Q I.D.?

Q I.D.?

QAnon skeptics may very well be eating crow thanks to new revelations unearthed on the chans that convincingly link early Q posts to a former Department of Energy official. The IP address where Bowldidge's tweet originated matches one from poasts allegedly made by Q on 13 March & 8 April…
April 1, 20204 Comments
How Does Your Magic Work?

How Does Your Magic Work?

A loyal reader writes: Slowly developing world, characters, etc., but in Reddit's /r/worldbuilding, someone came up with this prompt: How does your magic work? https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/c6csar/how_does_your_magic_work/ I (/u/Alkalannar) make the comment that goes with your old-school Actual Magic definition from How to Design Magic Systems. It has twice the number of…
June 28, 201930 Comments
Tolkien Bashing’s Back on the Menu

Tolkien Bashing’s Back on the Menu

Alex over at Amatopia reports on the latest round of Tolkien bashing instigated by the grandfather of fantasy's soyfed, unjustifiably smug inferiors. Everything that is good, true, noble, and beautiful must be destroyed. The recent denunciation of the legend J.R.R. Tolkien and his masterwork The Lord of the Rings is…
November 29, 201815 Comments
Three Big Questions

Three Big Questions

Author, editor, and publisher Jeff Duntemann poses the three questions that authors of speculative fiction must ask when designing magic systems. There are three Big Questions you need to ask yourself as you take on a task of designing a magical system: What is the source of magical power? Where…
May 21, 20185 Comments
The Hymn of the Pearl Is Here!

The Hymn of the Pearl Is Here!

It's my sincere pleasure to announce the launch of my first standalone novella, The Hymn of the Pearl. Campbell Award finalist and Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier reveals a haunting new world of high fantasy in his first standalone novella The Hymn of the Pearl. Vestiges of the Saronican Empire…
July 1, 20178 Comments
Tradpub Fantasy’s PC Fetish

Tradpub Fantasy’s PC Fetish

Today's post finds Media Diversified lamenting that Western authors harm Eastern peoples by writing about Eastern settings. In 2012 a roundtable at the World SF blog focusing on non-Western cultures in speculative fiction asked the following question: What are the problematics of some Western writers tackling non-Western settings for their…
February 10, 201713 Comments