel
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Dune: Book vs. Movies
The Dying of the Golden Day by Carrie Gessner
The Fallen Odyssey by Corey McCullough
Goddess of Filth by V. Castro
The Guilty by Juan Villoro
Halfway to Better (anthology)
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Herland and With Her in Ourland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
How to Carry Bigfoot Home by Chris Tarry
Itzá by Rios de la Luz
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The Last Vanishing Man by Matthew Cheney
Leech Girl Lives by Rick Claypool
The Librarian (anthology)
Maya's Notebook by Isabel Allende
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill
Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea (anthology)
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Outside by Gustavo Bondoni
The Princess Bride: Book vs. Movie
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo by F.G. Haghenbeck
Sister Suite by Christine Stroud
Sorrow by Catherine Gammon
Star Eater by Kerstin Hall
Swarm Theory by Christine Rice
Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden
The Things We'll Never Have by Hilary Hauck
This. This. This. Is. Love. Love. Love. by Jennifer Wortman
Unsaid Things by Joanna Acevedo
Waiting for the Miracle by Jason DeYoung
Welcome to Nightvale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
What It Might Feel Like to Hope by Dorene O'Brien
Whiskey, Etc. by Sherrie Flick
The Wizard's Homecoming by Elwin Cotman

Conlangs

5 Star Trek Episodes Every Conlanger Should Watch
A Brief Survey of Interesting Conlangs from Across History
Grammatical Gender 101 for English-Speaking Conlangers
Passive vs. Active Voice (+ Other Options for Conlangers)
Tips for Using Other Languages in Fiction

Folklore and Mythology

13 Fun Monsters from World Mythology that Haven't Been Written to Death Yet in Western Fiction
18 Nonbinary Deities from World Mythology
27 Cryptids and Monsters from the Americas
The Epic of Gilgamesh Worldbuilding Analysis
Harvest Gods from Around the World
A Litany of Little Folk
Mythology and Folklore Research Resources
The Myths of the Maya
On Adam and Eve, the Suspension of Disbelief, and the Power of Stories
On Ghosts, Wraiths, Revenants, and Other Things that Linger
On the Hero's (And Heroine's) Journey
On the Pervasiveness of Dragons
Squatch Around the World
Wheel of Time: Myth Connections (And Potential Inspirations) for the Forsaken
The World's Oldest Stories

Freelance advice

3 Tips to Start a Successful Freelance Writing Career
7 Handy Things to Always Pack for Traveling Writers and Digital Nomads
Must-Have Skills for a Freelance Writer (Other than Writing)
On Career Progress as a Freelancer
On Work/Life Balance as a Creative Human
Why Slow Traveling is Better for Digital Nomads

Publishing advice

3 Tips for Introverts to Make the Most of Writing Conferences, Conventions, and Book Festivals
6 Established Always-Open Journals (Plus Some Old List Updates)
7 Unique Lit Mags to Read and Send Your Stuff To
16 Journals with Guaranteed Feedback (Updated November 2025)
19 Publishers of Fiction Chapbooks (Updated November 2025)
30 Publishers that Pay for Reprints
50+ Markets for Long Short Stories and Novellas (Updated November 2025)
Advice on Live Pitching From Agents, Editors, and Writers
AWP 2024 Bookfair Discoveries
How to Know When a Short Story Is Ready to Submit
How to Submit Work to Journals Step-by-step
How to Suss Out What a Journal Publishes When You Can't Read Their Back Issues
How to Write Cover Letters for Fiction Submissions in 2023
Insights from Duotrope's Editor Interviews
Let's Talk Rejections
Market Database Comparison: Duotrope vs. Submission Grinder vs. Chill Subs
On Journal Acceptance Ratios, What They Mean, and Why They Matter
Should You Self-Publish?
Should You Submit to Contests?
The Steps (and Team) to Self Publish Successfully
Types of Professional Editing (and When You Need It)
Why Book Cover Design Matters (and Some Tips to Do It Right)
Why Do Editors Reject Stories and Poems?

