Arguing with Alexa
I don't know exactly when the future got here; probably around the time smartphones became ubiquitous—definitely after widespread internet became normal. But if you want proof positive that we are now living in the active era of science fiction, look no farther than...
Poll: Long-term fate of humanity
Today, I want to gaze into a quantum crystal ball and predict possible futures for mankind, all of which remain possible until the probability wave collapses into out reality. I'm not talking about next week, next month, next year, or even next century (I hope). This...
Deep Space Mine
When Matt Larkin and I were first brainstorming ideas for Black Ocean: Astral Prime, one of our first sticking points was what to call the series. I don't recall the various interim titles tossed around during that debate, but I do remember my first suggestion: Deep...
An idea that conquered itself
Not sure what my Author Scrapheap is? I introduce the idea on the Author Scrapheap archive page. Idea: A Conqueror's Tale (2 Books) Premise: Both books tell essentially the same story, from opposite sides. A war of conquest where an upstart overthrows a series of...
Race for the Galaxy: the game I’ll never get sick of
I play a lot of board games. I love sci-fi. Where the two of these passions best overlap is a board game called Race for the Galaxy. This is my favorite game. It's not hard to play, with simple buying and phase choice mechanics. It's quick to set up, doesn't take up a...
(Virtually) home for the holidays
As we spend more and more of our time indoors (those of us not deemed "essential", anyway), we're seeing an uptick in what was once solely the domain of sci-fi: video conferencing. Whether we're talking about the main viewscreen on the Enterprise (pick your model...
Year 7 of My 5-10 Year Overnight Success Plan
Welcome back, everyone, to my now-annual tradition of updating my blog. For those of you who don’t know, Jan 31, 2020 marks the 7th bookiversary of Firehurler, my first published novel. It also marks the end of Year 7 of my 5-10 Year Overnight Success Plan. My theory...
Fighting for Freedom
With Independence Day behind us in the USA, it's a good time to talk about rebellions and revolutions in fiction. Sci-fi and fantasy are rife with stories of the oppressed rising up and fighting back. Though in fairness, not a lot of them delve much into the aftermath...
Fantastic Fathers
Back around Mother's Day, I made a list of the best mothers in sci-fi and fantasy. Fair's fair, so now we're having a look at the top fictional fathers out there. It's interesting. Whereas mother figures are often absent entirely, fathers are more commonly stern,...
RPGs: the Fantasy Author’s Gateway Drug to Writing
This past weekend, I got together with the same group of guys I've been gaming with since the mid-'90s for some tabletop D&D action. Even though we're all married (the last bachelor joined us married guys last fall) and many of my friends have kids, we sometimes...