Hardcopy version of The End of the World as We Know It standing next to a folded paper map and gas can on the pavement next to a car.

Book Review: The End of the World As We Know It

The current media landscape is littered with nostalgia grabs like so many abandoned cars rotting on the road from Maine to Boulder. We’ve seen reboots of the movies we loved as children as well as do-we-really-need-this sequels that serve us the familiar, the comfortable, and the already-experienced. In the complicated …

Stylized rendition of "The Scream"

Content Warnings for Speculative Fiction

What Are Content Warnings? Content warnings are brief notices that alert readers to potentially distressing material in a story. They’re not censorship, nor are they spoilers — they’re a courtesy that allows readers to make informed choices about what they wish to engage with. In speculative fiction, where themes can …

an open book with 3D mountains surrounded by charts and maps

World Building—One Person’s Approach

So, you’re writing a novel, and the world differs from the one you live in—by a little or a lot. Maybe the story is about the past or the future, or strange people, economics, or technology. There might be magic in the world, or the setting could be on Pluto. …

Oil well and old house in front of dead corn stalks and sand dunes.

Climate Fiction

Climate fiction, often referred to as “Cli-Fi,” is a genre of literature that focuses on the impacts of climate change and environmental issues. It explores how these changes affect individuals, societies, and the planet as a whole. The genre can encompass a wide range of narratives, from dystopian futures to …

Cowboy writing with pen next to a campfire

Showdown, Don’t Tell: Keeping a Consistent Narrative Voice

Fiction writers have a lot of rules. “Show, don’t tell” sits near the top of the rulebook, right up there with point of view (POV), use of said tags, and eliminating adverbs. But sometimes we follow those rules straight into a literary box canyon. So take off your cowboy hat, …

Writer with pen and paper creating new worlds from his imagination

Tips for Building Worlds

Worldbuilding can be the most liberating piece of telling stories in speculative fiction, particularly in sci-fi and fantasy. Being unbeholden to the limits of our world allows your characters to have an entirely different set of environmental, cosmic, and cultural settings. It’s an opportunity for you, as the writer, to …

Blue fantastical female adorned with flowers and intricate jewelry

Creative Writing: What does ‘creative’ mean?

What we writers do is called ‘creative’ writing. But what is that, really? What do we have to do, to be ‘creative’ in our writing? The definition of ‘creative (adjective)’ is ‘involving original ideas in producing an artistic work.’ So, to be ‘creative’ writers, we must make original ideas. Ideas not heretofore conceived …

Bruce Schindler picture with high tech background.

Meet Our Member: Bruce Schindler

What inspired you to start writing?  High school: short humorous story read aloud got positive reaction. Wrote poetry and science fiction while in Vietnam, none published. Was a photographer/editor in the public affairs detachment of the Wyoming Army National Guard. After wife died, remarried horse lady and moved to Nebraska. …

Modern Library with lots of light and a few books.

Fall 2024 Member Publications

In the third quarter of 2024, our members have been busy writing, publishing and winning awards. Danaeka Scrimshaw’s novel Worlds of Fire and Glass is a Finalist for the 2024 Gold Rush Literary Awards in the speculative fiction category. Colleen Mueller’s novel The Megaclub Soldiers is a Finalist in the …

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L.V. Ditchkus Publishes New Novel

Speculative Fiction Writers Association member L.V. Ditchkus’ novel has been recently published. Here’s the blurb: New Release: Chrom Y Returns: The Chrom Y Series: Book One by L.V. Ditchkus “Hundreds of years after a horrific disease destroys Earth’s male population, Sofia Andes7 and her wife embark on a perilous journey …