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Author Interview: Sharleen Nelson (part 1 of 2)
Posted on June 3, 2018 Leave a Comment
I had the pleasure of interviewing Sharleen Nelson, whose debut novel The Time Tourists is available to buy on Amazon and other retail outlets. What follows is part one of that interview. Be sure to check back next week for part two!
The Collapsing Empire: A Review
Posted on April 8, 2018 Leave a Comment
I love a good space opera and the manifold positive reviews I read all suggested that was exactly what I was going to get, so I thought it was a safe bet. But I’ll be perfectly honest. I have mixed feelings about this book.
100 Word Story: Popping Off
Posted on February 11, 2018 2 Comments
It’s time I subjected you all to another one of my under-performing flash fictions I nevertheless believe in.
100 Word Story: The Secret of Sig. Pieroni’s Pizza
Posted on December 3, 2017 Leave a Comment
It occurred to me that a takeaway restaurant could make a lot of money if only the owner had exclusive and discreet access to a time machine, thus allowing him to deliver food promptly no matter how busy a night he was having. However, I neglected to actually show you the story that came about as a result of that plot bunny.
5 Sci-Fi Tropes I Could Live Without
Posted on October 29, 2017 Leave a Comment
For some reason, sci-fi is just chock full of certain clichéd tropes, some of which are so very ridiculous that it frankly beggars belief that they ever became clichés. The others are just plain done to death. What follows are some of my (least) favourites.
Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Star Trek Edition
Posted on September 24, 2017 Leave a Comment
The day we’ve all been waiting for with a combination of both hope and dread is finally here. Star Trek: Discovery premieres in America today, and so, in honour of this momentous occasion (and since we Brits won’t be getting it until tomorrow), I am pleased to present Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Star Trek Edition!
We’ve already had super snappy speed reviews for books (twice, in fact), TV shows and films but today it’s going to be a bit different. Today I’ll be reviewing all thirteen Star Trek films in order of release. As ever, these reviews only reflect my own personal opinions and impressions, phasered, disruptored and bat’lethed into just two or three sentences.
100 Word Story: The Monster
Posted on August 27, 2017 2 Comments
I recently entered a couple of stories into the National Association of Writers’ Groups 100 Word Mini-Tales competition. Suffice it to say I didn’t win, but since I believed in the potential of every one of the stories I entered, it seemed only fitting to try and publish them elsewhere. I selected this one to publish here on Penstricken after the winners of the competition were announced. The rest, I’ve submitted to other places.
As ever, what follows here is entirely my own work and has not been published anywhere else in the world, whether on print or online. And so, without further ado, I give you…
Super Snappy Speed Reviews – Books (vol. 2)
Posted on July 30, 2017 Leave a Comment
It’s that time again! We’ve already had super snappy speed reviews for books, TV shows and films now it’s time to return for a second helping of super snappy book reviews. As before, the books I have reviewed here have been selected entirely at random from my ever-growing book collection and do not necessarily have anything in common apart from the fact that they are all books. They are not necessarily films that I particularly liked or disliked, nor are they sorted into any particular order.
As always, these reviews only reflect my own personal opinions and impressions, squished, sliced and diced into a few short sentences. So without further ado…
Writing Non-Human Characters #2: Aliens
Posted on May 21, 2017 6 Comments
Last week, I had planned to write a single post talking about how to write non-human characters, such as animals, aliens, mythical creatures and so forth. Unfortunately, it turned into such a long post that I decided to chop it up into a series of posts instead. This week’s post is the second instalment on writing non-human characters and today I’m going to focus on how to write aliens from other other worlds. If it’s animal characters you’re interested in, that was covered in last week’s post, which you can see by clicking here. If, on the other hand, it’s robots or mythical creatures you’re after… well, you’ll just have to wait.
Before we begin, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of the golden rule for writing non-human characters…
5 Super Snappy Speed Reviews – TV Edition
Posted on April 16, 2017 Leave a Comment
Well, I know it’s not been all that long since the last edition of Super Snappy Speed Reviews but I’ve spent the last few hours banging my head against the desk trying to think of something to write for today and I’m drawing a blank so I’m afraid you’re getting more speed reviews today- this time focusing on the realm of televised fiction. I’ve picked 5 TV shows entirely at random from my DVD rack Now TV/Lovefilm/etc. accounts and have prepared for your information reviews of up to no more than three or four sentences each.
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