Author Archives: Mike Reeves-McMillan

May 05

Good stimulus for steampunk or fantasy stories.

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Good stimulus for steampunk or fantasy stories.

Originally shared by The Public Domain Review

One of the many designs for hydraulic automata created by the first-century-AD engineer Hero of Alexandria. Many involved elaborate networks of siphons that activated various actions as the water passed through them, especially figures of birds drinking, fluttering, and chirping. Read more in our latest essay “Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence” by Jessica Riskin — http://bit.ly/1W9hZTR

May 04

What I like about outlining is that I can use it to time-shift my creativity.

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What I like about outlining is that I can use it to time-shift my creativity.

Take today. It’s chilly, a grey, depressing Auckland overcast. The cats have deactivated themselves until the sun comes back out, or until dinner, whichever is the sooner. Creativity is at a low ebb.

But I have stuff outlined that I can work on, and I know if I do I’ll be able to make some progress.

May 03

Anthologies I would like to see

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Anthologies I would like to see

(And will probably have to end up editing myself, God forbid.)

1. Runyonesque. Stories in the distinctive style of Damon Runyon. There was a lovely one from Maria Dahvana Headley in, I think, The Very Best of Tor.com last year, “The Tallest Doll in New York City,” and Mike Resnik has one that I just saw reprinted in Funny Fantasy. I’m sure I’ve seen at least one other. Also, I’ve written one.

2. Unevenly Distributed. Stories that pick up on William Gibson’s observation about the science-fictionality of today. (His recent novels also use current technology in a science-fictional way.) Maybe Robin Sloane could be persuaded to contribute?

What unusual themed anthologies would you like to see? Go large.

May 01

A few people have asked me, after I’ve read their books and pointed out issues that their editors missed, whether I…

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A few people have asked me, after I’ve read their books and pointed out issues that their editors missed, whether I take editing clients myself. 

Up until now, the answer has been “no”, but that’s just changed. At least for the month of May, my wife and I are taking on a few select clients. If you’re interested in being one of them, take a look at what we offer.

(Signal boost appreciated, especially if you can personally attest to my skill at spotting punctuation errors, homonym issues and the like.)

http://csidemedia.com/editing/