Hollywood in Crisis

Even in the information age, industries whose true workings are obscured by layers of glamorized PR abound. Whenever insiders pull back the curtain to offer a glimpse at how the sausage is made, their stories rarely fail to intrigue me. One of the most highly romanticized and poorly understood industries…
November 26, 2015

No Going Back

Reader JD Cowan left a thoughtful and prophetic reply to yesterday's post on Hollywood remakes that I thought deserved a more extensive reply than I could give in the comments. Here's JD: This must be why only Pixar and Marvel get my movie dollars these days with the occasional Nolan…
November 19, 2015
Hollywood Is Just a Remake Machine

Hollywood Is Just a Remake Machine

Hollywood is out of ideas. In fact, the studios' original thought well ran dry so long ago that pointing out their creative bankruptcy would be a cliche if not for the massive doses of cynicism and intersectional identity politics they've injected into their tedious remakes. Here are just a few…
November 18, 20152 Comments
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