Sunday Morning Book Thread 9-13-2026 [Sabrina Chase]

Writer getting ideas, 1947, colorized

Welcome to the Book Thread, Guest Poster edition! I will be your host as we explore all sorts of book-related topics. All usual Book Thread rules are incorporated by reference (pets, beverage, clothing covering the lower limbs, etc.) with the special Sabrina Chase exemption for those stylish persons preferring kilts.

As I may have mentioned previously, I am a writer. I thought the esteemed Morons of the Book Thread might be interested in some of the inner workings of the authorial process, so now it is time for some Dark Writer Secrets, or ...

How Writers Get Their Ideas

Writers have lots of ideas. Ideas are cheap and plentiful. Ideas that we think we can write a good story about in the time available are...less so. The non-writing public, not seeing the whining and crying and hair-pulling we do at the computer, think it is just sitting back and thinking Big Thinks and fame and fortune arrive by cargo ship.

I have performed as a Tame Writer for high school English classes, and it is all very well to see a real breathing person who has written a book. That gets me polite interest. But what gets them enthused is when I demonstrate, right there in front of them, how to get a story idea.

What I usually do is ask them to give me three nouns. Any nouns. And then I show them the brainstorming process that gets me to a narrative that holds together as a story, including tossing out the first or even second idea, because if it was easy for me to think of then someone has probably already done it and better than I can. No, I want the unusual, oh yeah that's Sabrina for you story!

One I remember went like this:

Nouns: Seahawks, Spongebob Squarepants, and Paris (the kids were giggling with glee when they came up with these too)

What I came up with: The NFL has decreed that all team mascots must be real things, and if they are not the team merchandise will be immediately confiscated resulting in mass nudity in Seattle, because nobody has seen a Seahawk! But to the rescue comes the Cousteau society (based in Paris) seeking a mysterious being named Spongebob Squarepants and very knowledgeable about sea life, who can find an actual Seahawk to prove it is real!

They thought this was hilarious.

That said, I don't usually come up with my book ideas with the three-noun method. It's more of a writing exercise to get the writer out of the depressive fits we are prone to. My method is to create movie scenes in my head while listening to music, and create plots from that.

I will confess my Argonauts of Space series started off as revenge for Pluto getting demoted from planet to planetoid, though. I thought, "what would make them beg to call it a planet again... ooh, I know! It's really an ancient alien spaceship! Hmm. And why is it there? It got left as debris after a war." And it all sort of cascaded from there ... and because I am what is politely called a "discovery writer" (but what writers call "pantser", as in "seat of the pants") by the end of the first book I had space Neanderthals and machine telepaths and the vital importance of corn muffins. I dunno about my mind, I just visit...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at September 13, 2026 08:59 AM (Ia/+0)

2 Diagon Alley maybe.

Posted by: Bryce at September 13, 2026 09:00 AM (5GspC)

3 NYC, John Deere, Twinkie

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:02 AM (MWfyi)

4 A writing professor buddy of mine has suggested to his students that one way to become a good writer is to play role-playing games.

That's a collaborative story-telling exercise.

I know of several fantasy writers who have used this method to great success (Raymond E. Feist, Steven Erickson & Ian C. Esslemont, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, to name a few)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:02 AM (FZ29D)

5 I read once in a book review column that "Blank paper is God's way of showing you that it's not so easy to be God."

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:03 AM (AAaj3)

6 Besides still reading Winston Churchill The Gathering Storm, at Sept 1938 in the book, found my reading glasses after being in a pocket, go through wash, hung outside for hours then in dryer heard a clanging. They seem fine so good to go and cleaned somewhat.

Posted by: Skip at September 13, 2026 09:04 AM (Ia/+0)

7 Boookkkkzzzz!

Posted by: vmom deport deport stab deport at September 13, 2026 09:05 AM (Ydd86)

8 Good Sunday morning, horde!

I love that picture. But I'm a Cold War spy novel aficionado, so it would appeal. Because that's what it looks like.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:06 AM (CjHsb)

9 Honestly, some ideas just appear in my head. Either a whole story, or parts of one: how to solve a problem in the story, or plot points to expand the story. Usually used when I think the word count isn't going to meet the standard for the genre.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:06 AM (1Ff7Z)

10 I've been enjoying booktoober Jake's channel "BookMortem", in which he explores the pulpier shores of SF and Fantasyland.

