Beneath the Sign of the Bear

I’ve been spending the week at the 10th Anniversary Taos Toolbox, the workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy.  Here’s a photo of us beneath the bear, including fellow instructor Nancy Kress and special guest George RR Martin.

I realized too late that I should have got a photo of us all lying dead at George’s feet, and titled it “The Red Workshop.”

We’ve had nearly a week of critique, and below you may find some of the highlights, diligently collected by Nancy:

* How do corporate wizards that don’t have to dress for the office actually dress?”
* “A basic rule of even alternate universes is that ghosts can’t have children.”
* “Have the mother make a staff out of the imp-doorknocker.”
” “Coming from an organization where people delight in throwing others under the bus, I liked this story.”
* “The ‘as-you-know-Bob’ dialogue even starts with ‘as you know.'”
* “If there are swordwriters, I want to see them write something with their swords.”
* “I want to apologize because this critique is going to suck.”

* “She got off too easy for eating the child.”
* “This could be cool, if I knew what was going on.”
“If she had proper self-control, she wouldn’t be blue.” (Color, not mood)
* “We’ve got prehistoric parasites living in people’s brains, and volunteers are going ‘Yes!’?”
*How does dodging bullets qualify you as a good bride?”
“I admired the multi-purposing of the rabbits.”‘
* “If editors are trolls, are publishers dragons?”

* “That kiss was so deep that what she should respond is, ‘Why are you licking my tonsils?””
* “I don’t understand why he isn’t sure it’s her–she’s the only were-tiger on the plane.”
* “I liked the opening 67-word sentence because I’m German and we don’t mind long sentences.”
* “I didn’t realize he was injecting her with venom. I just thought he was a really bad kisser.”
* “Why are people heart-flopping?”
* “But you’re Canadian–you’re accustomed to governments that make intelligent decisions!”
* “The dead grandmother should be digging the ditch.”