I want a spaceship. YOU want a spaceship. I'm pretty sure, given the chance, nearly anyone on Earth would want a working, interstellar spaceship all...
Build Your Own Starship
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Musing & Brain Teasers
Half the fun of speculative fiction is the act of speculation: exploring possibilities by asking “what if?”. And while it’s enormously enjoyable to ask those questions and put my answers in my fiction, it’s more enjoyable sharing with others who appreciate a good brain teaser.
So many of these “musings” are not just my opportunity to share my thoughts, but also to give you a chance to discuss yours.
So You Want to Be a Wizard…
I think anyone who's read books or watched movies has, at some point, contemplated being a wizard. Whether it's a simple wish to levitate traffic...
The A, B, Cs of Fantasy
A - Adventure Because a life of stability and hard work just isn't in the cards. B - Battle Something to break up all the walking, riding, and...
Amazon Lists Their 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime
Amazon just made a list of 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime. I went through the list and I had read 23 (I didn't count...
Why Science Fantasy Works
I hear the question come up every once in a while: "Can I write fantasy set in a sci-fi universe?" There seems to be some cognitive dissonance...
Wonder vs. Nostalgia: Two Reasons to Read Fantasy
There are two reasons people read fantasy. No, really. There are dozens of reasons to read, from escapism to information, spiritual growth to...
Frodo versus Bilbo: Who Is the Greatest Hobbit Hero?
Middle Earth has a curious habit of producing heroes from the most unlikely of sources: the Shire. A home for the homebody. Comforting to the...
The Best Fantasy Story Ever… Hasn’t Been Written Yet
What's the best fantasy story ever? The Odyssey? Alice in Wonderland? The Lord of the Rings? A Game of Thrones? Odds are, as good as those are, the...
The Twelve Days of Fantasy
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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...
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,...
If You Could Have Magic
What kind of magic would you want to have, if you could have the magic from a famous novel or series? If you leave the choices too open ended,...
Crazy Fandom
There is something admirable in taking something to its fullest extent, then saying to yourself, "no, that's still not quite far enough." I was...
Writers are Readers Too
It's the retrospective time of year, when we engage in rampant ruing and reminiscing, considering the sum total of the year about to drift away...
What is a Reader?
A reader is a solitary creature by nature. When engaged in their eponymous activity, readers travel via unknown means to another place, time, or...
Fantasy Tropes: Love Them and Hate Them
Fantasy is a genre notorious for its tropes. For better or worse, they are what people who read/watch a lot of fantasy have seen a million times....
The Secret to Stretching Your Entertainment Dollar
The entertainment world is full of options. With enough money, you can indulge in just about any form of leisure imaginable. But what if you don't...