"9 So Bad, they're Good Science Fiction Books you've probably never heard of"

https://tinyurl.com/h29uxu7z

The Red Planet
Invaders from Rigel
Man of Many Minds
Genesis Five
Shoot at the Moon
Secret of the Black Planet
Night Mare
The Four Day Weekend
Galaxy 666

The joke's on you, Jake. I have some of these! I dug out "The Robot Brains", "Secret of the Black Planet", "Man of Many Minds", and "Invaders From Rigel" for my next reads.

"The Robot Brains", by British SF author Sydney J. Bounds, was written in the 50's but feels like it's from the 30's. Top scientists on the cusp of technological breakthroughs are being decapitated by rayguns. There are evil giant-brained dwarves and a modern day Mongolian khan who wants to rule the world.

It's really bad, but at least it doesn't take 500 pages to stink up the joint.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at September 13, 2026 09:06 AM (kpS4V)

11 Morning, Sabrina.

Howdy, Horde.

If memory serves, Harlan Ellison used to answer the where do you get your ideas question by saying there was an idea service in Schenectady and he sent them $$$ and they sent him a fresh six-pack of ideas every week. He also said that he was frequently asked for the address.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:07 AM (q3u5l)

12 3 NYC, John Deere, Twinkie
Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:02 AM (MWfyi)

Midnight Cowboy has already been written.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:07 AM (CjHsb)

13 I love that picture. But I'm a Cold War spy novel aficionado, so it would appeal. Because that's what it looks like.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:06 AM (CjHsb)

Oh, have you read my cold-war era short story? "A Piece of Cake?"

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:08 AM (1Ff7Z)

14 Marketing literature can be tricky. You have to sell the book but not give away the whole story. That's the case with "The Mugger," an early 87th Precinct police procedural by Ed McBain. Some creep is robbing and punching women, then bowing and thanking them. That's all in Chapter One. Meanwhile, the text on the page before the title page tells of a teenage girl who's been clubbed to death. I assume the mugger has crossed the line. Then again, maybe not?

By the way, Inspector Jacques Clouseau comes out triumphant in "The Pink Panther Gets Lucky" through sheer dumb luck. Definitely dumb.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:08 AM (AAaj3)

15 Oh, have you read my cold-war era short story? "A Piece of Cake?"
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:08 AM (1Ff7Z)

I don't think so, do you have a link?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:09 AM (CjHsb)

16 If memory serves, Harlan Ellison used to answer the where do you get your ideas question by saying there was an idea service in Schenectady and he sent them $$$ and they sent him a fresh six-pack of ideas every week. He also said that he was frequently asked for the address.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:07 AM (q3u5l)
---
That sounds exactly like an idea Ellison would use in a story...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:09 AM (FZ29D)

17 "Midnight Cowboy has already been written.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! "

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:09 AM (MWfyi)

18 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Or listening if your books are recorded.

Posted by: JTB at September 13, 2026 09:10 AM (yTvNw)

19 For a change, I'm wearing pants. I'm about to head out to an arts festival, so my beloved book thread robe would not suffice.

Tally Ho!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at September 13, 2026 09:11 AM (kpS4V)

20 Not familiar with Book Mortem, but I'm pretty sure I read Man of Many Minds during my misspent youth when I was devouring all the paperback sf I could scrounge up. Recall nothing about it, but that title sounds like one I had in the pile.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:11 AM (q3u5l)

21 From the dank alleyway of a run down city:

"Psst... Hey buddy, want to buy a couple of ideas?"

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2026 09:11 AM (0U5gm)

22 From the dank alleyway of a run down city:

"Psst... Hey buddy, want to buy a couple of ideas?"
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2026 09:11 AM (0U5gm)
----
Sesame Street used to have a sketch where a shady-looking character would try to sell letters of the alphabet to one of the regular characters (Ernie? Bert?)..

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:15 AM (FZ29D)

23 I don't think so, do you have a link?
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:09 AM (CjHsb)

Rejected by all so far. I can email it to you, if you want.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:15 AM (1Ff7Z)

24 4 "Perfessor" Squirrel
A writing professor buddy of mine has suggested to his students that one way to become a good writer is to play role-playing games.

