Should Discovery Writers Outline?

Fiction writers can be divided into two broad types: architects who draw up thorough plot outlines before they start writing, and gardeners, or discovery writers, who just dive in and play it by ear. Some writers are natural outliners. Others are natural gardeners. A common complaint of the latter is…
May 20, 2021

What Were the 80s Like?

With the final year of the 1980s now thirty-two years in the past, a phenomenon that strikes many members of Generations X and Y as both curious and bittersweet has emerged online. The first Zoomers are now twenty. That means two generations have now reached adulthood with no living memory…
May 20, 2021
RoosterTeeth

Rare as Rooster Teeth

The internet may finally have found that much sought-after rarity: a company that has gone broke from getting woke. Except this legendary beast isn't a unicorn. It's a rooster. It is of no surprise to anyone that Rooster Teeth has had a very rough couple of months and that is…
May 20, 2021

Combat Frame Data: AZC-107R Avispón Asesino

AZC-107R Avispón Asesino      Technical Data Model number: AZC-107R Code name: Refined Dolph Dragonfly Nickname: Avispón Asesino Classification: custom near space/full atmo superiority combat frame Manufacturer: UCAF modification of a Zeklov-Astraea design Operator: UCAF First deployment: CY 97 Crew: 1 pilot in cockpit in chest Height: 19.2 meters Weight: Dry weight 47 metric tons,…
May 20, 2021

Cursed Consoles

Despite their bleeding edge trappings, video games have come into their own as a mature technology. The video game industry is now older than most of the people reading this post. Like theater and movies, video gaming has amassed its own body of insider lore. This secret history runs the…
May 20, 2021

Ringmasters

With the Trump phenomenon gone the way of the Reagan Revolution and the Death Cult's shock troops strangling alternatives in the crib, we've gained enough distance to place the past five years in context. One of the most tragic yet edifying spectacles of the last two presidential elections was the gang…
May 20, 2021
prestige

Illusionist v Wizard, Part 2

"It is more than entertainment," the stage magician Vinovich declares in Lord of Illusions. "We are bringing miracles back into their miserable little lives." Fellow illusionist Robert Angier, villain-protagonist of the aforementioned film's spiritual successor, echoes that declaration in his parting words to archrival Albert Borden. "You never understood why…
May 20, 2021
Illusionist v Wizard, Part 1

Illusionist v Wizard, Part 1

The illusionist who simulates preternatural feats through sleight of hand and the wizard who actually wields powers not intended for man - both loom large in the human imagination. Since one is a deliberate counterfeit of the other, those occasions when illusionists and wizards share the spotlight in one story…
April 19, 20214 Comments
The Other Amazon

The Other Amazon

Original Diablo developer Mark Kern calls out Blizzard's woke revisionism in Diablo II: Resurrected.     Mark is better qualified to take Blizzard to task than most, being a pre-Ground Zero game dev from the days when developers made games for players, not for themselves. Author Adam Lane Smith sums…
April 16, 20215 Comments
Combat Frame Exceeds 10K

Combat Frame Exceeds 10K

It is both gratifying and humbling to announce that the Indiegogo campaign for Combat Frame XSeed: SS has crossed the $10,000 mark. This record-shattering crowdfunder already took the top spot as our highest and fastest-funding campaign in its initial 30-day run. But we went into overtime because I had a…
April 16, 20219 Comments