Q1. What is your favorite word? Buttocks Q2. What is your least favorite word? Nice Q3. How has social media helped your career? It’s connected me to a huge group of terrific friends/acquaintances who just happen to be writers, reviewers and artists etc. These awesome folk love art, they love to share art and ideas about art. That leads to opportunities I might otherwise not have seen or known about. It’s a community, and for the most part everyone is trying to help everyone else. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  Time theft. Connecting with my friends is important, but doing it properly takes time and I, like everyone else, don’t have masses of that to spare. Time spent connecting on social media is time lost when it comes to me getting on with the writing I need to do to get my career off the ground. That can be hard. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Teaching. University level. So lecturing basically. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Lots. Most heinous? Sales. *vomits* I tried sales once, loathed it with the passion…

Q1. What is your favorite word?  Either ‘plinth’ or ‘nostrum’. The second is a latin word which if I remember correctly translates as fake or illusory cure. Q2. What is your least favorite word? ‘maybe’ or ‘whatever’. Q3. How has social media helped your career? Well I pretty much have one because of it. My RPG career kicked off when I was in the right place at the right time and the podcasts I host are by definition social media. So it’s basically where I work. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  The sense you sometimes get of always being on. I went for a job a few months ago, via social media. Didn’t get it. I follow the people at the company I applied for and them tweeting their welcomes to the person who got the job I applied for, have to say, stuck in my craw a little bit. Likewise, the occasional virulent dislike I catch on the escape artists messageboards is hard to walk away from. It’s very easy to always remember the negatives even when the positives vastly outweigh them. Q5. What profession other than your own would…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Petrichor Q2. What is your least favorite word? Hyperbole Q3. How has social media helped your career? Without doubt it’s made it easier to reach readers. More importantly, it’s allowed me to engage with & generally chat to both people who’ve read my work or – more importantly – a section of the SFF community in general. Whether that really helps me in terms of my career is arguable, but it makes it a lot more fun! Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  There’s little more unpleasant than having people being bitchy about something you’ve worked really hard on… and being able to see it. (In the worst cases, bei g goaded about it). You just have to be dignified and social-media blind for a bit – while jabbing a fork into the back of your hand. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Something to do with the theatre of film. Probably directing. I’ve always been fascinated by the process of making plays and cinema. Both totally different; both incredible. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Not…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Git – it can be delivered with such force for so brief a word also Defenestrate  – because it is brilliant that there is a word for ‘to throw out of a window’ Q2. What is your least favorite word?  Nice – because it is utterly, utterly insipid and manages to convey so very little. Q3. How has social media helped your career? Connections to fans, new readers and others working in the genre. It’s about getting people interested in me rather than selling my books direct ( I have sold books because of a twitter chat as opposed to blatant pimping… which actually  I always do at publication time). Writing is a solitary business and social media is a good way to keep in touch. Also good in terms of learning about events, industry news and the like. Social media allows me to upset Justin Bieber fans at will. This is not a career development thing, it’s just good fun. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?   It is a MASSIVE distraction at times, taking you out of your bubble, destroying concentration and wasting hour upon hour….

Q1. What is your favorite word? Oh, tough question! Probably “ennui”, partly thanks to the Edward Gorey-ness of it. Q2. What is your least favorite word? Moist Q3. How has social media helped your career? I have made so many important contacts – and friends – over twitter, it has become invaluable. It helped me find short story markets and the heart of the writing community, and it’s a great way to keep up with what’s going down in publishing. It even helped me find an agent! Also, there’s something quite unique and marvellous about being able to talk so easily with readers and fellow writers Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?   You have to exercise a lot of restraint. There’s always some sort of argument going down somewhere and like everyone, I have strong opinions. It’s important to remember that nothing is truly lost forever on social media, so if you have a bad day and decide to call someone a “steaming fuckwitted tosspot” you have to be ready to stand by that forever. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it can mean writing out lots of posts…

