On Tuesday of this week I gave a presentation at the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild office, part of its Write After Lunch series of authors’ talks, entitled “Worldshaping.” The topic was what is usually called “worldbuilding,” but since my upcoming eighth novel for DAW Books (for which I just received the page proofs) is called Worldshaper, …
Tag: science fiction
Praise from Saskatchewan Book Awards jurors for The Cityborn
Last night the 25th annual Saskatchewan Book Awards were presented at the Conexus Arts Centre. My science fiction novel The Cityborn was shortlisted for the City of Regina Book Award, for “the best book by a Regina author, judged on the quality of the writing.” This is, I believe, the eighth time I’ve been shortlisted, …
Illustrated collection of science fiction/fantasy poetry released!
I Tumble through the Diamond Dust, my new collection of fantastical (science fiction, fantasy, and horror) poems, illustrated by Alberta artist Wendi Nordell (my talented niece), is now available in both print and ebook formats! Buy it from Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Kobo, or the Apple store in ebook format, or in print through Chapters/Indigo or the …
Cover Art Reveal: Worldshaper
Here’s the fabulous cover art for Worldshaper, my ninth novel for DAW Books, coming out September 18 in hardcover and ebook. It’s the start of a new series called Worldshapers. The artwork is by Juliana Kolesova, who happens to also be from Canada–she works out of Toronto. Here’s the description: From an Aurora Award-winning author comes …
The Space-Time Continuum: Steam-Engine Time
Here’s my latest column from Freelance, the magazine of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. All forms of art, from the visual to the theatrical, from motion pictures to literature, tend to go through movements. One reason for this is simply copycatting, something that is most clearly seen in the motion picture industry: somebody makes a movie …
Cover reveal: Paths to the Stars, my short-story collection
I’m getting very close to releasing my short-story collection, Paths to the Stars. It brings together almost all of my published, and a few of my unpublished, short stories, going all the way back to the beginnings of my writing career, up through “Textente Tela Veneris,” just released in the Planetary: Venus anthology from Superversive …
Short story in new anthology Planetary: Venus
I have a new short story out, in the anthology Planetary: Venus from Superversive Press. Here’s a description of the anthology: Venus, the second planet from the sun, a world of sulfurous gas and tremendous temperatures where the landscape features—mountains and valleys—are all named for love goddesses. Venus herself is the goddess most known for …
First description of Worldshaper, my next novel for DAW Books
The release of Worldshaper, Book 1 in the Worldshapers series, is still 10 months away (it’s set for September 2018), but that’s not very long in publishing terms. My editor at DAW Books, Sheila Gilbert, and I are already talking about cover art. And I’ve also been asked to write “sell copy” describing the book. …
The Space-Time Continuum: Pulp Fiction
This is my latest column from the Saskatchewan Writers Guild magazine Freelance, with extra graphics! Mention “pulp fiction” these days and most people probably think of the 1994 Quentin Tarantino movie. But of course the movie’s title referenced something much earlier: fiction literally published on pulp—cheap paper made directly from wood-pulp. Pulp paper quickly turns …
New Aurora Award Storybundle includes my novel Marseguro
A new Storybundle has just gone live featuring winners of (and finalists for) Canada’s Aurora Award for best Canadian science fiction and fantasy. It’s curated by Douglas Smith, so I’m going to let him explain it in the guest post below… The Aurora Award Bundle #2 Curated by Douglas Smith How would you like to …
Publishers Weekly reviews The Cityborn…”will entertain SF adventure fans”
Another review has bubbled up, although the release of The Cityborn is still more than a month away. This time it’s from Publishers Weekly: “Willett (the Helix War series) wraps his capable new adult science fiction adventure around the fate of a mysterious many-tiered city and its inhabitants…Willett’s spunky protagonists and colorful world will entertain …
Great review for The Cityborn from RT Book Reviews
There’s a great new review of the The Cityborn in RT Book Reviews (not currently publicly accessible online; once/if it becomes so, I’ll link to it). Reviewer Bridget Keown gives it 4/5 stars and writes: “Willett brings J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise into the distant space age in this dystopian tale of class, power and freedom that …
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