It is a *great* way to learn to write in-depth (as opposed to paper cutout) characters. If the DM insists you roleplay, that is. I also participated, as a GM, in a large live-action roleplaying game where the participants picked their own character and we, poor sods, had to come up with storylines for ALL of them. Together. Over a hundred. Really built up my writing muscles with that one!

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at September 13, 2026 09:15 AM (k+oif)

25 Reading "Infinity Upgrade" by JN Chaney and Rachel Aukes. In a planetary system essentially owned by an evil, murderous corporation, a regular Joe has a self-aware AI downloaded into his brain by a dying rebel inventor, and much mayhem and hijinks ensue.

Not bad so far, though I do grow weary of the evil, murderous corporation trope. Chaney has so many different sci fi series that I doubt I could read his entire output if I lived another 50 years.

Posted by: Sharkman at September 13, 2026 09:18 AM (/RHNq)

26 I don't delve into the fantasy genre much, but my offspring and I have a sort of family book club, and they've had me reading a series by Robert Jackson Bennett.

The first installment is The Tainted Cup. It's a genre mashup, because it's fantasy setting, but with a murder mystery/detective theme, so it's in a class of its own.

There is the obligatory gay character, which I'm sure had to happen to get the thing published. It's not in your face all the time, so tolerable.

Anyway. We're reading the third and latest in the series now, A Trade of Blood. It's a tale of feuding families, lost fortunes, and a unique and creepy biological warfare.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:19 AM (CjHsb)

27 Ellison wasn't really joking. Back in the pulp era there were classified ads in the magazines for books of story ideas. "Plotto" by William Wallace Cook was one. You could buy ideas, hire a ghost writer to turn them into stories, and they pay a vanity press to publish them.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 13, 2026 09:19 AM (78a2H)

28 "Once participated" in an RPG.

This indicates that the group fell apart. What happened?

There's a germ of a story idea.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:19 AM (AAaj3)

29 That said, I don't usually come up with my book ideas with the three-noun method. It's more of a writing exercise to get the writer out of the depressive fits we are prone to. My method is to create movie scenes in my head while listening to music, and create plots from that.

I'm constantly (or nearly so) depressed, so that wouldn't work for me. It's interesting you mention movies, though, as that's one of the ways I can tell whether a scene I am writing works or not - if I can 'see' it, with jump cuts, closeups and other camera movement, then it's good.

I don't often listen to music while I'm writing, but if I do, it's always Baroque, which is close enough to white noise that it doesn't distract me.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 13, 2026 09:22 AM (qRla/)

30 Rejected by all so far. I can email it to you, if you want.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:15 AM (1Ff7Z)

Absolutely! My email is in my nic.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:22 AM (CjHsb)

31 When the femme-fatale romance novelist came into my office, I could tell she didn't want to be there. The office and the building -- hell, the whole neighborhood -- were as low-rent as I was, and she was clearly afraid it might be contagious. I put away the bourbon and asked what I could do for her, and managed not to leer as I asked her.

"I need you to find out who's running a black-market idea service. It's hurting business, and we need it shut down."

"So why come to me?"

She looked at me, and at the office. "You look like you're right at home in those circles. So why not? If you want the job, the pay's good. And you look like you could use it." She took an envelope from her purse. "Ten thousand when the job's done. Here's two thousand in advance and a bus ticket to Schenectady. Take it or leave it."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:22 AM (q3u5l)

32 This indicates that the group fell apart. What happened?

There's a germ of a story idea.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:19 AM (AAaj3)

One by one the members of a RPG group suddenly start dying in ways that would only happen in the game....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:22 AM (1Ff7Z)

33 For a change, I'm wearing pants.

Well, that's a disappointment.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 13, 2026 09:23 AM (qRla/)

34 Anyway. We're reading the third and latest in the series now, A Trade of Blood. It's a tale of feuding families, lost fortunes, and a unique and creepy biological warfare.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:19 AM (CjHsb)
----
I just got that the other day!

Now I'm re-reading the first two before I read that one.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:24 AM (FZ29D)

35 I used to make up stories for my kids using the "That reminds me of the time I worked at the ______ factory" premise. I would start out with something like candy corn and say "That reminds me of the time I worked at the candy corn factory" and they would know a story was coming about how I caused some disaster there and got fired.

