larry1_sm2Reading Recommendations from World Weaver Press, and the Odyssey Writing Workshop

You are probably counting the days or perhaps the minutes until the next episode or book comes out in the Game of Thrones series. But if you really like the writing of George R.R. Martin, here’s a shocker: he’s written other novels! Over at World Weaver Press, they’ve put up reading recommendations for their writers and staff, and mine is “Tuf Voyaging,” published in 1986 by, you guessed it, George R.R. Martin. Here’s what I wrote of it:

“Anyone not in a coma the last few years has heard of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, but many have not stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, he might have written previous novels. I recently read one of his best, Tuf Voyaging. Originally published in 1986, it’s basically a series of related short stories that cover the adventures of the highly eccentric Haviland Tuf, a giant, overweight, pale, vegetarian food-loving, cat-loving, hyper-honest genius who becomes the owner of the Ark, a 30-kilometer ancient ship with incredible ecological engineering capabilities. Tuf’s do-goodism is constantly misunderstood as he travels the galaxy, alone other than his feline companions, solving planetary problems and righting wrongs, often with controversial solutions and over the objections of those he is helping. It’s both a fascinating character study and an environmental satire, and a hoot to read.”

So why don’t you head over to World Weaver Press and read the recommendations and reviews from the others? They include:

  • “Hand of Fire” by Judith Starkston
  • “Life Without Harry” by Sara Dobie Bauer
  • “Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales told by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated” by Leo & Diane Dillon
  • “Sparrow Hill Road” by Seanan McGuire
  • “A Darker Shade of Magic” by V. E. Schwab
  • “Monster” by Naoki Urasawa (manga)
  • “Hawkeye” comic by Matt Fraction
  • “Juliet’s Nurse” by Lois Leveen
  • “Jason Crane” series by Richard Gleaves
  • “Karen Memory” by Elizabeth Bear
  • “Cinnamon and Gunpowder” by Eli Brown
  • “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik
  • “Superposition” by David Walton
  • “The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories”
  • “Hiding from the Reaper and Other Horror Poems” by Michael Potts
  • “Blood Chimera” by Jenn Lyons
  • “Sing Me Your Scars” by Damien Angelica Walters
  • “Far Orbit Apogee” edited by Bascomb James

Note – World Weaver Press will be publishing my novel, “Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions,” on Jan. 26. More on that in the coming weeks!

Odyssey Writing Workshop

If you are an aspiring writer, have you considered applying for the six-week Odyssey Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop? It would be a life-changing experience for you! I went in 2006. It also qualifies you to be a part of “The Never-Ending Odyssey,” where graduates get together once a year for nine days and run our own writing workshop. (I’ll blog more about this later on.)

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