First Principles

First Principles

Photo by Andrew Dunn Civilized society is governed by time-tested principles. Refined over years; sometimes centuries, by trial and error, these rules have laid the foundations of luminous lives, legendary careers, and vast empires. One such venerable convention applied to rules themselves is that the most important rule comes first.…
November 17, 2015
Sad Puppies, SJWs, and Ethics

Sad Puppies, SJWs, and Ethics

The SJW cult had been going from strength to strength in recent years. From academia to the hard sciences; from SFF publishing to comics, their dominance seemed total--and not about to wane anytime soon. But like the tyrannical governor whose tightly squeezed subjects increasingly slip through his fingers, the dominant…
November 17, 20151 Comment

Counterintelligence for Social Media

Reader Bradford C. Walker passes along a wealth of timely and important information about how organized groups manipulate social media and its users. This link from Cryptome came across my Twitter feed late last night, and when I looked at it I knew that this post was to come.  I…
October 30, 20152 Comments
Book Review: SJWs Always Lie

Book Review: SJWs Always Lie

Evil has a habit of taking good words and inverting their meanings. Consider that many now use "freedom" to describe slavery to base appetites and say "love" when they really mean "fleeting infatuation that ends when physical attraction fades". One of the latest terms to be hijacked is "social justice".…
October 27, 20152 Comments

Superversary

Today marks the first anniversary of the superversive literary movement--where writers who are tired of establishment sci-fi's obsession with repeatedly burning the motherhood statement in effigy strive to raise SF from the ashes. The redoubtable Mr. Tom Simon declares the purpose of superversive science fiction: The subversives have pulled down…
October 2, 2015
The Power of Symbols

The Power of Symbols

Storytellers have always used symbols. Even the most ancient texts contain rich symbolism. So do tales predating the written word by millennia. At first it seems counterproductive to wrap ideas in layers of metaphor. What's easier: saying, "Being too single-minded can land you in trouble," or writing a 635 page book about a guy chasing a…
September 29, 2015
Middle Earth 90210: How Tolkien and Howard’s Successors Blew Their Inheritance

Middle Earth 90210: How Tolkien and Howard’s Successors Blew Their Inheritance

As this blog's subtitle implies, I write speculative fiction. So far my works include hard SF, mil-SF, weird fiction, SF/horror, and space opera. Perhaps you noticed the absence of fantasy from that list. The omission seems even stranger when you consider that I'm an incorrigible Tolkien fan. The Hobbit, The…
September 23, 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

Do Self-Published Authors Bear a Stigma?

I came across this article by indie author Liz Long wherein she laments the stigma attached to self-published writers. My local media (newspaper, TV, radio) won’t review my books because they don’t have a Big 5 publisher name attached. My own alma mater, Longwood University, told me they won’t feature…
August 14, 2015
Millennials Don’t Live in America

Millennials Don’t Live in America

We talk about generations as if they're clearly defined categories, but in reality the gaps between generational cohorts are pretty ambiguous. Because I straddle the line between Generation X and the Millennial Generation, and my parents are Baby Boomers, my perspective on current intergenerational conflicts is as close to objective…
August 11, 2015