Science Fiction + Art

Read my new blog, The Galactic Didactic, with discussions on Life, the Universe, and Science Fiction.

I’m excited to announce that I’m the new staff illustrator for Port Yonder Press, a small press publishing company. I am currently working on interior illustrations for On the Road Home: Stories of Life and Love, a collection of short stories by author and literary agent Terry Burns, which will release in winter 2010. Read the news update here to see all the upcoming projects.

Or, watch the update in video format:

My new portfolio shows my art in easy-to-use thumbnails and gorgeous displays. Have a look!

http://hollyheisey.daportfolio.com/

With Thanksgiving coming up and Christmas just around the corner, I’ve been looking forward to our yearly graham cracker house day. With that in mind, I thought it was about time I share the wealth!

I’ve written an article on how to make a graham cracker house from start to finish. Check it out:

How to Make a Graham Cracker House

I have a new lens at Squidoo feauturing where to find the best science fiction short stories, with links to the print and online magazines, as well as the best anthologies going. Check it out: Read Science Fiction Short Stories

Also, I’m working on revising my fiction writing lens, Write Fiction Without Rules (formerly known as The Non-Rules of Fiction Writing). It’s better now, believe me! I added a link voting war to great writing sites, and I’m adding custom illustrations to my lens modules to give them some more sparkle. Take a look and tell me what you think!

Alchemy is a new intuitive digital art program that allows for quick sketching and shape-building. There’s many different options for how your shapes are formed: mirrored, lined, solid, skattered, and so on. You can even make shapes with microphone sounds. And the best part is, there is no undo button!

Great for an idea pad to then paint over in Photoshop, or for making complex shapes for Photoshop or Painter brushes.

http://al.chemy.org/

Digital artist Android Jones demonstrating Alchemy:

(for a better resolution, watch on the Alchemy site)

Advanced Fiction Writing By far the most useful site I’ve found. Randy Ingermanson is famous for his Snowflake Method (which you’ll find here) but more importantly, visit his blog. There are daily interactive conversations going on everything from how to write a scene to how to get an agent.

Holly Lisle Fantasy writer Holly Lisle shares her wealth of knowlegde and experience in several dozen great articles.

Hatrack Orson Scott Card’s website, with great writing articles and an even greater ongoing writing workshop.

SFWA Resource Page Many great articles and resources.

Where the Map Ends Writer and Editor Jeff Gerke’s megaportal. Most useful is the Tip of the Week section.

Ursula K. LeGuin Science Fiction and Fantasy writer LeGuin’s personal site has a small collection of writing gems.

NaNoWriMo Contest, adrenaline shot, megaportal, forums.

Writer Beware Know who you’re dealing with.

Writing.com The biggest megaportal I’ve found. 

My Writing Mentor Blog by writer Tricia Goyer with quotes and useful tips.

Do something because you like it, not because you think someone somewhere will like it.

Pretty words do not a story make.

Dig deeper than what everyone else has done 50,000 times before. Use what’s old and make it new. [Read more →]

Ever want to pull your hair out at all the contradictions in writing advice floating around out there? 

Check out my new Squidoo lens, “The Non-Rules of Fiction Writing,” in which I explain some of the common writing “rule” misconceptions and make a case to debunk them.

It’s frustrating to code a page that looks great in Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari, but has odd quirks in Internet Explorer. IE versions 7 and up have done much to fix these compatibility issues, but bugs still remain. And, while many users have upgraded to newer browsers, a significant portion of total webusers still use IE 6 and earlier.

So what’s a coder to do?

[Read more →]