New-to-me articles, blog posts and interesting reading from the publishing, writing, and general geekery blogsophere, February 2012 edition.
World-building: The Politics of Race. Kody Boye at Maurice Broaddus’ blog. “To say that we’ve experienced major conflict in our world would be an understatement. From enslavement of blacks by plantation owners in America, the attempted genocide of the Jewish people, to even the complete and utter annihilation of the Aztecs, there has never been a shortage of crimes against humanity.”
Curse Like an Orc, Woo Like an Elf: The Secret to Fantasy Languages, from Omnivoracious. “The purpose you have in mind for your fantasy language will dictate not only its sound and vocabulary, but also its use. So figuring out the purpose of your language–be it to add flavor to a culture, to serve as a calling card for a character, to manipulate the reader, or to accomplish some new goal–is the first and most important step to creating your language.”
From the Author’s Guild Blog: Publishing’s Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory. “These stories capture pretty well the state of book publishing: this appears to be no ordinary, cyclical crisis that future authors and publishers will shrug off. To understand how the book industry got into this predicament, however, a broader perspective may be needed.”
Bracing for Impact: The Future of Big Publishing in the New Paradigm. Kristen Lamb’s blog. (This is, in many ways, a rebuttal to the above linked article.) “I have wanted NY to pull its head out of the sand, and you know what? I still do. Competition is good. It keeps a market healthy. I want NY to avoid the fate of the music industry and the film industry, but I have been shouting for four years and now time is running out.”
The Art of the Dungeon Map at Black Gate. “Once again, digital seems to make everyone’s job easier, but I contend that the passion of a map is still better seen if drawn by the human hand. To give some resonance to this claim, I’m going to show you a few examples of old school style that’s still being employed today.”
From The Night Bazaar: Things are more like they are today than they have ever been. John Love. “Dystopia is a fine word, concentrated and resonant, for society gone wrong. We like to think that complexity (of politics, economics, technology, religion, demographics) means there are now more ways than ever in which society can go wrong”
Nine truths about e-books, from FutureBook. “So, as a former online business-type and e-book (and publishing) novice, here are the most important things I have picked up and worked out about e-book production since I started nearly two years ago.”
On a Pale Star 