I'll post a couple more of these. Now when we left off, Our Hero had decided to think on a particular personal conundrum a bit... ----- Chapter 3. Varan: "And that makes it three for three," I said with some satisfaction. Diorre burst out laughing. "Okay, Sash, I'm well and truly beaten. Couldn't you have let me win just one?" "I might have, if it hadn't been for the 'wussy Navy boy' bit. The pride of the service required I put a Guard in her place." "Very impressive," a clear [ Continue reading... ]
Teaser Chapter: Demons of the Past, Chapter 2
October 20, 2015 By Leave a Comment
I posted the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Demons of the Past a while ago. As I'm in the middle of a crunch period and don't have much time to write other columns of interest (and one I DO want to write will be very long), I'll continue with a couple more sample chapters. Like The Stuff of Legend, Demons of the Past is with my agent Marisa Corvisiero and, hopefully, will get a bite soon. If you haven't read those prior chapters, go take a look before reading this one! ----- Chapter 2. Jearsen: She looked [ Continue reading... ]
Teaser Chapter: The Stuff of Legend, Chapter 1
October 13, 2015 By Leave a Comment
I posted the prologue for Stuff of Legend some time back. Here's Chapter 1 of that superhero novel (based in a possible future of the world of Paradigms Lost); this book's currently with my agent Marisa Corvisiero! ---- Chapter 1. "I think today's session went well, Mr. Thompson," Jennifer Hsui said in her best professional tone. It was important to conclude each appointment on time, but not to make the patient – or client, as some people preferred – feel pressured or cut [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Dragon Age II
September 29, 2015 By 1 Comment
While I had enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins (and its DLC add-ons) immensely (see my prior review), things I had heard about Dragon Age II made me somewhat reluctant to get it; the most weighty of these being that unlike the prior game, Dragon Age II limited you to a single character, not to the several different choices of character (classes of Rogue, Warrior, Mage and species of Elf, Dwarf, and Human, with Dwarves unable to become Mages, and other choices of social class creating multiple combinations of character type, each of which had [ Continue reading... ]
The Craft of Writing: When I Ignore Science
September 22, 2015 By 1 Comment
Writing science fiction – especially hard science fiction, where you're expected to keep to what modern science believes is possible, rather than inventing force fields, lightswords, faster-than-light-drives, or other accoutrements of space opera – is a demanding task. It's not necessarily harder than writing, say, good epic fantasy; they're both equally difficult, in my view, just with different areas of difficulty. It does, however, have external demands that other types of speculative fiction don't really have to worry about. In my "day [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Disney’s Aladdin
September 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment
The Disney Corporation has produced many animated films over the years, ranging from the old classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (wow, not available?) to newer films like The Black Cauldron, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and many others, some very good, some… not so good. One of my favorites of all is Aladdin. The basic plot of this Disney version of the old classic is probably very well known. Street-rat Aladdin (with his sidekick monkey Abu) encounters the runaway princess Jasmine and has a few [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: Superman
September 15, 2015 By 2 Comments
"That man won't quit as long as he can still draw a breath. None of my teammates will. Me? I've got a different problem. I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard, always taking constant care not to break something. To break someone. Never allowing myself to lose control, even for a moment, or someone could die. But you can take it, can't you, big man? What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose, and show you just how powerful I really am!" The Man of Tomorrow. The Last Son of Krypton. The Man of Steel. [ Continue reading... ]
On My Shelves: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
September 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment
"Into every generation, there is a chosen one. One girl in all the world. She alone will wield the strength and skill to stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness; To stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer." Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the biggest media phenomena of its generation, and probably the single largest reason for the explosion in popularity of urban fantasy in the last few decades. While it has many ancestors (including the original movie, which [ Continue reading... ]
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