Q1. What is your favorite word?  “Forlorn” – lovely word. Q2. What is your least favorite word? “Shorts” when used as an abbreviation for ‘short stories’ by people who should know better. Q3. How has social media helped your career? It has helped immensely, or rather all the brilliant/eccentric/book-obsessed people I’ve met through it have. For example, I doubt I’d have my current book out via the ace small-press who are publishing it if it wasn’t for social media. I hope social media has allowed me to help a few people back, too, in whatever small way. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?   Mainly by eating into what little writing time I have. Also, I’ve promised so many people on Twitter a drink should we ever meet in real life that I’ll be destitute if I ever encounter them all at onc Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Lock-keeper. Somewhat naively, I imagine it allows you plenty of reading time. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Driving instructor. Q7. What is your favorite curse word?   “Ruddy” Q8. If Heaven exists, what would you…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Flabelliform Q2. What is your least favorite word? accommodation (mainly cos I can never spell it properly) Q3. How has social media helped your career? no career without it (such as it is). Forced me to come out from under my stone and get the privilege of talking to readers before they buy my book, as they buy it, while they read it and after they’ve finished it. Eat your heart out Evelyn Waugh. But it’s also led me to think creatively in new ways and that’s fed back into my writing – new digital platforms for narrative etc Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  None about social media itself (though you have to be careful in how you portray yourself through SM). The issue is more one of having to do nall the marketing & promotion yourself, even if others RT you, it’s still down to you every day and that takes time away from the writing Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Bass guitarist and lyricist in an art noise band Q6. What profession would you not like…

Q1. What is your favorite word? ‘Epic’ at the moment but it changes every couple of months.  Q2. What is your least favorite word? ‘Christ’ when used as an expletive but that could just be that it’s overused by a colleague alllll day. I’m not a big fan of the ‘c’ word either but sometimes it’s the best word for the job. Q3. How has social media helped your career? Social media has allowed me to interact with so many interesting people, and get my writing out to a wider number of people than my immediate family & friends. It’s also introduced me to new ideas and concepts which has encouraged me to try new styles of writing and read a wider variety of authors than I had previously.  However, the biggest way it’s helped is by allowing me to keep in contact with writers & publishers like Adele, thereby getting my work into print. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career?  Procrastination! I could spend hours on twitter/Facebook when I should really be writing and I’ll frequently get caught up in the latest ‘twitter storm’.  My work knows I’m a writer and…

Q1. What is your favorite word? Dude Q2. What is your least favorite word? No Q3. How has social media helped your career? I think it probably has, yes, certainly in terms of having more people know who I am and what I do. Q4. What would you say are the downsides to social media in your career? Spending too long on it, having people I don’t know send me messages asking me to critique their work (for free) and then getting shirty when I say I don’t have the time. Q5. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I’m a Finance Manager, I’d love to be a professional writer. Q6. What profession would you not like to do? Anything that was too difficult really.  I’d hate to work in an industry that harmed you, I’d hate to work on the ocean. Q7. What is your favorite curse word?  Fuck Q8. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Hey mate, you did alright there, I don’t think you could have fitted much more in. Thanks for the insight Mark! For more information about Mark and…

Sometime guest reviewer, Sam Strong (@MrSamStrong) recently interviewed author Myke Cole (@MykeCole) on behalf of The Eloquent Page. Before I hand you over, I’d just like to thank to Myke and Sam for the great interview. Thanks guys. ~  ~  ~  ~ Arguably the best known of all role playing game (RPG) systems, Dungeons & Dragons has spawned many clones, transferred itself into every kind of media imaginable and has become nothing short of legendary. The other week, Pat Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, claimed that D&D has literally destroyed lives. In response to this, Myke Cole, author of Control Point and Fortress Frontier (and hopefully the next one in the series real soon), tweeted and people responded: This struck a chord with me. The idea of imagination, focused through an RPG, as a transforming force is very powerful. I dropped Myke an email and asked if he’d mind answering a few follow up questions. Here are his responses: SS: What was your first RPG experience? MC: Playing the old basic D&D boxed set with my brother in my mom’s basement. Yes, it’s true, I actually played D&D in my mom’s basement. My brother didn’t have anyone to play with,…