Great new critters over on Charles Yallowitz’ blog! Fantastic choice for video too 🙂 Happy Halloween!

The final batch of critters have been donated by L. Marie:

Furbfur

A hypo-allergenic construct that begins life as a featureless dog made out of clay. It is molded and changed to suit the owner’s requirements. This means it can be turned into a hunting dog, lap dog, guard dog, or whatever kind you wish. One can even designate a specific diet that can work within their budget. This tends to be done by those getting the animal for children or elderly, but can’t afford much else. Most people make combinations of breeds and the Furbfur is very popular as a service dog because of its versatility and the ease of training. These are still sentient creatures and require time to adjust to their bodies and owners. Sadly, there are those who turn these animals into attack dogs and run fights, so there is a discussion on if they…

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Striking the Motherlode

August 11, 2015 by Patrick Jones

Excellent information from D. Wallace Peach!

Myths of the Mirror

image from flightfox.com

Well, I have a gift for you today. NO, it’s not a book. Phew!

A friend of mine shared a link with me, and when I opened it, I gasped. My knees turned to syrup, and I wiped tears of delight from my eyes. I’d struck writing gold.

Brandon Sanderson, the highly successful author of Mistborn and The Way of Kings fame, teaches a master’s level class at BYU for fantasy and science-fiction writers. The class is so popular that only a small number of interested students actually get to enroll. In response to the flood of despair, the entire series of winter lectures were videotaped and are available on YouTube at zero cost.

image from thebooksmuggler.com

You don’t write sci-fi or fantasy, you say.

I will assert, while skipping in circles with excitement, that the ideas he presents are 99% applicable to all fiction writing. He…

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Daily Echo – Sue Vincent: When reviews really matter…

April 10, 2015 by Patrick Jones

Excellent information about book reviews from Author Sue Vincent!!

Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

Image source reddit.com

“Bilbo Baggins was a Hobbit who lived in his Hobbit hole and never went for adventures, at last Gandalf the wizard and his Dwarves persuaded him to go. He had a very exiting (sic) time fighting goblins and wargs. At last they get to the lonely mountain; Smaug, the dragon who guards it is killed and after a terrific battle with the goblins he returned home — rich! This book, with the help of maps, does not need any illustrations it is good and should appeal to all children between the ages of 5 and 9.” Rayner Unwin’s review of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

In 1936 a ten year old boy was given a book by his father. This was not just any book, nor just any boy… Rayner Unwin was the son of Sir Stanley Unwin, founder of the publishing firm George Allen…

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