-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Everything I Know, I Learned from Edgar Allan Poe 2 days, 5 hours ago
Everything I know about writing science fiction, reading it, and understanding it, I learned from Edgar Allan Poe, specifically his one story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”. This goes for all of world […] -
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Why I Don’t Like My Heroes 1 week, 2 days ago
When I first started out as a published writer of science fiction in 1978 and sold my first novel in 1979, I started going to local and national science fiction conventions. Mostly I felt it was to be part of […]
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, The Alternate History Masterpiece You’ve Never Read 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Satire is no longer being written in America. It’s still on television via Saturday Night Live, South Park, and the great, unsung animation series Squidbillies. (I’d lump Superjail in there, but it’s not for […]
-
Paul Cook commented on the post, The (Ongoing) Death and Transfiguration of Science Fiction Publishing 4 weeks ago
I’ve been reading sf and fantasy since 1959 and I’ve seen the entire field evolve, and this includes the rise of the series. I have yet to read a story that required five or six or twelve novels to tell it. Dune […]
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, The (Ongoing) Death and Transfiguration of Science Fiction Publishing 4 weeks ago
Lazy Literary Agents in Self-Publishing Money Grab Via Argo Navis
Most of you who are reading these blogs here at Amazing Stories are probably well aware that publishing is changing. It has perhaps always been […] -
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Book Review: The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman 1 month ago
The Teleportation Accident – Ned Beauman
Bloomsbury USA 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1620400227 (Hardcover)
I buy books, especially novels, based on whether or not the story might interest me. This includes […]
-
Paul Cook commented on the post, Book Review: Hope Reborn by S.M. Stirling and David Drake 1 month, 1 week ago
Definitely read Forever War and Starship Troopers and John Steakley’s Armor. Not a fan of Ender’s Game, though it’s clearly military sf.
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Book Review: Hope Reborn by S.M. Stirling and David Drake 1 month, 1 week ago
Hope Reborn by S.M Stirling and David Drake
Baen Books 2013
978-1-4516-3877-6 (Trade paperback)
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that has long been the mainstay of Baen Books. […]
-
Paul Cook commented on the post, What super-movie are you most excited about? 1 month, 1 week ago
Superman is the movie to watch, if only because the last reboot was terrible and a lot is weighing on the success of this version. I must say that the special effects look exactly like those of the upcoming Star […]
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Sense of Wonder #2 – From the Movies 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Earlier I wrote about what Damon Knight characterized as “a sense of wonder” that emerges at times in a science fiction story, or as in the case of this blog entry, in a movie. I said that the sense of wonder was […] -
Paul Cook commented on the post, Why Science Fiction Poetry is Embarrassingly Bad 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Marie,
Very thoughtful response. I absolutely agree with you when you say: “You either have to advance an argument for why tropes like robots, aliens, outer space, time travel, and all the rest of the furniture […] -
Paul Cook commented on the post, Should You Judge a Book by its Cover? 1 month, 2 weeks ago
This is an all-too common phenomenon. Whatever else happens to a book, the author always gets blamed. It happened to me. It’s happened to others. You get a bad cover, the book doesn’t sell (even if it has great […]
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, What Does the Music of the Future Sound Like? 1 month, 3 weeks ago
When I was a kid, I saw a cheezy science fiction B movie wherein someone was playing an instrument that looked like a small organ with a hemispherical keyboard, and before him was a screen that lit up with all […]
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Book Review: Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Bowl of Heaven – Gregory Benford and Larry NivenTor – 2012
978-0765328410 (Hardbound)
This is the first collaboration between two of our major writers, Gregory Benford and Larry Niven. Bowl of Heaven is […]
-
Paul Cook commented on the post, Is Ender’s Game Really Any Fun to Read? 2 months ago
Hi, J.
I certainly wouldn’t attack Card personally for this book. All any critic has is the artifact in hand. I was only talking about my reaction–as you were about yours. Both are valid and I wouldn’t even […] -
Paul Cook commented on the post, How to Begin a Short Story 2 months ago
Geoffrey, great post. Your criteria is the same as mine.I teach sf/fantasy creative writing at Arizona State University and one thing I show my students is how Bradbury gets us grounded in his stories by the first […]
-
Paul Cook commented on the post, Is Ender’s Game Really Any Fun to Read? 2 months ago
Daniel,
You’re absolutely correct in saying I’m in the minority in my feelings towards Ender’s Game. I know that. Card’s readers are legion. But I have for years wrestled with my feelings towards that book when I […] -
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Is Ender’s Game Really Any Fun to Read? 2 months ago
Troll the internet for “the greatest science fiction novels of all time” and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game will be at the top of every list you’ll find. (Or it was last time I checked.) It’s been at the top of […] -
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Sense of Wonder #1 2 months, 2 weeks ago
We are drawn to science fiction and fantasy because of what Damon Knight called its “sense of wonder”. This is a hard term to define exactly, but you know and I know exactly what it is when we come across a scene […]
-
Paul Cook wrote a new post, Book Review: The Wind Whales of Ishmael – Philip José Farmer 2 months, 2 weeks ago
I have two purposes for this review. One is to call your attention to a novel that older readers have probably already read, The Wind Whales of Ishmael by Philip José Farmer (originally published by Ace Science […] - Load More
Recent Comments