According to Tim Pratt: “Steph Burgis was asking writers to post lists of fun things they like to put in books, over in her comments section.”

I’m an editor, not a writer, but if I did write something, I would probably include some of the following things. Might be interesting to the slush writers reading this since I’m probably predisposed toward liking stories with the following SF elements:

1. Skyhooks

2. Dinosaurs

3. Post-apocalyptic wastelands

4. Supersmart animals (intelligence-boosted/evolved/uplifted chimps, gorillas, kangaroos, dogs, mice, etc.)

5. Near future explorations of our solar system

Tim went on to make a list of things he doesn’t like in books and will likely never use. I won’t go so far as to say I actively dislike all of these, but to me they’re in danger of becoming played out, as I’ve seen a glut of stories and/or novels dealing with them lately. In fact, I can think of recent examples of nearly all of these that I did quite enjoy. But like I said, they’re all in real danger of becoming completely played out. Anyway, here’s the bad list:

1. Immortality via computerized consciousness transfer

2. Artificial life forms turning on their creators

3. Elves (from authors not named Tolkien)

4. Unicorns (from authors not named Beagle)

5. Undead/afterlife/ghost stories