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

Geek Gab Episode 31: Spectre

Daddy Warpig, Dorrinal, and I return to discuss Spectre, the latest (and final Daniel Craig?) James Bond film. We also speculate about The Force Awakens and lament Hollywood's lack of originality in general. Take a listen!
November 15, 2015
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