Introduce Yourselves

[McGrid]

User name McGrid, real name John S.

I was in Marta's SF class at B&N several years ago.
Was a blast.
I write (unfinished) short stories.
Well, I *did* finish a first draft of one.

I started reading SF in high school (1965). One summer read way too many paperbacks :-)
The old stuff...Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury, Lafferty, Philip Jose Farmer, Philip K. Dick.

Used to groan aloud at John W. Campbell's editorials in Analog mag.
But always read them...

I might as well get this over with, Marta...

Walt Disney is in cryogenic interment--is that a case of suspended animation?

Sorry.

[Wulfsong]

Hello. My name is Scott. I am 34 years old and I live in southern New Jersey. I spent ten years in the Navy travelling the world and now I work as a software test engineer for a defense contractor. I am married with no kids (yet) and nine, yes NINE, dogs. I have always been a big reader if sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Being a writer has been that life-long dream left unfulfilled. It seems that every book or website about writing tells me the same thing: if you want to be a writer then write. So that's what I'm going to do. Being a successful writer is a whole other ball of wax. That's where I am hoping this group can help me.

[marta_randall]

Welcome, Dan. We'll be glad to "see" your posts whenever you have time to bring them to us. Good luck with your deployment.

[marta_randall]

Walt Disney is in cryogenic interment--is that a case of suspended animation?

Sorry.

You should be sorry -- that is a true and unadulterated groaner.

[vaughnnie]

Hello! My name is Yvonne and I live in the Northwest. I have spent my whole life immersed in words. I consider myself a reader, but I graduated with a Writing Intensive degree. Sadly, I have not done much writing since then. "Life Happens" is my current reason, but in the past I didn't feel I had much to say. Now I have a ton to say, but life gets in the way. I got busy with working and kids and...and I realized one day that there will always be something in the way if I don't just sit down and do this.

I love sci fi and have read from various authors and genres. My favorites tend to be character driven pieces. I also simply adore end of the world stories. Some joke I've spent my whole life waiting for "The End!" so I can really live! I look forward to catching up on the lessons I have missed here. Thanks for doing this!

[Cry_Wolf]

Hello! My nane is Kevin. I live in Warwick, RI and have been interested in writeing almost all my life. I have always been interested in what is out there beond this world, and what lies in the dark. I am trying to compose a book now, a supernatural thriller there is no title yet and I am still ironing out the bits. But I do hope to have something soon. If anyone has any ideas I'd like to hear them. And I know, My spelling isnt that good. I do have a slight handycap in that area, but there are spellchecks. So far the idea is a mix between a Carrie Vaughn book and CSI. Hope to here from anyone

[Redcatlady]

I haven't really signed up for this class -- I'm in the Classics section -- but I've been interested in writing for a long time. I haven't read any of the books (frankly, I don't have any of the books right now, but I've been working on a story -- actually a story series -- in my head for two decades now, and I'm debating whether or not to debut the rough written draft of it here. I've been reading the Ides story and love it (but, being an animal lover, I hope Duke and Lan don't get killed), but at the same time, I'm intimidated by it. My major SF inspirations are Alexander Key, who wrote Escape to Witch Mountain, which I discovered in junior high (don't see the Disneyfied version on DVD; read the book, it's much grittier, surprising since it's for young people), and Ray Bradbury. Also, this first tale I'm considering submitting to you is told in two viewpoints (it would not be confusing once you read it), and I'm not sure how to go about it, since I'm not good at getting down on keyboard the opening ideas that are in my head.

For the rest, I'm from Lake Charles, Louisiana. I love cats; they feature prominently in this story. I love history, literature, independent study -- while BNU was in flower, I retook Empire City and the poetry studies of Whitman and Miss Emily -- and am beginning Utopia.

Melissa/Redcatlady

[KristenS]

Hey, Melissa, I love Alexander Key's stuff! Nice to meet someone else who's read his work.

[lady_hockey]

Hello. I know I'm joining late, but oh well.

I'm Lily. Writer of just about everything, but at the moment Sci-Fi. I also work in Barnes and Noble, which is how I stumbled across this place.

[formlit]

hello everyone

I love to read and write. I write mostly fantasy. But I read science fiction, fantasy and romance. These days I seem to reading mostly paranormal things, such as Laurell Hamilton and Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs. I understand there is a class going on right now. Do i have to sign up for it? I just found out.

Message Edited by formlit on 04-16-200701:22 AM

[marta_randall]

You're already in it, formlit. Welcome aboard.