Like when I worked at the candy corn factory and invented Candy Corn Candles. People couldn't tell the difference and ate them anyway.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (MWfyi)

36 "As I may have mentioned previously, I am a writer."

Actually, I think you under describe yourself. You have books available for purchase. That makes you an author. Writer, to me, means someone who has completed works, but hasn't published. Everyone can be a writer, but only the best - or luckiest - writers get to be an author.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (1Ff7Z)

37 Morning, folken,

I'm finishing Stephen Hunter's The Bullet Garden, a WWII adventure with Earl Swagger, Bob Lee's father, tracking a sniper team in France just after D-Day.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (wzUl9)

38 Harlan Coben, who has sold 100,000,000 books, has written a book on writing, Plot Twist.

https://tinyurl.com/5fpvsx6k

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Gird Your Loins! at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (ndZc7)

39 A NICKEL!?!

Posted by: Reforger at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (szk5e)

40 It would have been ok except for the wicks.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:27 AM (MWfyi)

41 Albert Campion has been asked by a friend from college to investigate the disappearance of his fiance's uncle. Before he even arrives in Cambridge, the body is found, and the trouble truly begins. In Police at the Funeral, Margery Allingham brings the reader a chaotic mystery that defies a simple explanation.

Great aunt Caroline is the matriarch of a dysfunctional family, and the widow of a famous professor at Cambridge. She wanted Campion involved to forestall police involvement and keep the situation quiet, but after Uncle Andrew's body is found tied with rope and a bullet hole in his head, and her son William was the last to be seen with him, it becomes impossible to keep things under wraps. William's army pistol is missing, and a shank of rope from the attic is gone as well, which all point to William.

All of Caroline's adult children sponge off of her and live in the same house in a festering atmosphere. When yet another death occurs in the house, it seems that a curse has fallen upon the family, and Campion must use all of his intuition and skill to break open the case and find the answers, however fantastical they appear. This is a classic Campion mystery.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2026 09:27 AM (0U5gm)

42 Not a lot of reading this week. Revisited Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and one of his later novels -- July, July. Still good after all these years.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:27 AM (q3u5l)

43 Now I'm re-reading the first two before I read that one.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:24 AM (FZ29D)

I think the series is improving as he goes. This has been the most interesting one to me, so far.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:27 AM (CjHsb)

44 and because I am what is politely called a "discovery writer" (but what writers call "pantser", as in "seat of the pants") by the end of the first book I had space Neanderthals and machine telepaths and the vital importance of corn muffins.
----
This can work for some writers, but the conventional wisdom I've seen for novice authors is to plan, outline, and organize as much as possible.

Usually advice from established authors who got their start doing that.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:27 AM (FZ29D)

45 Candy corn candles. You held them by the wick to keep your fingers from getting sticky.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:29 AM (AAaj3)

46 As for reading, I'm slowly going through David Thomson's new A Sudden Flicker of Light and am reminded, once again, why I could never have been a film student. The book is so dense and elliptic that it's very off-putting. I suppose a pro like TJM would understand it, but I don't.

And with him being a committed leftist, I did flip ahead to the last chapter, which is nothing more than a movie-centered screed against the 'dumb' DJT. So I know to skip that when I reach it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 13, 2026 09:29 AM (qRla/)

47 I am still reading a translation of M. Luther’s advent sermons. He has begun the good works/ free will argument.

Posted by: Accomack at September 13, 2026 09:31 AM (/Chlc)

48 It would have been ok except for the wicks.

Candy with free flossing included! What's not to like?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 13, 2026 09:31 AM (qRla/)

49 35 I used to make up stories for my kids using the "That reminds me of the time I worked at the ______ factory" premise.

Like when I worked at the candy corn factory and invented Candy Corn Candles. People couldn't tell the difference and ate them anyway.
Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (MWfyi)

LOL. I'll bet they cherish the memories. What a great dad thing to do!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:31 AM (CjHsb)

50 Candy Cirn Candles story is funny

Posted by: Skip at September 13, 2026 09:32 AM (Ia/+0)

51 After putting it aside for the better part of a year, I finally finished reading the comic book series "The Maze Agency." It is a mystery series written in its entirety by Mike Barr, and initially drawn by Adam Hughes, and then a succession of lesser artists. It has been mentioned on this thread before (by one of our many mystery aficionados) and that is the whole reason I heard of, and then read the series.

