One thing I’ve noticed reading fantasy fiction is the notion of stability: that people or nations stay more or less locked for centuries, if not millennia. This is, of course, […]
Read moreLatest Posts
Worldbuilding: Laws, Rights and the Wheels of Justice
Yesterday, I was summoned for jury duty. This meant I arrived as required, along with twenty-three other people, sat around for a bit, and then had a clerk, a judge […]
Read moreArmadilloCon Writers Workshop 2014
ArmadilloCon is now three months away, so I figured it was high time to turn up the signal on this year’s workshop. If you are a genre writer looking to […]
Read moreWorldbuilding: Culture and Rituals of Class Difference
A few months ago I witnessed something that is an uncommon occurrence in the States. I was waiting in our favorite local Thai restaurant for our take-out order to be […]
Read moreWorldbuilding: The Broad Strokes and the Fine Details
I’ve made little secret of the fact that I’m a worldbuilding completist, though even I have a limit of what “completist”would actually mean. For example, in my Banshee setting, […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Knowing When to Deviate from the Outline
So, earlier this week, the long running series How I Met Your Mother had its final episode. And, despite some excellent moments in there, its ending left me cold, and […]
Read moreThat Was 40: A Pretty Good Trip Around the Sun
So, today is my 41st birthday. And in the end, 40 was a pretty good year. A quick recap: “Jump the Black” was published in Rayguns Over Texas. With the […]
Read moreWorldbuilding: Integrating the Top Down and the Bottom Up
I’ll fully admit, the worldbuilding work I’ve done for the Banshee space-opera verse has was done in a strange way. Namely, I did a combination of top-down and bottom-up building. […]
Read moreInjuries, Accidents and Healing
As far as injuries a writer can get, several metatarsal microfractures is far from the worst. It’s frustrating, and it’s slowing me down in general, but I can, at least, […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Ego in Check
Many years ago, I worked for the English department at the University of Texas at the main office front desk. This meant I also answered the main phone line for […]
Read more