Timewaster's Guide Archive

So, now that I've submitted two short stories to L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future for their quarterly contests, I decided to pick up a copy of their annual publication and see what kind of things get picked by the judges there.  I got a copy of Volume 19 from the library (2003 publication), and have to admit that I was sorely disappointed.  On the whole, I thought that the writing was quite good, but that the stories themselves just lacked a whole lot.  At this point I'm mostly just confused.  I was curious if anyone else had read this volume, and if so what they had thought of it.  I'm still going to plan on picking up copies of the more recent volumes to read, and am hoping that maybe that 2003 was just a funny year.  Then again, maybe I'm just a dufus and don't have the capactiy to grasp "real" short story writing as it is in this collection.  Anyone have an opinion?

Does jealous really come in purple?

Oh, and those apples are to die for.  I'll keep my comments about those to myself though. 

I have a difficult time believing that anyone could read/hear the things that he says about the Fantasy genre and/or its fans, and think that the guy is decent in the least bit.  It's really quite amazing that he has any readership at all at this point.  I bought the first few of his books, but after reading the essay that is linked below stopped buying them.  I tend to have the same opinion of supporting this guy as EUOL does.  If he has such a strong opinion of himself, let him try to support himself with no financial resompense.  I have, however, (for some reason still not entirely clear to me) continued to read his books as they have come out (borrowed from the Library every time), and I've become increasingly annoyed by them.  Wizard's First Rule was quite the good book.  And I loved the way that his second book picked up immediately from where WFR left off.  After the second book, however, the rest have followed a very predictable formula:  Richard's (main character) girlfriend is in trouble, Richard digs himself into a hole so massive that there is no imaginable way out, Richard's magic takes over his body/mind and saves the day.  Not to mention the decline in Goodkind's writing prowess that was visible in WRF, but deteriorated quickly thereafter.  For anyone even thinking about picking up one of his books, I'd suggest getting a copy of WFR from your local library and forgetting the rest.  You'll thank yourself.  Let this guy fade into a deep, quick obscurity.  He deserves it.

So, I decided to finally pick up Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.  Fairly interesting so far.  I also just saw this new book called "The Tower of Shadows" by another young author (Drew Bowling).  Apparently started writing in High School, and is now a Sophomore in college.  Anyone read this yet?  I thought I might, but didn't care too much for Eragon.  Mr. X (Peter Straub) and Dreamcatcher (King) are next on the list.  Oh the joys of bookdom.

I'll be submitting my second short story to WOF by... tomorrow.  Eeek.  Need to get busy on the editing.  My first didn't get anything, but that wasn't much of a surprise.  Glad to know I have some fellow TWG'ers for competition.  Good luck all.

Been listening to Daniel Powter and Maroon 5 alot lately.  Every once in a while Metallica and Will Smith get thrown in for some variety.

Hey.  Just finished Lisey's Story by Stephen King.  Decent, not amazing.  About halfway through Mistborn right now.  Hoping a little more action shows up sometime soon in that one.  I read Good Omens a while ago.  I REALLY liked the first 1/4th or so of the book, and the last 1/4th or so.  The middle seemed pretty long and boring to me.  When it was funny though, it was FUNNY.  Definitely worth reading.  I really like Gaiman's work.  J.V. Jones's:  A Cavern of Black Ice, is quite good.  Even if her 3rd book has taken nearly a millenia to come out.  Sometime soon...