Worldbuilding analyses

Dune (part 1)
Dune (part 2)
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Nope (Jordan Peele)
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (part 1)
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (part 2)
Wheel of Time Books 1-7 (part 1)
Wheel of Time Books 1-7 (part 2)

Writing advice

3 Amateur Fiction Writer Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
3 Tips for Editing Your Own Fiction
3 Tips to Write Better Dialogue
3 Ways to Learn More About Your Characters
5 Free Newsletters for Writers
6 Steps to DIY an MFA
9 POV Approaches for Fiction Writers
Authentically Alien: What Makes a Non-Human Character Read as Truly Other?
The Challenges of Writing Sports (and Tips for Dealing with Them)
Creative Feedback: How to Give It Effectively (and Get the Most Out of It)
Genres Explained Part 1: What Does Genre Even Mean, Anyway?
Genres Explained Part 2: The Big List of Speculative Fiction Subgenres
Genres Explained Part 3: The Many Shades of Realism
Grammatical Gender 101 for English-Speaking Conlangers
How to End a Story
How to Focus a Story Using Orson Scott Card's MICE Quotient
How to Know When a Short Story Is Ready to Submit
How to Start a Writing Group
Insights from 2023 Confluence Convention and Wildcat Lit Fest
Insights from the 2025 Lit Youngstown Fall Festival
Insights from the In Your Write Mind Conference
Insights from the 2025 In Your Write Mind Conference
Literary Worldbuilding: Why You Need It (and How to Do It Right)
On Formatting Dialogue
On Found Fiction as a Storytelling Form
On Ghosts, Wraiths, Revenants, and Other Things that Linger
On High Body Counts, Horror Tropes, and the Fall of the House of Usher
On the Hero's (And Heroine's) Journey
On Worldbuilding Fairy Tale Style
On Writing Food in Fiction
Online Feedback Resources for Fiction Writers
Passive vs. Active Voice (+ Other Options for Conlangers)
Planning Tips for Choose-Your-Own Narratives
A Primer on Creative Nonfiction Terms and Genres
Punk Subgenres 101
Simple Steps to Develop a Sustainable Writing Habit
Tips for Assembling a Short Story Collection
Tips for Using Other Languages in Fiction
Tools to Help You Build a Writing Habit
The Tricky Wicket of Writing Flash Speculative Fiction
Types of Professional Editing (and When You Need It)
What Actually Is the Difference Between Science Fiction and Fantasy?
What Makes a Character Three-Dimensional (And Do They Always Need to Be?)
What Makes Fiction “Literary”?
What's in a Name?
What Speculative Fiction Writers can Learn from The Tale of Murasaki
When Characters Sleep (Perchance to Dream)
Why Fiction Writers Should Watch Reality TV

Writing prompts and exercises

Other sundry thoughts and musings

5 Star Trek Episodes Every Conlanger Should Watch
A Brief Survey of Interesting Conlangs from Across History
Every Zodiac Sign if They Were Alien Cultures from Star Trek
Fun Finds from the International Cryptozoology Museum
Just What Is a Cryptid, Anyway?
On Becoming Human: The AI in Star Trek
On Cats in Space
On Ghosts and School Spirits
On Killgrave, Preacher, and the Power of Suggestion
On NaNoWriMo, Writing Goals, and Creative Productivity
On Reading in a Second Language
On the Cage in the Menagerie (or How a Failed Pilot Spawned a Franchise)
On the Evolution of Captain Pike
On the Recurrence of Andor
On Trills and Timelords
What Exactly Makes Writing Sound Like AI?

Browse posts by category

Categories:

Book reviews

Conlangs

Folklore and Mythology

Freelance advice

Publishing advice

Worldbuilding analyses

Writing advice

Writing prompts and exercises

Other sundry thoughts and musings