Reviews for The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy (Writers Digest Guides)

The average rating for The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy (Writers Digest Guides) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-06-06 00:00:00 Michael Williams Not bad, but I have one serious problem with this book - over 100 pages of it, Orson Scott Card's section starting the book, is reprinted word-for-word from Card's earlier (1990) book titled How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. There is nothing in the online listings or on the cover indicating that this content, over a quarter of the book, is not original - no way to see it without buying the new book. I don't know whether this was Card's decision or that of the editors or publisher, and I don't know whether any of the other authors' content is also reprinted (I have an earlier book by Athans and his material here is new relative to that book, although I don't know about other earlier work of his.) But I feel that whoever made the call on the Card content is being less than honest with their readers. I must admit that the recent revelations of Card's racist and homophobic politics leaves a sour taste in my mouth anyway, and I won't be buying any more of his work - while the personal failings of artists do not necessarily make their work less in quality, I'm one of those readers/listeners/film-goers that can't get past the issue - same reason I can't enjoy films or music by artists who I've learned are abusive human beings. The rest of this book is indeed excellent, and it's a shame that such outstanding and useful content by such excellent authors is at least somewhat overshadowed by this business with Card's section. The whole middle and much of the latter part of my copy is a forest of little post-it flags, and I'll be going back through it over and over, taking notes wherever they apply to things I'm working on. If it was just the Card part, I'd give it maybe two stars, but I'm giving it four for the sake of the other contributors.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-17 00:00:00 Steven Moan In addition to the 100 pages or so by Card, there are also two essays by other authors. I think that the many glossaries of various fantasy related terms is really one of the most valuable parts.