Online color tools. Web Resources, Design Inspiration, and Fun Spill! Science Fiction Fantasy Book Reviews. Your Picks: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books. More than 5,000 of you nominated. More than 60,000 of you voted. And now the results are in. The winners of NPR's Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy survey are an intriguing mix of classic and contemporary titles. Over on NPR's pop culture blog, Monkey See, you can find one fan's thoughts on how the list shaped up, get our experts' take, and have the chance to share your own. A quick word about what's here, and what's not: Our panel of experts reviewed hundreds of the most popular nominations and tossed out those that didn't fit the survey's criteria (after — we assure you — much passionate, thoughtful, gleefully nerdy discussion). You'll notice there are no young adult or horror books on this list, but sit tight, dear reader, we're saving those genres for summers yet to come.
So, at last, here are your favorite science-fiction and fantasy novels. 1. 10 Reading Exercises for Fiction Writers. I always find it exciting when I discover a book that in some way echoes whatever I happen to be writing at the time. It might share a similarity of style, story, or structure, or any combination of the three. Whatever the similarity, I find it helpful to delve into the writing to see what lessons I can glean. After reading several duds recently, I finally came across such a book–The China Garden by Kristina Olsson. While the story isn’t similar to my current work, the prose captured me from the very first page.
All I could think was,”That is exactly what I imagine for my finished manuscript.” When I find a book like this, there are several things I do while reading it. Analyze the story’s structure. These activities really help me focus on what makes an book outstanding, as opposed to simply reading it and saying, “Ooh, good read.” What books have you found helpful to analyze? WRITER'S TOOLBOX: 35 Best Tools for Writing Online. Arthur C. Clarke. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS (Sri Lankabhimanya Arthur Charles Clarke) (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction writer, science writer,[3] inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.[4] Clarke was a lifelong proponent of space travel.
In 1934 while still a teenager, he joined the British Interplanetary Society. In 1945, he proposed a satellite communication system—an idea that, in 1963, won him the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal.[7][8] Later he was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1946–47 and again in 1951–53.[9][10] Clarke was also a science writer, who was both an avid populariser of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability, who won a Kalinga Prize (award given by Unesco for popularising science) in 1961. These all together eventually earned him the moniker "prophet of the space age".[11] Clarke augmented his fame later on in the 1980s, by being the host of several television shows such as Arthur C. WritersCafe.org | The Online Writing Community. Template.
Finishing Your Novel “A writer is someone who finishes.” -- Thomas Farber This section is for you if: You’ve started a novel but are having trouble finishing it, or You want to start a novel but aren’t sure you’ll be able to finish it. I’ve been writing novels (and teaching about writing novels) for twenty years, and one thing I’ve learned is how to finish. I’d estimate that 98% of all the novels people begin are never completed. Every person who abandons a book feels that he or she has a good reason, but my experience suggests that most of those books could have been finished – the writer just came up against something he or she couldn’t handle.
This section is about how to handle those things. Finishing a novel (or any kind of writing project) is a transformational experience. A long time ago, something funny happened to me. I thought I was a writer. And then my house burned down. This area of the site is based on what I've learned since then. 75 Books Every Writer Should Read. Whether you want to make writing your career or just want to know how to improve your writing so that you can pass your college courses, there is plenty of reading material out there to help you get inspired and hone your skills. Here’s a collection of titles that will instruct you on just about every aspect of writing, from the basics of grammar to marketing your completed novel, with some incredibly helpful tips from well-known writers themselves as well. Writing Basics These books address things like structure, plot, descriptions and other basic elements of any story. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers: You can improve the quality of your writing by adding a mythical quality to them with advice and insight from this book.
Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler: Whether you agree with the ideas in this book or not, you’ll find it a useful and informative read for writing. Advice from Authors Improving Your Writing Grammar Reference Books. Design Tutorials - Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign | Computer Arts Magazine. 80 vintage photoshop actions. Photoshop actions are great. With just a click of a button you can apply a complicated effect to a photo instantly. One of the most popular type of actions is the vintage or retro style. With the popularity of vintage-inspired Instagram filters and film emulation, the older style is desired with many photos.
Fortunately, there are plenty of quality Photoshop actions that will help you to get vintage effects quickly and easily. Instagram Filters (13 actions) Lomocam (10 actions) Lomo Action Hard Lomo Action Holgarizer Vintage Light Leak Action Vintage Heaven Action Vintage Dream Action Retro Cross Action Vintage Matte Action Faded Film Action Old Film Action Retro Style Actions (10 actions) Instant Hipster (10 actions) Prestalgia (10 actions) Vintage Gold Action Aged Black & White Action Glory Days Vintage Actions (7 actions) Muted Colors Vintage Action Old Tones (6 actions) Vintage-Inspired Actions (4 actions) Minty Tint Vintage Action.
100+ Photoshop Actions. Freebies by Bill Jones 5inShare If your like me you enjoy enhancing your photos in Photoshop. It’s a lot of fun to take your shots and experiment with them. Have you ever seen photos in magazines or on the web and wondered how they achieved that look. I have collected over 100 Photoshop actions that will help you achieve some of these looks and save you a ton of time in the process. Union Actions Cross-Processing ATN Portrait Actions Action Pack I Actions Clyck Caitlins Actions Colors Actions Cool Photo Effect Action Enhancing Skin Color Eye Color GuteCharlotte Color o2 Kalifbanane – Cross Coloring Lovely Action NoiseLess RetroFit Actions Pack Actions 01 Photo Coloring 11 Photo Coloring 11.2 Photoshop Action: Diabolic Photoshop Action: Dim and Jade Photoshop Actions 101 Photoshop Actions 96 Photoshop Actions 68 Photoshop Actions 99 Photoshop Actions 78 Rather Large Set of Actions PS Actions Dark Sepia 5 Black and White PS Actions Black White Sepia PS Action Show everybody how you use these actions.
Like Our Site? Tutorial:a picture worth 1000 words. I love Photoshop techniques that offer all kinds of possibilities for experimentation—and the following tutorial is a perfect example of one of those techniques. In this issue, we’re going to take a portrait and replace the person’s image with text (think 2009 Grammy posters). Pick a portrait that offers good contrast—a photo that’s very dramatic and dark probably won’t work as well. I’ve had the best success with straight-on head and shoulder shots, but again, feel free to experiment with all types of photos. For the best results, choose a photo that has a light background (or select the background around the person and make it lighter). Create a new document (File>New) in a size that’s smaller than your photo: the specifics don’t really matter. Press D to set the Foreground color to black. Switch back to the photograph. Then, press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the selected pixels onto a new layer.
Go back to the Select menu and choose Color Range again. Tutorial Magazine / photoshop / effects - StumbleUpon. Photoshop Crash Course | Jeremy Shuback . com. 30 photo manipulation. Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New Skills. The web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills.
You just have to know where to look. Sure, you can use Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search for sites where you can learn new skills , but I figured I’d save you some time. Here are the top 40 sites I have personally used over the last few years when I want to learn something new. Hack a Day - Hack a Day serves up fresh hacks (short tutorials) every day from around the web and one in-depth ‘How-To hack’ guide each week.eHow - eHow is an online community dedicated to providing visitors the ability to research, share, and discuss solutions and tips for completing day-to-day tasks and projects.Wired How-To Wiki - Collaborate with Wired editors and help them build their extensive library of projects, hacks, tricks and tips.
Pearltrees tips. Handbook: Magic Spill Vanishing Magician's Robe - sold by | Order & Chaos Online Database. Vanishing Magician's Robe - Order and Chaos Online Wiki.