When a Color Gene is a Defect
The latest news on the animal genetics front is that we have found the gene that makes orange cats orange. It’s a deletion mutation (and they all have the...
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzaa. Happy Hanukkah. Blessed Yule. You get the picture. Every society that has to deal with winter has some kind of midwinter...
Just Who Is Piotr, Really?
WandaVision 1.4 “We Interrupt This Program” This episode takes place almost entirely outside poor Wanda’s fantasy world. As I suspected, Geraldine is Monica...
“Neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire” – the Holy Roman Empire and the Idea of Elected Royalty
This one is for you Medieval-ish fantasy types. I was thinking earlier today about elected kings. An elective monarchy is often seen as a contradiction in...
Let's Go Fantasy
Review: Shadows of the Sorcerers by Joan Marie Verba This is in the same series as Secrets of the Sorcerers, which I read in the past. It’s a pretty standard...
Sorry, Not the target Audience
Review: The Working by BrightFlame I’m going to be honest. Religious fiction seldom does it for me, regardless of the religion, and The Working is very...
Smashwords Sale!
The Smashwords End-of-Year Sale is on. I have all of my books set to a 50% discount if you want a DRM-free .epub that you can update if the text changes....
All Superhero Channel
Superman & Lois 4.6 “When The Lights Come On” Okay, Lex, that’s at least a three stress flashback (sorry, Blades in the Dark reference, not sorry). When did...
Queer Visions: What is a Queernorm World?
If you read my reviews you might stumble across the phrase “queernorm world.” If you aren’t caught up on queer SF/F, you might not know quite what that...
Is This MilSF or Portal Fantasy?
Just one this week. Review: The Runes of Engagement by Tobias S. Buckell and David Klecha So, this is military portal fantasy clearly written by D&D people....
Winter is Kind of Here
Well, yes and no. It’s not snowing. They did promise us snow showers, but I didn’t see so much as a flurry. On the other hand, I did have to get out my hat...
X-Men Go Dark
X-Men 5.7 “Old Soldiers” This episode punches Nazis. Actual Nazis. It’s a flashback to a mission Logan went on with Captain America during World War II, and...
A Little Bit Wicked
A “Wicked” Moment No, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I have tickets. What I did have the privilege to watch was the stage play on the West End. Wicked has...
A Fun SF Thriller
Reviews: Absent Stars by Christopher Charlton and Disavowed by John E. Stith
Happy Thanksgiving
Thankful for life, health, and ponies. Don’t forget when Small Business Saturday shows up that most authors are small businesses! Buy a book. Ideally from...
Lifemate, Warlock, Really?
X-Men 5.1 “The Phalanx Covenant Part 1” I’d forgotten what Phalanx (and Warlock) look like. Let’s not get assimilated here. By the end of part one it’s...
Consent and Reader Buy-In
What’s your least favorite trope?Mine is “All a dream.” (And its variants “All a psychotic delusion,” “All a VR simulation”) When I was eleven years old, a...
I Want a Flying Saucer
Review: Parallax: Origin by Matt Conant and Lauren Cipollo Humanity has spread out to the stars. Finding only empty worlds with no complex life forms, they...
At Philcon
By the time you read this I’ll be at Philcon. A reminder of my schedule: Friday, 6pm - Climate Change Fiction vs Climate Change Reality Saturday, 11am -...
Don't Double Cross Magneto
X-Men 4.18 “Beyond Good And Evil Part 1” Uh oh. Pockylips has his hands on a time machine. And is lending it to Sinister. All kinds of bad things are bound...