Unicorns are magic, so how can a book about them not be magic in its own way? And if the unicorns are purple, it has to be even more special. This will show the wonderful possibilities that are now available to writers and publishers. This is a story about a joke comment, then a crazy idea, then a group of people who wanted to make that idea happen—and teamwork, the full support of a group of dedicated writers, an editor, an artist, and a publisher. And a little magic. And a scholarship. For more than a decade, Rebecca Moesta and I have given lectures and workshops on professionalism for the writer. One of the things we teach is that a writer must always deliver his or her best work. You are not allowed to “phone it in,” no matter what the assignment. Even if you get asked to do a story for, say, a silly anthology about purple unicorns—if you accept the assignment, you cannot blow it off. You have to do the best damned purple unicorn story you possibly can. We've given that talk more than a hundred times. Every once in a while, a writing student will come up to us jokingly [...]

WordFire Press is pleased to released the fourth, and last, of Frank Herbert's previously unpublished novels. A THORN IN THE BUSH is an atmospheric and tense short novel set in an isolated Mexican town, just released in trade paperback and all eBook formats. Everything of beauty must have at least one flaw in it. Otherwise people do not realize how beautiful it truly is. Mrs. Ross is an expatriate American who has found a quiet life in the small Mexican village of San Juan, a place where she can be content, a place where no one knows the secrets of her shadowy past life. Until an ambitious American painter takes up residence in San Juan, attempting to depict—and expose—everything about the sleepy Mexican town. But he may have underestimated the lengths a seemingly harmless old woman will go to protect her secrets. A Thorn in the Bush is one of four previously unpublished short novels written by famed Dune author Frank Herbert. Early in his career Herbert moved his family to Mexico where he struggled to survive as a writer. This novel came from those life-changing experiences. PrintKindleKoboNookAll other eBook formats And I just edited a new anthology for the Fiction River line, [...]

Liberty Island magazine just ran a very thorough review on the newly released FIVE BY FIVE 3: TARGET ZONE, published in trade paperback and all eBook formats from WordFire Press. Each volume of the FIVE BY FIVE series contains five military SF novellas by five military SF writers. Volume 3 has all-new pieces by Michael A. Stackpole, Sarah A. Hoyt, Doug Dandridge, Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin, and Kevin J. Anderson The Liberty Island reviewer had this to say: This anthology of five military sci-fi novellas gives a reader an excellent sense of the variety of authors and styles currently available to both fans of the genre and those still waiting to discover it for themselves. The authors are so different, however, that it is nearly impossible to review this publication as a whole; therefore, I will provide a short review of each entry and assign star ratings accordingly. Remains of the Dead (A Star Tigers Story) by Michael A. Stackpole The story grabbed me from the start with it unusual and richly imagined world populated by fully developed characters. The idea of humans, living as second class citizens in a world not of their own, but still retaining the best [...]

As we move toward the 2015 Superstars Writing Seminar, it's time to show off another excellent writing book we've just released at WordFire Press. THE SYNOPSIS TREASURY contains the actual proposals and synopses submitted by well-known authors for books that many of you have known and read. An excellent snapshot behind the scenes of the business. Look at original proposals by H.G. Wells, Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert, Joe Haldeman, Connie Willis, Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Jack Williamson, James Gunn, Ben Bova, Piers Anthony, Michael Bishop, Terry Brooks, Robert E. Vardeman, Orson Scott Card, David Brin, Janny Wurts, James P Blaylock, Bruce Coville, Margaret Weiss, Nancy Varian Berberick, Robert J. Sawyer, Sara Douglass, Louise Marley, Roberta Gellis, Ian R. McLeod, Julie E. Czerneda, Jacqueline Carey, Chris Roberson, Eldon Thompson. An invaluable treasury! Here's the Foreword, by our hard-working editor, Christopher Sirmons Haviland FOREWORD The Synopsis Treasury began in 2003, at what was then called the Maui Writer's Conference, in a conversation with science fiction author Ben Bova. It went some-thing like this: “There are lots of books telling aspiring writers how to write synopses,” I said to him. “What they really need is an anthology that shows them [...]