The Secret Kings A – B Cover Test Round 1

The Secret Kings A – B Cover Test Round 1

The time has come to vote on which concept sketch will be finalized into the official cover for my third Soul Cycle book, The Secret Kings. My superlative cover artist Marcelo Orsi Blanco has provided three cover sketches for our delight and contemplation. The first two are presented below, and…
November 10, 20167 Comments
Series Ruined by Breakout Characters

Series Ruined by Breakout Characters

Even a writer's strongest, purest vision can be undone if his own characters have other ideas. Sometimes a secondary character can emerge from the background and steal the spotlight from the rest of the cast. These breakout characters are often benign, but greedy network and studio involvement can create a…
November 8, 20169 Comments
Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, came out Friday. To be honest, I didn't originally intend to see it. I never followed the character's own comic book series. In fact, my only exposure to Stephen Strange has been in Marvel crossovers where he always shows up…
November 7, 20162 Comments
Stories within Stories

Stories within Stories

People tell stories to entertain, inform, and advise others. As fictional representations of people, it only makes sense that characters in stories often tell stories themselves. Nested stories The nested story--or story within a story--is one of my favorite literary devices. If you make a mental list of your favorite…
November 1, 20162 Comments
Geek Gab Halloween Special Plus Updates

Geek Gab Halloween Special Plus Updates

After a brief hiatus, Geek Gab returns with an all-new, very special Halloween episode! Daddy Warpig delivers an epic rant on how The Walking Dead has lost its sense of drama along with the plot. Then I delve into the movie vault to review a classic film from the Bronze Age…
October 31, 2016

The Designer Guide to Secondary World Religions

Ragnarok Publications has been gracious enough to host an article that I wrote on designing fictional religions on their blog. How do you avoid clichés like Crystal Dragon Jesus, the Evil Church of Evil, and smarmy secularist characters who know the Bible better than lifelong churchgoers? You build from the…
October 28, 201613 Comments

The Secret Kings, Soul Cycle Book III and Call for Beta Readers

Attention, fans of Niemeierian fiction: The first draft of The Secret Kings, Soul Cycle Book III is now complete at 125,000 words! You can check out a preview of SK here. Note that the preview poses a moderate spoiler risk if you haven't read Nethereal. Having draft one of the…
October 24, 20166 Comments
Infogalactic, Planetary

Infogalactic, Planetary

Infogalactic, the major fork of Wikipedia which, unlike its predecessor, is dedicated to cultivating objective fact instead of suppressing it, had my support from day one. Writing professional grade SFF takes more and broader research than you might expect, and it's become readily apparent to anyone with a shred of…
October 18, 20164 Comments
Twitter and New Novel Update

Twitter and New Novel Update

Wrestling Twitter Regular readers will know that I've been having problems with Twitter since the beginning of August, culminating in what is playfully called a shadowban. Based on reports from my followers, what the shadowban has done is secretly force their accounts to treat mine as if they've blocked it.…
October 17, 2016