m. c. de marco

Charlie Stross asks and answers the question, Why are SF and fantasy novels the length they are?

In the 1960s, an SF novel was 60-80,000 words, with 80K being considered overblown and long. By 1990 they’d grown to 90-100,000 words.

Last month Jonathan McCalmont, roving critic, described the Stross Formula. Charlie Stross responded in the comments with a cautionary tale of early success and contractual deadlines:

Charlie Stross blogs about doing readings:

Readings, like signings, are one of the epiphenomena of writing: not a central part of the business, but people give you funny looks if your first reaction on being invited to do one is to shriek and hide up a tree.

I’ve been meaning to blog Missile Gap, a novella by Charlie Stross available online at Subterranean Press, since I read it a couple of weeks ago at the start of my current Big Dumb Object/megastructure phase. I spotted “Missile Gap” making the rounds at del.icio.us and was reminded to link it for its Alderson disk, if nothing else.

Locus Online has the 2006 Hugo and Campbell award winners up. Not surprisingly, Spin by Robert Charles Wilson was voted best novel. The Campbell Award for Best New Writer went to John Scalzi.

Charlie Stross and Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden have put up their Noreascon schedules.