http://www.asimovs.com/discus/messages/2/997.html?1059675803 I came across an interesting (if unsettling) thread that claims to have the formula for becoming the latest Hot New Writer sci-fi author. They didn't add Orson Scott Card to this list, but his story would be the same. Unless I'm missing a body of short fiction that I'm unaware of, didn't SKZB jump pretty much straight into novels with J? If so, he would seem to have become the Hot New Writer early-on just on the basis of his novels. Has he commented before on how he got that first sale? Is this already addressed somewhere in an archive? Regards, johne (phy) cook blog: http://breezeway.blogspot.com forum: http://forum.instagiber.com/index.php?h=1&pf=268 stormfort list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stormfort/ _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail