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Kevin J. Anderson
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Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes (Million Dollar Writing Series) Kindle Edition

by Kevin J. Anderson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 263 ratings
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Create rich, complex fictional settings with tips from a New York Times–bestselling author and Nebula, Hugo, and Bram Stoker Award nominee.
 
International bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson has created many extensive fictional universes, ranging from sweeping galactic empires to complex steampunk fantasies, to humorous monster-filled cities. He has become known for his skill in worldbuilding. Now, in Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes, he describes the techniques he uses in creating a rich fictional setting, leading writers through the countless questions and topics one must consider.
 
Whether it’s geography, climate, politics, economics, society, religion, science, arts, or history, all of these ingredients form the basis for a believable setting for your story to unfold—and the expertise provided in this book by a prolific master of science fiction, fantasy, and horror with over twenty million of copies in print will show you how to create universes of your own.

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  1. Part of series
    Million Dollar Writing Series
  2. Print length
    101 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    WordFire Press
  6. Publication date
    October 19, 2015
  7. File size
    7583 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kevin J. Anderson is the author of 130 novels, more than fifty of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists; he has over 23 million books in print in thirty languages. He has won or been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Bram Stoker Award, Shamus Award, the SFX Reader's Choice Award, and New York Times Notable Book. Anderson has coauthored fourteen books in the DUNE saga with Brian Herbert. Anderson's popular epic SF series, The Saga of Seven Suns, is his most ambitious work, as well as its sequel, The Saga of Shadows. He has also written a sweeping fantasy trilogy, "Terra Incognita," accompanied by two rock CDs based on the novels (which he wrote and produced). He has written two steampunk fantasy adventure novels, Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives, with legendary Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. He also created the popular humorous horror series featuring Dan Shamble, Zombie PI. His novel enemies & Allies chronicles the first meeting of Batman and Superman in the 1950s; Anderson also wrote The Last Days of Krypton. He has written numerous Star Wars projects, including the Jedi Academy trilogy, the Young Jedi Knights series (with Moesta), and Tales of the Jedi comics from Dark Horse. Fans might also know him from his X-Files novels or Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BTSLR33L
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ WordFire Press (October 19, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 19, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7583 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 101 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 263 ratings

About the author

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Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson

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Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. My major new fantasy trilogy (all finished!) consists of SPINE OF THE DRAGON, VENGEWAR and GODS AND DRAGONS. My newest Dune novel with Brian Herbert is THE HEIR OF CALADAN, end of a new trilogy. I also love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series—newest one is DOUBLE-BOOKED— humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS, CLOCKWORK LIVES, and CLOCKWORK DESTINY, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are some of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.

I have written more than 175 books, including 59 national or international bestsellers. I have over 24 million books in print worldwide in thirty languages. I've been nominated for the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Bram Stoker Award, Shamus Award, and Silver Falchion Award, and I've won the SFX Readers' Choice Award, Golden Duck Award, Scribe Award, and New York Times Notable Book; in 2012 at San Diego Comic Con I received the Faust Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement.

I have written numerous bestselling and critically acclaimed novels in the Dune universe with Brian Herbert, as well as Star Wars and X-Files novels. In my original work, I am best known for my Saga of Seven Suns series, the Terra Incognita trilogy, the Dan Shamble, Zombie PI series, and Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives with Neil Peart. Along with my wife Rebecca Moesta, I am also the publisher of WordFire Press. Find out more about me at wordfire.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter and get some free fiction.

FOR RIGHTS INQUIRIES (Film/TV/Gaming/Foreign/Literary) please contact me directly at info (at) wordfire (dot) com, and I will put you in touch with my appropriate representative.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
263 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

J Krug
5.0 out of 5 stars Great characters in a fun read
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book was a really fun read. The universe filled in as the story went along. There was action, adventure, intrigue...no magic, but then again it is steam punk vs magic based, so that worked out. I hope this is part of a series or these characters come back in other books as I want to see what happens next. I recommend this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Lionel S. Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars An Entertaining Series of Stories
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2010
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Like many of the other reviewers have already said. This is really more of an anthology of stories than one solid one they are all interconnected through the backdrop of an impending war. I have never read a Mike Resnick story before but I found this one entertaining enough to want to read others. This story did a good job at being humorously entertaining while doing a good job of developing the characters. It did start to bog down a little in the third part but over all a very good read. I look forward to reading one of his novels.
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fran sullivan
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, what a fun, mind teasing, yet well researched collaboration by Rick Wilber and Alan Smale
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2022
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Wow, what a fun, mind teasing, yet well researched collaboration by Rick Wilber and Alan Smale:

Original title considered:
‘Amor Autem Basis Pilla,’ (translating from. Latin to:
‘But Love Is Baseball’

p122 depicts how the collaboration of these fine writers got started.

