Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

My SF education reached an important milestone this week when I finished reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Published 25 years ago to great acclaim, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hyperion has had a long enough shelf life to obviate a formal spoiler warning. But this review won't shy away from…
September 2, 2015
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Strength in Weakness

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Strength in Weakness

Today marks the release of the latest installment in Konami's hit tactical espionage series, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Since few games are more renowned for their deep, cinematic story lines than designer Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear titles, I thought I'd celebrate the occasion by examining how MGS5 reaches narrative heights…
September 1, 2015
Farewell Wes Craven: The Death of a Reluctant Horror Icon

Farewell Wes Craven: The Death of a Reluctant Horror Icon

"I think what, really, horror films deal with is vulnerability and inattention," director Wes Craven said in a 1996 interview promoting his meta-horror opus Scream. "They show you the penalty of...not admitting to what's really out there." Craven succumbed to cancer on Sunday in Los Angeles. Having been raised by…
August 31, 20151 Comment
Superversive SF Post-Hugo Livestream

Superversive SF Post-Hugo Livestream

Earlier today I joined Hugo nominees John C. Wright, Arlan Adrews, and Jason Rennie; plus Sad Puppies 4 organizer Kate Paulk, GamerGate morale officer Daddy Warpig, and the usual Superversive SF crew for a post-awards Livestream. Who really won the Hugo Awards? Who made the asterisk, and what does it mean? Did #GG rig the nominations? Will…
August 30, 2015
How to Format a Short Story Manuscript

How to Format a Short Story Manuscript

When I first started out writing and submitting short stories, I spent a lot of time and effort learning how to format my manuscripts. Here are all of the short story formatting guidelines I use, conveniently collected in one place. Cover Page The margins should be one inch all around…
August 28, 20151 Comment
The World of Smog: On Her Majesty’s Service

The World of Smog: On Her Majesty’s Service

Tonight I had the pleasure of playing The World of Smog: On Her Majesty's Service, a Victorian-themed board game with strong steam punk elements. Besides the game play, which I'll get to in a moment, I'm pleased to support World of Smog because of its origins as a fan-funded Kickstarter campaign.…
August 27, 2015

I’m Boycotting Tor Books

I've had misgivings about Peter Grant's boycott of Tor Books. To be sure, I was sympathetic toward the targets of Tor Art Director Irene Gallo's libel against thousands of SF fans and at least three of her own publishing house's writers. But I abstained from boycotting Tor because of the…
August 25, 20152 Comments
Trad Publishing Has Forever Beclowned the Hugos

Trad Publishing Has Forever Beclowned the Hugos

This past Saturday in Spokane, the 2015 Hugo Awards were presented to the authors of the finest sci-fi and fantasy tales of the year, based solely on the merits of their work. OK. Sorry. Keyboard-shaking spasms of laughter are making it impossible to keep up the pretense. I'll start again.…
August 24, 2015
Slaying the Amazon Monopoly Zombie Meme

Slaying the Amazon Monopoly Zombie Meme

Author Joe Konrath wants your help in the fight against publishing industry zombie memes--misinformation that keeps rearing its ugly head no matter how many times you bash it with a crowbar. First on Joe and his brother in arms Barry Eisler's hit list: the "Amazon is a monopoly" zombie meme.…
August 21, 2015

Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft and Larry Correia

Today should be a global holiday for horror geeks. For on this day, the stars aligned not once, but twice, to gift the world with authors of singular vision whose work defined and popularized their genres. I speak, of H.P. Lovecraft, Prince of Weird Horror, and Larry Correia, International Lord…
August 20, 2015