While some of the stories were fun, as a whole the stories suffered for being a comic book. Specifically, the pacing suffers. The author wanted every issue to be a complete story, and wanted every story to hit all the story beats of a traditional mystery; it'd start with a vignette showing the detective's personal life, then something connecting the detective to the mystery, explaining/showing the crime that created the mystery, investigation the possible suspects and motives, introducing a red herring or two, the big reveal where the detective solves the mystery, and then a coda going back to the detective's personal life. You can put all that in a novel, or in 40-minute tv show...but it's a bit much to pack into a 22-page comic book.

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 13, 2026 09:35 AM (3v7ra)

52 >> I read once in a book review column that "Blank paper is God's way of showing you that it's not so easy to be God."

Heh.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2026 09:36 AM (rOKnE)

53 Roger Ebert has said one of his guilty pleasures is how movies portray writers writing. Sometimes it's pounding at a typewriter while throwing back Jack Daniels; sometimes it's walking with your dog around a lake contemplating, deep thoughts; sometimes it's dodging bullets while peeking out of a trench at the enemy with pencil and notepad in hand.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Gird Your Loins! at September 13, 2026 09:36 AM (ndZc7)

54 Sabrina,
I love your account of making a story idea, both for the classroom (which was hilarious) and for real. That's the fun part, giving your imagination full reign. The work comes when you have to make that jumble of ideas make narrative sense.

But there are unexpected dangers and paths that can appear. Many years ago I had an outline for an adventure story. Then I wrote a three page intro to establish a few characters and a mood for the story. Three hundred pages later I had a book based solely on that intro. I never got back to the outline. (The book didn't sell. This was long before self publishing was common and going through agents was the norm.)

Posted by: JTB at September 13, 2026 09:37 AM (yTvNw)

55 Just finished reading _Powers of Darkness_, which is (deep breath) an English translation of the Icelandic translation possibly of a Swedish translation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

You might ask, why not just read Dracula? Or you might assume this is an exercise in comic mis-translation a la Mark Twain. It is neither. There are whole plot elements in PoD which aren't in Dracula itself, and some of the characters have different names, which suggests that maybe the translator(s) could have been working from an earlier draft by Stoker.

Example: at one point while Thomas (not Jonathan) Harker is creeping around Dracula's castle, he finds a secret basement chamber where Dracula is leading a bunch of Neanderthal types in a vampiric human sacrifice cult ritual. (Shades of "The Rats in the Walls"!)

The Icelandic version was published as a newspaper serial, and apparently the publisher must have gotten tired of it. The Harker-in-the-Castle sequence is as long or longer than the comparable part of Stoker's novel, but the remainder of the novel is briskly retold, almost summarized, in about a quarter of the length. Dracula's death literally gets one sentence.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 13, 2026 09:38 AM (78a2H)

56 Thanks for the post Sabrina.

Finished reading Assignment in Utopia by Eugene Lyons (1937)

https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-red-decade-redux

"It may be that the best book that will ever be written about today’s progressive mind-set was published in 1941."

Posted by: 13times at September 13, 2026 09:40 AM (fnZRl)

57 I love the idea of the "working at the ${thing} factory" stories. What lucky kids!

I made the mistake of coming up with a story on the fly for a toddler I was entertaining. It involved a mother bear and her cubs waking up hungry after hibernation and the various things the cubs wanted to eat. When I finished I heard the dreaded words "Again!"

And I had to feverishly try to remember how I had started the damn story ...

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at September 13, 2026 09:40 AM (63pwK)

58 There were a lot of those stories and I can't remember any of them. They just come on the fly. Like when I worked at the Sour Creme factory and had this idea for sweet and sour creme.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2026 09:43 AM (MWfyi)

59 "When I finished I heard the dreaded words "Again!""

Been there and done that. It was a rough couple of weeks too.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:44 AM (q3u5l)

60 My maternal grandfather, despite a lack of schooling, spent a lot of time writing short pieces and poems after his retirement frim the mines. The wife of one of us grandkids had them reprinted in a spiral binder as Christmas gifts one year.

I don't know where mine is.

