The Pre-Tolkein Challenge

Alexandru Constantine, the barbarian book clubber, has an intriguing idea that should appeal to all fans of fantastic literature. In his words… Identify 3 Fantasy stories written before Lord of the Rings was published. 3 stories written before 1954. Review all three on your blog, focusing on pre-Tolkien differences...

Living in Omelas

Spoilers ahoy!  You’ve been warned.  I was holding out for today, but Emperor Ponders ain’t got no time for people who wait too long to read the good stuff.  His summary of “Law of the Wolves” is note perfect.  He compares it to Dunsany, and he ain’t wrong. His...

It’s Not Too Late

Among the recent crop of short fiction startup magazines, Cirsova holds a special place in my heart.  The editor’s determination to produce old school short fiction – the sort of thing that had become as rare as hen’s teeth in today’s market – inspired me to pick up the...

Life in the Hot Zone

Wildfires broke out all around the Mollison homestead this past weekend.  While working on the last few passages of my latest novel – part of a much larger project you’ll get the full dirt on this August 21st – we could smell the smoke, but didn’t worry.  These things...

Mortu and Kyrus

Walk, don’t run, to your local Amazon store and download Schuyler Hernstrom’s latest work.  Mortu and Kyrus rocks.  It’s as good as anything he’s written, and contains some major twists that make discussions of the book difficult without ruining the surprise.  Which is a shame, because this is a...

This is Not a Game

Yeah, so this came across my transom recently, and it’s not…good.  Not even by D5D standards. There’s a lot to dissect here, a lot of threads to tug on to unravel the knotted misery of this title, but let’s start with the title as a gaming supplement.  Does it...

Sparks Are Going To Fly

Yeah, I backed Jon Del Arroz’s comickal book.  Why haven’t you? Twelve bucks for 66 pages compares favorably with the big boys, but I have a lot more faith in Jon to deliver a solid adventure tale that doesn’t insult me with its ham fisted exposition and ill-considered “action”...

Here’s A Thing

Have you seen this? ​SILVER EMPIRE ANNOUNCES “HEROES UNLEASHED” From vampire romance to supernatural ​horror to religious thrillers, Silver Empire has ​brought ​fresh, talented new voices to the front in genre fiction. Now Silver Empire is moving forward with its latest project, a massive foray into the world of...

Sociable Media

In the wake of high-powered Hollywood millionaires realizing that they are as vulnerable to the isolate and swarm tactics they love to use against their political foes as their political foes are, its worth taking a moment to consider your own social media back trail. Twitter contains all of the...

Capturing Hearts and Minds

One of the aspects of the current culture war that many other people have a touched on, but never drilled deep into is the ongoing cultural Prisoner’s Dilemma faced by productive members of society and the SJW locusts. Over the last few decades, the SJW locusts have made out...