Writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat. – Dorothy Parker

April 15, 2016April 15, 2016 mm

A reminder to myself – and to that one friend who knows who they are

The prow of the carrier broke through the clouds, and he paused on the cliff, wondering if he could make it across the expanse of ice before he was spotted. Space opera in the arctiiiiic!

Wander the ice – Toby Lewin

April 15, 2016April 14, 2016 mm

The best images aren’t the ones that shout drunkenly in your face about how futuristic they are, it’s the ones that are draw you in, make you wonder where and […]

The incomparable Ursula K Le Guin

April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 mm

http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2015/07/27/navigation-q1-how-do-you-make-something-good/ In the mythology of authors, Ursula K Le Guin would be one of the titans holding up the tectonic plates of the writing world. Even if you haven’t read […]

A WWII DD-450 Destroyer under full steam - inspiration for writing space opera battles !

Winning battles by throwing vegetables

April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 mm

Any decent space opera is littered with battles, and while there is a dearth of real life space battles to research, there are abundant lessons to be learned from researching […]

Hammered by a storm, a figure cloaked in ragged garments walks from the wreckage. Space opera crescendo!

Crash – Richard Anderson

April 13, 2016April 12, 2016 mm

Some types of concept art are really easy to find when you’re looking for inspiration. Spaceships in space. Hot ladies in space. Space in space. Hot ladies in spaceships in […]

Robin Hobb’s awesome answer on daydreams and new ideas

April 12, 2016April 13, 2016 mm

I loved this post by Robin Hobb on her Reddit AMA: Daydreaming? That’s almost my full time occupation! But from the time I get an idea to the time when […]

Ornate arches, painted with elephants in a strong eastern style, frame a beaten motorcyle on a run down street. It's impossible to tell if we are in the future or in the past, the two styles space opera melds so well.

The abandoned mansions of billionaires

April 12, 2016April 12, 2016 mm

I’m convinced that humanity has forgotten more than it remembers. If we ever do spread to the stars, how many more incredible stories will simply fade into forgotten corners? Science […]

The relic of the space shuttle, transformed into a castle with a knight in the foreground, is a great example of good space opera. Neither fantasy nor pure science fiction, but a combination of imagination, adventure, and what if.

White Castle by Yuri Shwedof

April 12, 2016April 12, 2016 mm

Yuri Shwedof is a Russian artist with an amazing knack for combining fantasy and science fiction in paintings that show a sense of loss for what exists at the edge […]

We’re done! Sort of. Or, on writing the last chapter in a book

March 16, 2016March 16, 2016 mm

I had a weird experience a couple of days ago. I finished a book. Nope, I’m not quite as illiterate as that. And yes, I already have, in theory, a […]

Top 5 things I’m thankful for as a writer

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 mm

Word Processing I invite you to give a silent moment of thanks to Evelyn Berezin. You know that time you needed to move a paragraph, or cut a sentence? Correct […]

Michael Miller

Not all who wander are lost, but some could use a map anyway