I do recall one poem about two monkeys discussing Darwin's theory. It ended:

Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss,

But, brother, he didn't descend from us!

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:44 AM (VChGu)

61 "Psst... Hey buddy, want to buy a couple of ideas?"
Posted by: Thomas Paine

They fell off a truck.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Gird Your Loins! at September 13, 2026 09:44 AM (ndZc7)

62 Absolutely! My email is in my nic.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:22 AM (CjHsb)

Sent. It's in docx.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:46 AM (1Ff7Z)

63 Have been listening to the first of the Eisenhorn novels from Dan Abnett(sp?) It's interesting and I can see why they are popular. It is a different writing style from what you find these days in any genre. It is unrelieved action. Pushing from one scene to another, relentlessly driving forward.

It is also interesting in what it is missing. The hero is never pausing and contemplating his actions or why he is doing what he is doing or if he is right. Worldbuilding is good with things implied and mentioned, but no sitting down and doing the 'As you know, the Emperor is...' It stays consistent to itself and hints, but does not explicate.

I like it so far. Had a bunch of credits on audible so I got the whole series.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at September 13, 2026 09:47 AM (Y/06r)

64 Getting story ideas? Half the stories running through my head start with stories I've just watched/read about, and taking a look at that scenario from the perspective of a bystander.

As an example, the last novel I read feature a sword-and-sorcery style wandering adventurer who thwarted not less that 2 potentially city-killing Eldrich horrors. So, my thought process; what happens after the wandering hero has moved on. There is a de-populated city in the middle of an empire. Eventually some new civilians will move into the empty land (or be forcefully relocated onto the land, because the empire needs the taxes!) and then our new protagonist will encounter some dangerous remanent of what came before....

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 13, 2026 09:47 AM (3v7ra)

65 Wouldn't he be looking at the back of the paper?

Posted by: Boss Moss at September 13, 2026 09:47 AM (5Go8e)

66 It is also interesting in what it is missing. The hero is never pausing and contemplating his actions or why he is doing what he is doing or if he is right. Worldbuilding is good with things implied and mentioned, but no sitting down and doing the 'As you know, the Emperor is...' It stays consistent to itself and hints, but does not explicate.

I like it so far. Had a bunch of credits on audible so I got the whole series.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at September 13, 2026 09:47 AM (Y/06r)
----
I read the omnibus edition of the Eisenhorn books earlier this year. Although the protagonist starts out unwavering in his belief in the rightness of the Empire, that does start to change in the later books...Good character development overall.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2026 09:49 AM (FZ29D)

67 Reread - The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout (#41) (1965)

My favorite Nero Wolf book.

Posted by: 13times at September 13, 2026 09:49 AM (fnZRl)

68 Hey Perfessor!

Melt Wizard - Weis & Hickman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSlmpDQIH8

Enjoy!

Posted by: Shinjinrui at September 13, 2026 09:50 AM (xNMCe)

69 Also recently, I reread Jack Schaefer's "Sergeant Houck," one of the best short stories in any genre (or in literary circles for that matter). Even someone who doesn't like Westerns might like, or at least appreciate, this one.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2026 09:51 AM (wzUl9)

70 I get my ideas via snail mail from a post office box in Schenectady, third Thursday of the month. Sometimes they're crap. But most of the time you can make 'em work with a bit of hand filing, grease, and maybe a few extra screws.

Posted by: unwenchable at September 13, 2026 09:51 AM (wTDv5)

71 63
It is also interesting in what it is missing. The hero is never pausing and contemplating his actions or why he is doing what he is doing or if he is right. Worldbuilding is good with things implied and mentioned, but no sitting down and doing the 'As you know, the Emperor is...' It stays consistent to itself and hints, but does not explicate.

I like it so far. Had a bunch of credits on audible so I got the whole series.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at September 13, 2026 09:47 AM (Y/06r)

Well, Eisenhorn is part of the Warhammer 40K franchise, and in that world, self doubt (or even self reflection)would be Heresy. And everyone on the internet knows how that setting feels about Heresy...

