Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here’s a short top-ten list I wrote for Return of the Sword‘s virtual book tour–a project I somehow lost track of as April got weirder and more intense. So this may have appeared elsewhere in the blogosphere recently, but I … Continue reading →

Paul Krugman shows his genre street cred with shout outs to Charles Stross and other writers of sf where the science is that dismal one. I think he’s right about Beyond This Horizon, too–not one of RAH’s greatest hits. An … Continue reading →

bg_editor had a great post recently, which provoked a fascinating comment thread, about Universe R, a parallel timeline where certain works that didn’t survive in our world remain intact, and where works that didn’t get made in our world (but … Continue reading →

nihilistic_kid has a post on writing fantasy, distinguishing it from some thing(s) he calls “fantatwee.” By this he means “second order fantasy” or fantasy which derives from other people’s fantasies. He links to a story by Theodora Goss here, and … Continue reading →

Remember the old G.B. Shaw gag that ghoti is an alternate spelling of fish? Apparently it’s not Shaw’s at all, but comes out of the “reformed spelling” movement of the 19th C. Language Log has the details, including yet more … Continue reading →

As a big Leigh Brackett fan I’ve naturally been snapping up the Haffner omnibuses that promise to collect all the “planetary romances” (i.e. space operas, not kissing-in-space, although there is some of that) by the greatest practitioner of that form. … Continue reading →

Someone at APoD has a Leigh Brackett-like sensibility. (Higher praise it would be difficult to bestow.) The title of yesterday’s picture was “Doomed Moon of Mars”–which sounds like something from the ToC of Planet Stories circa 1948.

A recent entry in peadarog‘s blog has got me thinking about realism and grit in fantasy. My favorite definition of sword-and-sorcery is Joseph McCullough’s: “Fantasy with dirt.” In high fantasy, Aragorn grapples with Sauron over the rule of Middle Earth. … Continue reading →

Today I am host to the blog tour supporting The Return of the Sword from Flashing Swords Press (also available from Amazon). Modesty forbids me from telling you what a great book it is, since I’m in it, but it … Continue reading →

It seems the efficiency of the US private health care system leads us to spend more on health care than comparable nations. Victory is ours again! (From the US Dept. of Health and Humans Services, seen at Paul Krugman’s blog.)