When Did Humans Start Breeding Mules?
The “humble” mule is living technology. An intentional hybrid between two related species that, ideally, gets the best traits of both. Mules tend to be...
Is it real life or...
Review: It’s Real Life by Paul Levinson This is an expansion of a short story. Here’s where I confess one of the ways in which I’m a bad Brit. I’m not a huge...
Welcome to 2025
Book four is out! Ebook and paperback, and I will hopefully have copies for Farpoint. Book five is finished. I just handed the blurb over to my cover artist...
Witchy Stuff!
Doctor Who: Joy to the World “And even in your world, that is not what a star is, only what it is made of” – Aslan, the Dawn Treader. The Christmas special...
“Ritual Purposes” – How We Misunderstand the Technology of the Past
My degree is in archaeology. It’s remarkably useful for a science fiction writer, because at its heart is the intersection between culture and technology and...
A Selection of Strangeness
Review: The Catalyst by Nat Bickel I’d call this paranormal romance, but the fantasy elements are honestly pretty light. It mostly reads like a contemporary...
Happy New Year
My standard New Year’s blessing is this: May 2025 be better in all ways than 2024. I know quite a few people for whom that is a sadly low bar. Seems that...
What Have You Done, Wanda?
WandaVision 1.7 “Breaking the Fourth Wall” Or rather, the wall around the Hex. Hello, Photon. I’ve been waiting to meet you. Hello, Agatha. I was wondering...
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...
Seeking America's Hidden Treasures
I love to travel. I’ve traveled to a number of National Parks, but here’s the thing? Everyone goes to National Parks. People have lists of them. People try...
Weird, Experimental...
Review: Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov Barsukov is an excellent writer, but I didn’t need this book. Why? His award-nominated novella...
I'm Not Here
This post is being queued because I’m attending my aunt’s wedding. In fact, this post will probably go out while we’re partying. Philcon is next week! I will...
An Old School Christmas Special...
X-Men 4.10 “One Man’s Worth” I’m still not a big fan of Great Man Theory…no matter who you apply it to. It’s not as bad in fiction. This episode is better...
Peddling Hope at the End of the World
I’ve had a few things said to me on social media that stick with me. Some of them are particularly entertaining insults. One such is the person who said...
Cute Dragons and...Conquistadors?
Review: Dragon Magic by Charles Townsend Charles Townsend is a stage magician and loves writing books in which stage magicians save the day. Dragon Magic is...
Heading Out Yet Again...
Be as resilient as these trees. I leave for the UK for my aunt’s wedding late on Tuesday. I’ll be back late the following Tuesday…then leave for Philcon on...
Time Travel is Fun
X-Men 3.15 “The Dark Phoenix, Part II: Inner Circle” The Circle Club? I get it, “Hellfire” is a more adult term. Wyngarde thinks he has Phoenix under...
The Center of America...
…a portajohn. It’s election day, and I’m going to try and post this early. I’m the tiniest fish in the pond, but everyone who knows me knows that I eschew...
Ukrainian SF and...Roma Eterna?
Two very different books this week. Don’t forget to vote! Review: The Factory by Ihor Mystak I don’t often review books by deceased authors. I prefer to...
Happy Halloween
A day late, I know. How about “Happy Discount Candy Day?” For once, the supermarket here didn’t actually dumpster all of the candy on November 1, although...
The Phoenix is Here
X-Men 3.3 “The Phoenix Saga Part 1 – Sacrifice” Honestly, there’s a part of me that’s done with the Phoenix Saga, but I’ve never watched this version, so I’m...
America's Misunderstood Serpents
Content warning: This post contains discussion of, and images, of snakes. If you are phobic, you might want to skip this one. (If you love snakes, let me...
Jim Crow Horror, Social Space Opera, and What Genre is That Anyway?
Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due CW: Child abuse, child death First warning: This book is a tome. It weighs in at 570 pages. Second warning: This is...
Snakes?
I don’t have my pictures from southern Illinois (with a side trip into Missouri) sorted yet, but I’m going to say this. People are sleeping on southern...
Surprise, You're Renewed
X-Men 2.10 “Beauty and the Beast” If there’s one romance trope in fiction I hate the most it’s the hero who breaks up with their partner because “it’s not...
18 Storey Indigenous High Rises – the Myth of the Noble Savage
Land back? It’s the latest controversy…restoring indigenous sovereignty over parts of this country. It’s also happening in Canada, and what inspired this...
Can You Have A Planetary Romance Set on Earth?
Assuming no icky flight issues, I’ll be back late tomorrow. Review: Loka by S.B. Divya I envy this book…I almost did something similar then changed...
Okay, So...
Okay, so I wrote this on the 11th. Any news I have will come out when I get back, so have a gate to…somewhere. I actually really like this gate. Our trip...
Time Travel...and Abuse
Another short one. I’m somewhere in Illinois and not watching TV, sorry ;). X-Men 2.8 “Time Fugitives” This episode is weird because it’s 2.7 repeated....
Did Ya Fall Down th’Hole? Musings on the Miners’ Strike and the End of the Coal Era
Earlier this week the last coal-fired power plant in the U.K. shuttered for good. Coal is no longer used as a significant source of fuel in a country that...
Schoolgirl Outfits?
This is a queued post and it’s just one review because I had to split the two I have between this Monday and next Monday. Review: Locust Magic by Laurence...