So why are things so nasty?

You know what I mean. From the presidential election down to what stupid little award our geeky niche genre decides to award itself, we cannot seem to have anything like a polite disagreement anymore.  Everyone gets up in arms about everything from who’s using what bathroom, to who’s cast in Read more…

Two random thoughts.

A couple of things to file under, “what the future might look like.” First, what is the most significant thing the Internet has done to political communication, or communication in general? You know the answer, though it wasn’t the answer you just thought of.  Consider the MediaGlyph, and how it Read more…

So, Diversity

Back in the mid-1980s I read the one line that had the most profound impact on my career as a writer.  It was from Vonnegut by way of Gardner Dozois, quoted in his contribution to the book Writing and Selling Science Fiction put out by SFWA in 1977.  (Back when Read more…

The use of clichés

I just ran across this article on Facebook about how to tell if you’re in a high fantasy novel, which is very reminiscent of the Evil Overlord List that’s been around since the inception of the Internet.  It’s worth a read, including the comments which largely continue with the theme.  Read more…