essay – Schlock Value

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I don’t have a review for you folks today because I was in Nashville all day yesterday (Saturday = reading day) seeing a live show of My Brother, My Brother, and Me. It was 100% fantastic and amazing and I love those good McElroy brothers and their hilarious goofs.

I know that if I’d tried I probably could have gotten a book read in time. I had all week. Plus the car ride to Nashville was three hours each way. Plenty of time to knock out a paperback. I’d even picked one out and started it. I think you’re going to like it. The cover has a naked dude with a whip and it looks like he’s going to hit a planet with it.

But yeah, I didn’t read it all and so instead of a review I’m going to give you a short essay about something I’ve been thinking about. Don’t worry, it’s generally relevant. I’m not going to just go off on my favorite Halloween candy or something.

(Candy pumpkins.)

All right, let’s get ready to ramblllllle

Continue reading “Essay: Writing About Pals” →

Hi folks! This week I’m trying a little something new. For a variety of reasons—chief among them my own lack of motivation—I chose not to read and review a book this week but instead to look back across the books I have read and see what lessons I can pull out about the craft of writing science fiction. Is this a good idea? Perhaps we’ll never know. Or perhaps we can choose to know.

Fun fact, this essay was originally going to be about Penetrator novels but I was having a really hard time finding a way to make that work. It wasn’t until late last night as I lay in bed reading Viktor Frankl that the idea of writing something about character agency hit me.

“Why were you in bed reading Man’s Search for Meaning instead of Assignment: Nuclear Nude, Thomas?”

That question might well answer itself.

Continue reading “On Science Fiction Characters Who Are Not Robots” →