Posted by: Castle Guy at September 13, 2026 09:54 AM (3v7ra)

72 Close to the end of Stone’s Fall.. read all of a George Sand novel (Indiana) and it was terrible. But it’s All Hail Éris said of The Robot Brains, at least it didn’t take 500 pages to stink up the joint. It was part of a 3 novel collection on my kindle. Don’t know if I should try again or just right her off as a crappy writer

Posted by: Who Knew at September 13, 2026 09:54 AM (0QMbS)

73 Sent. It's in docx.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 09:46 AM (1Ff7Z)

Cool, I'll find time for that this week.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 13, 2026 09:54 AM (CjHsb)

74 In "The Babylon Lottery" Jorge Luis Borges's narrator says that for a time he was declared invisible. Nothing else is done with the notion; it's passed over, just a throwaway bit. Later, Robert Silverberg picked up that notion and got one of his best short stories of the 60s out of it, "To See the Invisible Man."

In the novel April Evil, John D. MacDonald has a bit of description, something like "one of those men who could be a used car salesman or a tourist from Syracuse or a hired assassin." Donald Justice picked that up and got a nifty little chiller of a poem from it, "The Tourist from Syracuse."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:57 AM (q3u5l)

75 ss so. The non-writing public, not seeing the whining and crying and hair-pulling we do at the computer, think it is just sitting back and thinking Big Thinks

Well, there's your problem. Just avoid thinking the Little Thinks, and Bob's your uncle, you're the next Tom Clancy.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2026 09:58 AM (Riz8t)

76 The thread's been up for nearly and hour and is nowhere near 100 comments.

I think the subject scared people away.

Posted by: Weak Geek at September 13, 2026 09:59 AM (VChGu)

77 Knocking down latest Reacher novels like nobody's business lately.

Posted by: Boss Moss at September 13, 2026 10:00 AM (5Go8e)

78 >>I made the mistake of coming up with a story on the fly for a toddler I was entertaining.

At the coffee shop yesterday morning, had a Mom, Dad, & 2 little girls (about 3 & 6). Mom made up a quick fairy story at the younger one's request. When the girl asked for another, Mom said, 'Maybe Daddy has one for you.' Didn't hear how he deflected, though.

Posted by: Nazdar at September 13, 2026 10:00 AM (NcvvS)

79 The first comment was posted before the thread. How does that work?

Posted by: Boss Moss at September 13, 2026 10:01 AM (5Go8e)

80 A NICKEL!?!
Posted by: Reforger at September 13, 2026 09:26 AM (szk5e)

Shoot. Can't even buy an RC with that.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 13, 2026 10:02 AM (1Ff7Z)

81 On the question of "Where do you get your ideas?" the story is told of how Robert A. Heinlein upon hearing that one of his writer buddies (Theodore Sturgeon IIRC) was suffering severe writer's block sent him a letter with a page long list of story ideas (plus a check to which Sturgeon returned a grateful thanks plus regret that most of it was "...pissed away on rent and groceries."

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 13, 2026 10:03 AM (/GVA9)

82 Talarico's got a what Jesus would do story idea.

"What would Jesus do if he visited the U.S. Senate? I think he would tell the Senators...'I was a stranger and you deported me'...and then I think he would flip over those fancy desks..."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Gird Your Loins! at September 13, 2026 10:03 AM (ndZc7)

83 In the novel April Evil, John D. MacDonald has a bit of description, something like "one of those men who could be a used car salesman or a tourist from Syracuse or a hired assassin." Donald Justice picked that up and got a nifty little chiller of a poem from it, "The Tourist from Syracuse."
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 13, 2026 09:57 AM (q3u5l)

There's a Kolchak short story (I don't remember the title) where he runs into an apparently immortal man whose purpose is to kill or otherwise remove men or women who will become great dangers to the world. Kolchak can never get a fix on him, however, because the man's appearance constantly changes from one ordinary face to another.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 13, 2026 10:07 AM (qRla/)

84 Kolchak? Who loves you, Baby?

Posted by: Boss Moss at September 13, 2026 10:08 AM (5Go8e)

85 Sabrina, I read your "Argonauts of Space" trilogy some years ago and really enjoyed it. I wish you'd write more about the AI ships. Any plans to do so?

Posted by: Tuna at September 13, 2026 10:08 AM (lJ0H4)

86 Story idea. Dracula in the Senate. "Blood! I must drink the taxpayers' blood! Particularly the young girls!"

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Gird Your Loins! at September 13, 2026 10:08 AM (ndZc7)

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