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Genesis, by Ken Shufeldt

Science Fiction and Fantasy is a genre with few boundaries.  Whatever an author can imagine, he or she can sculpt into a story that takes it's readers to new and amazing worlds.  Yet, even with so many limitless possibilities at their fingertips, writers must still bring their readers to believe in and accept what they have created.  In order to create a rich but believable world of fantasy or high science, writers must still abide by certain limitations.  Limitations that align with the basic principles of human nature so that the reader can relate and connect to the story on a personal level.
Ken Shufeldt's science fiction novel "Genesis," suffers from a lack of believability.  So many ideas are introduced all at once, that the ability to create any kind of intimacy with the reader is lost.  Character dialogue and actions lack depth and personality, cheapening their experiences throughout the book.  Everything is needlessly explained up front.  Plot and character intentions are revealed in a matter that makes the story easily predictable with any chance at mystery lost early on.  One of the most common mistakes a new writer makes is to tell a story rather than show it, and that is, unfortunately, what has happened with "Genesis."
Shufeldt's strength is definitely rooted in his experience with substances derived from a military or technological nature.  Perhaps if he had spent more time on the scientific and mechanical side of things and left more of life's softer experiences alone, his attempt with "Genesis" would have been more successful.  
Genesis is published by Tor Forge books and is due to hit the shelves on June 2nd of this year.

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Filed under  //   book   Forge   Genesis   Ken Shufeldt   Scifi   Tor  

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No Starch Press To Publish Book On Inkscape

Recently, I was given the opportunity to preview a few of the chapters of an upcoming title from  No Starch Press called "The Book of Inkscape" by Dmitry Kirsanov and what I read looks very promising.  If you are at all interested in Open Source alternatives, regardless of what platform you run, than this book may be a perfect addition to your library.  It thoroughly introduces its' reader to SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) and Inkscape's array of full featured illustration tools while simultaneously being honest about the few limitations involved in creating and using SVG. I'm always happy to see good support and documentation for Open formats and software.  SVG may still be young, but it holds a lot of potential and should continue to be developed and explored.


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Filed under  //   book   inkscape   No Starch Press   SVG  

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