title: In Brief: A Handbook for Writers
author:  Stephen McDonald 
description: 1. Writing the Formal Paper. 2. Special Assignments. 3. Editing Your Papers. 4. ESL Concerns. 5. Writing with Style.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘Astonishing, dazzling – this book _matters’_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Locus_
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘McDonald portrays this macabre future with a whirlwind of imagery and emotion
  that immediately pulls the reader in and won’t
  
  
  let go until the last page’
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Publishers Weekly_
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘Superlative, cutting-edge SF from one of the genre’s best stylists’
  
  
  
  
  
  _Booklist_
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘McDonald’s lush prose paints a vivid and credible Armageddon. World-building
  SF that’s punk, funky, and frightening: a fantastic
  
  
  acid trip to the end of the world’
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Kirkus Reviews_
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘Conveys the strangeness of the future with a thrilling urgency’
  
  
  
  
  
  Paul McAuley
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # [_Also by Ian McDonald from Gollancz:_](part0005.html#toc-ad-card)
  
  
  
  
  
  River of Gods
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Brasyl
  
  
  
  
  
  Cyberabad Days
  
  
  
  
  
  The Dervish House
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # **NECROVILLE**
  
  
  
  
  
  Ian McDonald
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Trisha,  
  For you._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Watson’s Postulate: Never mind turning trash into oil or asteroids into he