[manga_anime_lo…]

HI^^ Im Amy Randall. Im 14 and im (as of now) working on Darkness escapes and i only have the first page done so can you tell me what you think? ^^

Nothingness. Darkness. That's what the world had become. The human race is enslaved by dark angels from the underworld. To some, the world has ended. To others, there's no use in living. But to me, it's only the begining. We've began to get adjusted to this new world. Humans now serve under the athority of the Almighty Lord Buaxbaton. Some wince at his name or show no emotion but hate. Nobody knew the world would become this black planet without the qualities most need to survive. Just work. Day in and day out. Only six hours of sleep. The dark angels slowly and steadily gained control of the world. Everything went down like this about fifteen years ago in the year 4269. Oil was a thing of the past, but the air got cleaner as all pollutants just died away. We use filters to clean more out. These were invented in 3062. The night of the 56th anniversery of world peace, it happened. We were all watching our televisions, we saw everything live. First there was one, then three, then six.

Well, thats all i have, thanx for reading! hope i caught ur interest!^^ Bye!

[marta_randall]

Welcome to the workshop, Amy. Try reposting your story in a new thread below, and do try some of the lessons and exercises.

[book_worm]

---

formlit wrote:
hello everyone

I love to read and write. I write mostly fantasy. But I read science fiction, fantasy and romance. These days I seem to reading mostly paranormal things, such as Laurell Hamilton and Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs. I understand there is a class going on right now. Do i have to sign up for it? I just found out.

Message Edited by formlit on 04-16-200701:22 AM

---

Hey formlit!

I'm a big fan of Patricia Briggs and Laurell Hamilton too! Glad to see someone else who likes those authors! Welcome to the workshop!

If you like Briggs and Hamilton, check out Karen Chance. She has some good books out that are in the same genre.

Oh! And Lilith Saintcrow. The Danny Valentine series is great!

Okay, I'll stop myself there before I start naming more.

[historybuff234]

Hey everybody, I am historybuff234. I am 13, I live in Minnesota and I love to write! I am a new writer and I will often be asking for feedback and adivce so I hope every is okay with that. I am writing fiction right now but I want to begin writing science fiction and fantasy. I have not read much fantasy except for Chronicles of Narnia. I have read alot of sci-fi, but I have read quite a bit of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. I like Verne better most of the time than Wells.

[WriterJim]

Hello Again Buff:

You really do like your history. H.G. Wells and Jules Verne have written many classic sf stories between them.

However, a whole lot of sf has been written since their day. But that was a century ago and more. Again, I'd recommend reading some of the current writers of sf to get an idea of what's in the field now.

[Griff]

My name is Grif, but I've been called Jim, Jimbo (Which I loath.), "Hey you", and occasionally "That Old Fart".

I classify myself as a lovable curmudgeon, meaning I'm older than the mountains. Yet sometimes I think I'm about twelve. This means I'm either demented or just human. You get to choose.

Why I think I can write Science Fiction is a mystery. Three years ago I couldn't spell, couldn't plot, and couldn't tell an adverb from an adjective. I still can't, but with the help of Bill Gates and a dozen or so writers of how-to-write books, I've gotten better.

I'm cursed with a programming background, which means I didn't believe any word should actually contain a vowel (except counters) and that the only punctuation mark was a semicolon. Documentation consisted, if it existed at all, of an undying string of waffle-words and a slew of pontifications that any average user with three advanced degrees in data processing could understand.

I've been reading SciFi since I first opened the pages of Mel Oliver and Space Rover on Mars. This was the mid-fifties when being seen with such stuff branded a 10-year-old as a "dweeb" (Or whatever the horrific term was common back in the ancient days). However, I revel in my dweebishness still, and fully intend to achieve the exalted rank of author.

I am currently enduring the agony of First Rejection Syndrome (“What! But I thought it was good,” he whimpered.)

I’ve taken the Writer’s Digest Basic SF, and GWW advanced SF course and am eagerly awaiting the next GWW Masters SF course.

Unfortunately, It looks like I’m just catching the tail of this one.

Now on to the boring stuff:

I currently live in Houston, Texas, humidity capitol of the Gulf Coast, and second only to Seattle in excessive rainfall per year.

I'm in the third year of a five-year plan to learn the craft and be published. (We all know how well that worked for the Chinese.)

I'm currently working on several novels and a few dozen short stories most of which are set in a common universe. They are in various states of undress. Some are downright naked.

I'm a slow writer, the words flow as smoothly as cubes rolling downhill. It sometimes seems that the only thing I'm learning is how to edit, and re-edit, and edit one more time. I have this mental picture of me sitting at a child's school desk, tongue working in my mouth, as I try to determine what differentiates an "A" from a "B". What was yesterday sheer perfection, reads today like dribble. Not just common dribble, mind you, but shockingly bad dribble. Those are the bad days. I do have good ones where the muses sing and all is right in the universe.

I'm married, with a house, two dogs, and a host of dependent computers that take delight in gorging themselves on my time and money.

Oh yes, one final caveat. I really, really, like puns. Be warned.

Message Edited by Griff on 05-07-200711:09 AM

[marta_randall]

Hi, Griff! Good to see you here.

[TeenReader]

Hello everyone I love to read science fiction and fantasy but I haven't really written a lot but I'm hoping to remedy that. And if you could recommend some space faring adventure I would be vary happy.

[TeenReader]

That is very very cool!