Reviewing the Breakout Novel: Monster Hunter International

Reviewing the Breakout Novel: Monster Hunter International

At a recent party with several bibliophiles, I overheard a buddy of mine talking about how much he loved Larry Correia's books. Another guy chimed in with something like, "Larry's stuff is OK if you like books where every chapter ends with an explosion, but it gets tedious after a…
November 13, 2015
Not Seeing the Forest for the Dead Trees: Amazon Numbers Show Readers Going Indie

Not Seeing the Forest for the Dead Trees: Amazon Numbers Show Readers Going Indie

Back in September, The New York Times reported that eBook sales have "slowed sharply". Now, there are signs that some e-book adopters are returning to print, or becoming hybrid readers, who juggle devices and paper. E-book sales fell by 10 percent in the first five months of this year, according to the…
November 11, 2015
Movie Review: James Bond 007: Spectre

Movie Review: James Bond 007: Spectre

SPOILER ALERT: This is a full review with spoilers. Proceed at your own risk if you haven't seen the movie yet. Over the weekend, I saw Spectre, the twenty-fourth film in Eon Production's James Bond series. First, some background. In my opinion, Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond has been a mixed…
November 10, 20152 Comments
How I Got Here: A Writer’s Journey

How I Got Here: A Writer’s Journey

Photo by Neil Jones I'm a professional writer. Some of my work is self-published; most of it has been published by other people. A common misconception about writers is that our work is our brand. That's only partly true. The one indispensable element of a writer's brand is himself. Audiences…
November 9, 20152 Comments

Geek Gab Episode 30

Daddy Warpig, Dorrinal, and I are back for another intense episode of Geek Gab! We ran into some scheduling snags this week, but we managed to get our respective acts together and pull it off, because our fans are worth making the time for. On this episode, we do what…
November 8, 2015
Souldancer Chapter 1

Souldancer Chapter 1

From the Amazon reviews for Nethereal: "I look forward to the next book, and will buy it on kindle when it comes out." "The story of Nethereal is a bold and memorable first step into the Soul Cycle series, and I will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment." "After much…
November 6, 2015
Star Trek Is Not a Post-Scarcity Economy

Star Trek Is Not a Post-Scarcity Economy

Robert P. Murphy points out that, not only does the post-scarcity economy portrayed in Star Trek not make sense, it's not really even post-scarcity. In reply to Brad DeLong, an economist on the Trekonomics panel at the New York City Comic Con, Murphy writes: In reality, DeLong is wrong to think…
November 5, 20154 Comments
The Self-Publishing Beatitudes

The Self-Publishing Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are eight benchmarks given by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount that describe the perfection of Christian life. Not only are they points of reference for building virtue, they're also interrelated to build on each other. Here are eight mental habits that I've found useful in my…
November 3, 20152 Comments
Fisking Wired

Fisking Wired

Entertainment Weekly Wired ran a hit piece against Sad Puppies on Friday. The author is an ostensibly accomplished writer whose journalistic neglect and aversion to contrary evidence nonetheless compel me to refer to her as "hack". Jobs like this don't normally fall to me, but the regular guy is out of town…
November 2, 2015