: Short Reads for Troubled Times When I joined Water Dragon Publishing, my first publication was The Third Time’s the Charm. It …
: Power of Community Many years ago, I was a doctoral student in science education… (Pro-tip: Always call yourself a …
: Feedback on Rejections Almost all rejections you get as an author provide no feedback. Clarkesworld, which has rejected …
: Writing Month Wraps Up Yesterday was the last day of Writing Month. During November, 2024, I wrote 20, 418 words. I did not …
: Board Leadership I’ve served in leadership and Board roles in non-profits a number of times over the years. I’ve been …
: 2024 Award Eligibility This year, the fixup for Revin’s Heart was published, which included three short stories. And I …
: Wandering Shop Stories, Electric Bluesky-oo-loo Wandering Shop Stories, a writing prompt that began in January and recently migrated to …
: Translation: Reading the World I attended a craft workshop organized by the Straw Dog Writers’ Guild about translating poetry by …
: Writing Retreats In 2001, Philip kept a diary while attending the Clarion East speculative fiction writing retreat. …
: My First SFWA Board Meeting Yesterday, I attended my first Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) Board Meeting …
: Wandering Shop Stories Meetup and Migration On November 1, 2024, the curators of Wandering Shop Stories met up via Zoom for the first time. We …
: Lichens at the Montague Plains This semester, my writing students are studying lichens. Mostly not by choice, but because every …
: Elected Secretary of SFWA On October 23, 2024, I was elected Secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. …
: This year, November is Writing Month Many years ago, when NaNoWriMo was new, I tried to participate. It didn’t go well. But this year, …
: Write-in Steven D. Brewer for Secretary of SFWA Upon the withdrawal of the only announced candidate, I volunteer to serve as Secretary for the …
: One Year of Straw Dog Writes One year ago this week, I ran the first session of Straw Dog Writes for the Straw Dog Writers’ …
: Head in the Clouds Amherst Calendar I submitted five pictures to the Head in the Clouds Amherst 2025 wall calendar and one was selected …
: A Wonderful Place to Write I used to love to write in cafes or libraries or other public places. But after I was hospitalized …
: Writing Influences from Manga I’ve realized over the past couple of years that my writing has been significantly influenced by …
: Getting Ready for the New Normal After 28 years of full-time employment, I am starting a new phase of life. This summer, for the …
: Writing Female Characters I remember after I’d been writing fiction for a while, my son asked, “Why don’t you have any female …
: Using Geomorphology and Botany for Settings in Fiction I have been fortunate enough to travel rather widely in my lifetime which helps me create settings …
: An Expensive Lesson Worldcon in Glasgow wrapped up today. I didn’t attend any of the last day’s events. Of course, I …
: So you want to be a writer… If you want to be a writer, that’s cool. All you have to do is write. It doesn’t really matter if …
: Summer Regrets As July ends, I typically find myself consumed with regrets. With August imminent, I sulk as I see …
: Better Angels ‘Zine I made a ‘zine about the Better Angels with photos, descriptions, vital statistics, and their “three …
: Drafting A Familiar Problem In May of 2022, I had an idea for a new story. I had basically just finished the last part of …
: Not Going to Worldcon On July 15 (less than a month before the convention) I was notified that my request to be a …
: Bookstore at Readercon33 My younger son and I brought books for Water Dragon Publishing and Small Publishing in a Big …
: Basic Research and CRISPR Almost everyone has now heard of CRISPR — the miraculous new technique for editing DNA. But few …
: FOMO It’s been sad to watch BayCon happening and to not be there. Last year, I traveled to BayCon and got …
: Romancing the Rainbow Last winter, during Intersession, I was inspired to write a short story. It was accepted for …
: Socialist Butterfly When my brother Philip attends a party he invariably comments, “Am I not the socialest of all …
: Uncreative Writing Since 2002, I have been teaching the course Writing in Biology at the University of Massachusetts …
: Reflections on Father’s Day My father passed away last year, just short of 90 years old. He had been suffering from dementia for …
