Reminder: Michael Thal Interview

Posted on May 15, 2013 by GarryRogers

Michael Thal Tomorrow

The Legend of Koolura

Stop by tomorrow and learn more about Michael Thal and the novels he writes.

Book Review–Clark. Writing Tools.

Posted on April 2, 2013 by GarryRogers

Book Review–Clark.

Clark, Roy Peter. 2006. Writing tools: 50 essential strategies for every writer. Little Brown and Company, New York. 260p.

Clark argues that writing is more a craft than an art. He introduces 50 tools that are useful for writing fiction, nonfiction, and both. The 50 chapters are clear, succinct, and well-illustrated with examples from work by Clark and other authors.

The book is divided into four parts: Nuts and Bolts, Special Effects, Blueprints, and Useful Habits. Each chapter is followed by workshop exercises.

Clark’s tools can be used for fiction, nonfiction, and combinations of the two. Tool 25 describes and illustrates the difference between reports and stories. “Use one to render information, the other to render experience.” Clark shows how the reporter’s five Ws and H shift their meaning for the storyteller. And he illustrates how writers combine the meanings to produce powerful effects.

Tool 50 presents a simple blueprint to guide the use of the tools. The blueprint divides writing into five sequential steps that lead to finished products.

Other writing texts cover Clark’s tools from different angles and with different examples. I think many beginning writers will find Clark’s argument and his clear style will give them confidence and techniques they can use to construct their own projects.

Recommended. Find this book and others on writing at the Writer’s Bookstore.

The Tsaeb Warriors

Posted on January 16, 2013 by GarryRogers

Introduction to the Tsaeb Warriors

by Morgan Silverleaf, Librarian of Wycliff District

Emblem of the Tsaeb Warrior

Intelligence raged over the Earth for hundreds of millions of years. The rise of the mammals sixty-five million years ago, appeared to be intelligence’s final curse. Dinosaurs were always at war, but the clever mammals invented weapons far more devastating than anything made by dinosaurs. During the Paleocene of the lower Cenozoic era, mammal excesses threatened to destroy the planet. Historians refer to the Paleocene as the Age of War. The warriors appeared during that time, and defended Earth from oblivion. With wisdom and strength, warriors calmed the chaos of Earth’s competing cultures and helped form the peaceful Tsaeb civilization.

Modern warriors are products of fifty million years of continuous refinement of the arts of combat and war. They seem just like other Tsaeb, but much is hidden. In action the Tsaeb warrior is unpredictable, incredibly swift, and able to disable and kill in many ways under almost any imaginable set of conditions. They can alter their skin to match their surroundings, and all have control over extensive mental maps and awareness envelopes that protect them from surprise attack.

During the long peace of Tsaeb civilization, the warriors declined. Today only 21 warriors live among Wycliff District’s half million sapient beings. Individuals still choose to become warriors. This is in spite of apprenticeship and internship requirements far greater than those of any other specialty. Why would anyone living today choose to undergo the physical changes and endure the long years of study and practice required by the specialty? I believe the explanation is simple. They have no choice. Though it might seem self-contradictory, warriors are our greatest altruists.

Weapons and Abilities

Warriors carry two swords crossed on their back. Most also carry a thin pack, bow, and shield. Apart from their weapons, warriors are outwardly indistinguishable from other members of their species. There are internal differences. Warriors develop extra glands and brain tissue nodes. Somehow these and other alterations interact with normal cell function to enhance sensory power, reflex speed, strength, and endurance.

Modern warrior weapons are made of a transparent material called drahsalleh. The swords are cast of a variety of drahsalleh that incorporates fine particles resembling carborundum. Aligned, the particles give weapons cutting ability far greater than steel or ceramics. Bows are made of another variety of drahsalleh that is more flexible but equally tough and durable.

Warriors Are Still Important

In the modern peaceful Tsaeb civilization, a thin web of warriors persists and preserves the ancient traditions and knowledge of combat and war. This is good, for like unworthy thoughts, dangerous people and species appear from time to time, and civilization needs its warriors. Learn more about Tsaeb warriors.