Another essay on inspirations, this one from 1993. How is this dated? Only in personal ways. I no longer go to Rockaway Beach with other writers. The writer house changed management and it’s not possible to do. Not that I went the last few years anyway. I moved from the mountains to the coast in 1995, so no longer needed to vacation there. But the ocean still inspires me. Actually, the area I live makes me think of a New England fishing village, unless the sun hits it just right. Then it seems like an English village. The fog makes a local motel look like a castle. It’s quite pretty, and very inspiring. Just like it used to … Read entire article »

This Dated Essay of the Month isn’t dated at all. In fact, I have been thinking about the proper use of detail as I prepare for a workshop that we’re doing (for professionals) with Sheila Williams of Asimov’s in mid-September. Writers often forget about detail. They get lazy, they do it wrong, or they’ve never learned it in the first place. I wrote this essay when I was still going to a weekly workshop in Eugene. I was also editing F&SF at the time. (Note the sentence that begins, “I see a thousand openings….” That’s not hyperbole. That’s truth. I actually had a dream last night that I was reading slush again. Only when I woke up, I called it a nightmare.) I … Read entire article »

Well…this essay isn’t really dated. When I search for the Dated Essay of the Month and I’m in a hurry, like this month, I just go back to an F&SF editorial from the same month, only years (and years! Ack!) ago. I clicked on this one, and was a bit stunned at how fresh it is. What’s dated? The usual: I don’t edit any more, haven’t since 1997. And, I think that whole “exercise” thing went out the window. But political correctness is still with us in horrible ways. And I think we’re just starting to see the results of coddling an entire nation, trying to keep them from “disturbing” emotions. As a nation, we no longer cope with bad things … Read entire article »

The Dated Essay of the Month comes from the June, 1996 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which I used to edit. As I tried to pick which dated essay I was going to choose this month, I looked at all of my June editorials. Some are REALLY dated and should remain in the issue in which they were published. But this one caught my fancy. I had forgotten that we did a new writers issue of F&SF. I kind of remember now, but mostly because the editorial itself refreshed my brain. After I finished reading the essay, I looked at the June, 1996 issue, hoping to see that all of the new writers contained within had become familiar names. They hadn’t. A … Read entire article »