: Planning Your Own Publicity Campaign At the 2024 Nebulas convention, I attended of the very last sessions, Planning Your Own Publicity …
: Summertime For the first time, in many, many years, I’m actually free this summer. When I began my career at …
: Nebulas 2024 For the second year, I proposed myself as a participant for the Nebulas Science Fiction/Fantasy …
: Social Media as an Author As an author, I’m constantly looking for ways to get the word out about my work and to engage with …
: Upcoming Appearances For Pride, I will be bringing the Water Dragon Publishing table to the Mill District Queer Artisan …
: Open Science Instrumentation and Data Collection In 2017-2018, I drafted a proposal for a Professional Improvement Fellowship at UMass Amherst. This …
: Keeping Priorities Straight On May 20, 2024, I served as the Presiding Officer of an Emergency General Faculty Meeting for UMass …
: SPBU at Watch City When I agreed to run a vendor booth at the Watch City Steampunk Festival for the Small Publishing in …
: Ups and Downs Being an author has ups and downs. It’s a constant rollercoaster. When you submit manuscripts you …
: Phased Retirement Twenty-eight years ago, I joined the Biology Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. …
: New Shimenawa Four years ago, I discovered what shimenawa were and I made one for my beloved sakura tree. But it …
: Watch City Steampunk Festival On May 11, 2024, I will be bringing a Small Publishing in a Big Universe (SPBU) vendor table to the …
: Fantastic Reviews of Revin’s Heart Recently, I was gratified to receive two extremely generous reviews of Revin’s Heart. Reviews are …
: Boskone Wrapup In 2023, I had been scheduled to appear at Boskone, but ended up instead in the hospital. It was a …
: Advertising Books Trying to publicize your books is hard. It’s one of the things that you don’t think much about until …
: Boskone 2024 Schedule Last year, I was scheduled to appear at Boskone, but ended up going into the hospital the week …
: The Better Angels and Bebe’s Bedtime Bedlam David was still on the bridge of Angels’ Wings, the Better Angels’ starship, when Bebe came out in …
: Making Pitches to Sell Books I’ve been rather surprised to discover that I seem to be pretty good at selling books. It doesn’t …
: Arisia 2024 I attended Arisia for the second time as a participant. Last year, I was only one one or two panels …
: Wandering Shop Stories Early in my fiction writing, I really struggled with writing “stories.” By that, I mean …
: Arisia 2024 My schedule for Arisia 2024 has been finalized. I will be moderating one panel, serving as a …
: Year in Writing: 2023 I generally had a good year writing. But I was hospitalized for 12 days in early 2023, which caused …
: Steven D. Brewer 2023 Awards Eligibility In the spring, Water Dragon Publishing released the last two novelettes of Revin’s Heart, I …
: LinkedIn and Fake Social Media For years, I mostly scorned LinkedIn. I had made a profile early on, but mostly didn’t bother …
: Revin’s Heart: Collected Edition Revin, a young man from a poor mining town, has pulled himself up by his bootstraps to become the …
: The Better Angels at the Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy Several months after I joined Water Dragon Publishing the editor invited me to submit a manuscript …
: Mill District Holiday Arts Market On Sunday, Nov 19, 2023, I set up a vendor table for Water Dragon Publishing to sell books. The …
: Better Angels: Tour de Force The Better Angels. Entertainment. Music and Dancing. (And Rescues!) Life is tough for non-human …
: One Year Later I joined Twitter in March 2008 and, after initially puzzling about what it was for, found it to be …
: Scary Busy During the academic year, my time for pursuing my writing is extremely limited. Almost all of my …
: Writing for Persuasion For more than 20 years, I’ve taught a course in scientific writing. In the course, students …
: LOSCon 49 This morning at 2:10am I got an email from the organizers of LOSCon indicating that I was going to …
: Everything Falling into Place This fall, I’ve launched a new program at the Straw Dog Writers Guild: Straw Dog Writes. Modeled on …
: Where lies responsibilty? I remember as I became an adult, beginning to adopt responsibility for the actions of my country. I …
: Summer Ends, Fall Begins I had an exciting summer! I drove cross-country to attend BayCon in July and then visited the …
: Islands of Revin’s Heart ‘Zine As I was writing Revin’s Heart, I had created a map (in Inkscape) to show the relative …
