This week in Sci-Fi Time Capsule, The Fifth Element. I've seen this particular movie more than most (probably even more than its fair share). It...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: The Fifth Element
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J.S. Morin
What is November?
November is the 11th month of the Julian and Gregorian calendars (or the ninth if you want to use the Roman one). It is the home of Election Day,...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: Quantum Leap “M.I.A.”
This week in Sci-Fi Time Capsule, a poignant episode of Quantum Leap: "M.I.A," from the Season 2 finale (Episode 20). A lot of Sam Beckett's...
What Makes a Starship Lovable?
The names make you nostalgic. The sight of one stirs dreams of adventure and excitement. Hearing someone talk about them makes you wish you could be...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: Firefly “Jaynestown”
This week in Sci-Fi Time Capsule, one of my favorite episodes of Firefly: "Jaynestown." How do you choose just one episode from a series filled with...
Who Would Win a Fight Between …
One of the hallmarks of obsessive fandom is the crossover combat "what if" scenario, pitting two iconic characters from different universes against...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: Galaxy Quest
This week in Sci-Fi Time Capsule, we are watching Galaxy Quest. This is a comedy sci-fi parody, with Star Trek (mainly the original series) firmly...
5 Questions for Building Futuristic Societies
A lot of speculative fiction takes place in a futuristic setting. This brings up the issue of needing to create futuristic societies. There is no...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: Star Trek TNG “Cause and Effect”
This week in Sci-Fi Time Capsule, one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation: "Cause and Effect," from Season 5, Episode 18. It...
Ask an Author: 3 Steps for Marketing Your First Book
The subject of marketing your first book came up again recently, and for some reason people are looking for my opinion on it. Wait ... I've...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: X-Files “DØd Kalm”
This week in Sci-Fi Time Capsule, we look back at an episode of X-Files that plays on a number of key tropes for the series. There will be spoilers,...
Worldbuilding With Ships
An imagined world will only feel as large as you make it appear. By focusing on a limited part of the world, you make a world feel small and...
Sci-Fi Time Capsule: Star Trek TOS “Arena”
This is the star of a new feature, Sci-Fi Time Capsule, a look back at a classic sci-fi episode. There will be spoilers, to say the least, but I...
Writing About Monsters: 3 Creatures for Your World
Speculative fiction is a stretching of the world into new shapes, an expansion of ideas to their logical (or illogical) conclusions. One of the many...
Coincidences in Storytelling
One of the complaints about fiction is that so many times a plot is predicated on a number of coincidences. If things X, Y, and Z don't all happen...
New Series, New Workflow: Scrivener Ahoy!
I've wanted to try Scrivener for ages, but I've been writing a long-running series. It felt like a bad idea to make a major change to my workflow...
Manuscript Complete! Next Project
Tinker's Justice Well, I've just wrapped up the manuscript for Tinker's Justice, the final book in the Mad Tinker Chronicles. It still needs all the...
Amazon Pre-Orders for Self-Published Authors
Late last week I got the following email from Amazon: Hello, We're excited to announce that you can now make your new books available for pre-order...
Book Readers’ Ponzi Scheme
There's always someone telling you about a book they read, how great it is, and how you should read it too. Have you ever stopped to consider how...
If Book Releases Were Like Software Releases
The software industry is a strange animal. Most software isn't considered done when it gets released; people expect there to be changes,...
Never Made it Out of the Shire (Pacing in Fantasy)
The Lord of the Rings is a seminal work of fantasy, but if it suffers from a fault, that fault would be pacing. For those who have read it, how long...
Ask an Author: I published my book on Amazon. Now what?
Well, for starters, the question you should have asked is "I'm going to be publishing my book in the next few months, what do I need to do to be...
What Being an Author Means to Me
Watching a show the other day, there was a character who had been told she had six months to live. Where was she? At work in a nice tidy office job....
Why Reviews Matter
Amazon is big. Really big. It's a Walmart the size of Rhode Island, with a flea market out back the size of Texas. You're welcome to set up a table...