Browsing all articles by Ryan Howse.
Margaret Curelas Acquisitions Editor of Tyche Books Interview
This month, I interviewed Margaret Curelas, Acquisitions Editor of Tyche Books, a Canadian speculative fiction small press publisher. Tyche Books can be found online at tychebooks.com or on twitter @TycheBooks. What prompted the creation of Tyche Books? Tyche was created when Tina Moreau and I were both on maternity leave. We had previously worked together [...]
Rules? Where We’re Going We Don’t Need Rules
There’s a strong tendency in critique groups, whether online or in person, or in writing guides, or even just in casual conversation between writers, to talk about The Rules of Writing. They’re often talked about as if they are immutable, as if ignoring them will make you fail. This is false. One can say there [...]
Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin is best known for his high fantasy epic, A Song of Ice and Fire. Yet he is an endlessly inventive writer, and long before ASOIAF, he had written in several genres. One of his earlier works, Tuf Voyaging, is a science fiction series of novellas that has recently been re-released by [...]
The Table Theory of Characterization
So you’ve written a fantasy novel. It’s full of political intrigue and clashing armies, nefarious wizards and heroic last stands. Now strip all of that away. That rollercoaster of a plot with its byzantine twists? Gone. The subtle cruelty of your antagonist? Gone. Your protagonists don’t need to rescue the princess or save the kingdom [...]
The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman
Harry Ransom is many things to many people: a genius, a con man, an inventor, a sorcerer of the East who stands seven feet tall, even a myth. His most famous contribution to the world is the Ransom Process, a machine which creates free light for all. Unfortunately for Professor Ransom, it is also capable [...]
A Moratorium On The Monomyth
Of all genres, fantasy is generally closest to mining the heroic journey archetypes for its inspiration. For some authors, the intent is to uphold these ideals; others wish to subvert them. Even ones who choose to subvert the tropes are acknowledging the power of that trope. The monomyth, as described by Campbell, was a structure [...]