‘The Wandering Warriors’
- Alan Smale & Rick Wilber

Also included in this same book is a short story by Alan Smale:
‘A Trade in Serpents’

and a novelette by Rick Wilber:
‘Stephen to Cora to Joe, or, The Truth As I Know It’
One person found this helpful
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NewMexicoDude
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book.
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024
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This is a great beginning to what I hope will be a very long series of books. The world and characters are very interesting. I hope to be reading another adventurous tale soon.
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Kcathy
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2022
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Well defined characters with an interesting storyline hat kept my interest throughout. Looking forward to the next in the series that I’m hoping will come soon.
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Tappet
3.0 out of 5 stars Not a work of genius, but fun.
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2012
Verified Purchase
This has a sort of "boys own" adventure feel to it. If you like that sort of Tom Swift-style story, it's a lot of fun. The dialogue isn't always the best, but the descriptions of the scenes are highly cinematic. There is a lot of interesting history alluded to, as well, which may be enough to keep me coming back for a sequel.
One person found this helpful
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John Leinen
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023
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First science fiction western I have ever read it was really good and I will definitely read another science fiction
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Tony M.
4.0 out of 5 stars No surprises
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2016
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These are simple stories with no real surprises. To put it simply the book begins with a bunch of people who are telling war stories - without actually going to war. So they go to war, where they find things are fairly obvious (shooting, dying, etc) with nothing exciting. So they come back and tell whoppers about what happened in the war. The only real problem I had with these stories is that there are lots of characters in this bar and it's hard to keep them all straight as I progressed through the three versions of their lives.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ophrys
3.0 out of 5 stars Kurzweilig und logisch
Reviewed in Germany on September 18, 2016
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Sehr schnell durchgelesen. Gut und nachvollziehbar dargestellt. Im Nachhinein denkt man sich, das ist ja logisch! Aber jemand musste es mal aussprechen. Kevin J. Anderson ist ein bekannter Autor, der tolle Bücher schreibt und weiß wovon er spricht. Wozu zweihundert Seiten füllen, wenn man die Essenz auch kürzer erklären kann? Ich fühle mich nach der Lektüre gut gerüstet mich selbst dran zu machen und eine eigene Welt für meine Geschichten zu entwerfen. Zwei Sterne Abzug, weil ich den Preis von über fünf Euro für so ein kurzes Ebook etwas überteuert finde. Das Buch selber finde ich zwar hilfreich, aber mit gesundem Menschenverstand kommt man eigentlich auch selbst drauf, was man fürs Worldbuilding braucht. Daher zwei Sterne Abzug. Aber nett es so kurz und kompakt von einem Profi dargestellt zu bekommen.
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Fulby
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, now awaiting the sequel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 28, 2013
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I really enjoyed this, the only downside is that it is obviously intended to be the first book in a new setting so the ending wasn't quite as cleared up as I'd like. As long as there are more in the series though that's not a problem :-).
One person found this helpful
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Arioch
5.0 out of 5 stars Un très bon mélange de genres
Reviewed in France on December 29, 2012
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Entre le steampunk et le western, ce roman est très bien mené. Les personnages sont intéressants, l'histoire bien montée, l'univers original. Que dire de plus ?
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Stuart Duncan
4.0 out of 5 stars Another grand adventure!
Reviewed in Canada on September 14, 2023
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Having read a number of Dan's books, I thoroughly enjoyed this one as well. Thank you and please keep up the great writing!
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Peter James West
3.0 out of 5 stars Good but short
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2018
Verified Purchase
This was a good introduction to world building from an author who has a wealth of experience to share. I'm sure there's more he could add to flesh this out further.
I can't help feeling a lot was left out.
One person found this helpful
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