: BayCon 2023 BayCon was a thing! My younger son Daniel and I drove about 5000 through 14 states over 14 days to …
: Selling Revin’s Heart At BayCon, I spent a fair amount of time in the Dealer Room selling copies of Revin’s Heart. …
: New Review in Time for Baycon I was extremely gratified to receive a positive review for all of Revin’s Heart by The Faerie …
: Islands of Revin’s Heart Revin’s Heart takes place on island nations — or on airships traveling between the …
: Why I Wrote Revin’s Heart Rewriting the Rules is the final novelette of Revin’s Heart, my steampunky fantasy adventure …
: BayCon 2023 BayCon, here I come! In October, 2022, I registered for BayCon and was super excited to look forward …
: Cover Reveal: Rewriting the Rules When peace is no longer possible, one must either go to war or run away. Abandoned by the nobility, …
: Summer Begins After a long, dark winter and a busy spring, summer finally begins! Being hospitalized in February …
: Looking Forward to Summer During the academic year, I don’t have much time for writing. I’ve managed to do a few things. But I …
: It’s Complicated It’s Complicated (aka The Mary Stories) is a serialized rural fantasy available through Kindle …
: Recent and Upcoming Appearances On March 18, 2023, I offered a presentation at @nerdsummit, Publishing 101: Writing books for fun …
: Stories Published, Written, and In-the-Works J. Scott Coatsworth asked folks at QueerSciFi how many stories they’d written versus how many …
: Revin’s Heart Inexorably Advances On March 24, 2023, Then They Fight You is being released by Water Dragon Publishing. This is Part …
: Full Member of the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers Association Today, I became a full member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Almost a year …
: Cover Reveal: Then They Fight You Front Cover of Then They Fight You When even the King’s mandate isn’t enough to bring the warring …
: There stands a woman… Alisa V. Brewer, generously wearing the “fascinator” I got her at WorldCon. Thirty-nine …
: Coming Soon Although it was bitterly disappointing to not be able to attend Boskone, I was pleased to see that …
: Hospitalized In mid-February, I needed to be rushed to the emergency room and spent 12 days in the hospital. It’s …
: Computer Glasses I’m been myopic and needed glasses since I was in middle school. Around the time, I turned 40, I …
: Short Fiction and Water Dragon Publishing When Charlie Jane Anders wrote about short fiction it resonated with me because this is exactly what …
: Boskone 60 Appearance Only a month after Arisia, I will be returning to Boston to appear at Boskone where I will be …
: Arisia 2023 Wrap-up I attended the Arisia science fiction convention in Boston for the first time. I signed up to be a …
: Arisia 2023 Woohoo! I will be attending Arisia 2023 in Boston January 13-16, 2023. I will be moderating one …
: Year in Writing: 2022 I had a fantastic year writing and realized a number of important things. I aimed at writing longer …
: The End of His Rope and Insight into Revin’s Heart from The End of His Rope When I first wrote The Third Time’s the Charm, it was more like the first …
: Link Previews Are Evil Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed that most of the software products I use generate …
: Interviewed by Small Publishing in a Big Universe Back in August, I was interviewed for the Small Publishing in a Big Universe Podcast. To be honest, …
: Award Eligibility for 2022 Below are my publications that were (or will be) released in 2022. Brewer, S.D. [in press]. The End …
: Hosting the SFWA Writing Date For years, I was aware of the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA) although the eligibility …
: Cover Reveal: At the End of His Rope The End of His Rope is Part Five of Revin’s Heart and is scheduled to be released by Water …
: Busy Fall It’s been a busy fall for me as a writer. In mid-August, Better Angels came out. And then …
: Cover Reveal: Crossing the Streams Cover for Crossing the Streams, Part Four of Revin’s Heart Crossing the Streams is Part Four …
: “Demons sound kinda #antisocial,” Rory said. “Heh. Demons have no society,” …
: Why did newsletters became the default way for people to stay in touch, rather than a feed reader. …
: My Worldcon Debut Wrigley and Equitable Buildings from Chicago’s Riverwalk Attending conferences and conventions …
: Airship Pirate Ribbons When I drew up plans to attend Chicon8 the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, my …