A Line of Ink

Short Review Time: Solo and Cobra Kai

In the last few weeks, I caught Solo in the movie theaters and just churned through the YouTube Red series, Cobra Kai. I'll be covering my impressions on each of these properties, both of which are follow ups to existing movies. There's a marked difference, in my opinion, on how I received the nostalgic elements of each. I've attempted to stay spoiler-free, but I'm a bad judge of what constitutes a spoiler to some folks, so please don't call the spoiler police on me because I didn't mean to do it. . . honest! Solo: A Star Wars Story Solo is a prequel (no, not that type of prequel) to Star Wars (aka, A New Hope or Star Wars 4), set in the time period between A New Hope and the last of "yes, those prequels" Confusing? Yes, it can be difficult to explain the chronology of the ongoing Star Wars movies to...

June 4, 2018

Films

After the 2018 Nebulas

Well, here I am, writing about the 2018 Nebula Conference past the grace period for such things. I suppose I can only hope no one will view my lateness uncharitably. This was my second time visiting the Nebulas Conference, and the first time speaking on a panel about "The Risks and Rewards of Writing #OwnVoices" before many of my peers. This year, SFWA was able to book Martin P. Robinson as the emcee for the awards ceremony, and I was transported to childhood as he performed Mr. Snuffleupagus (sans the costume, of course), an unnamed not-a-frog muppet and Telly Monster. I had hoped he would be able to perform the the Yip Yip Martians, but alas it was not to be. In light of recent news, Connie Willis' speech to present Gardner Dozois with the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award was even more moving. His son Christopher accepted the award on his...

May 29, 2018

Science Fiction

My New Story is Live at Galaxy’s Edge

My story, "Emergency Evaluation for Penny Ante, as Recorded by Cal-Q-Tron of the Benevolent Order of Heroes" is now live at Galaxy's Edge. Inspired by the dull format of a work performance evaluation, I paired this with something I always wondered about: how come so many superhero sidekicks never seem to get promoted to becoming superheroes? I've waited quite a long time to share this with all of you, and I hope you enjoy it!...

May 1, 2018

Science Fiction, Writing

Back From Futurescapes 2018

[caption id="attachment_399" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This view of the Great Salt Lake doesn't do it justice.[/caption] I spent last week attending the Futurescapes 2018 workshop, which was held in Sundance, Utah. I flew in a day early in order to visit the Great Salt Lake, which was impressive. I drove out to the Antelope Island Park to take in the otherworldly landscape. To reach the park, I had to drive across the seven-mile causeway to the island, marveling at the floats of grebes and other waterbirds that had gathered to feed (only brine shrimp and brine flies can survive the salinity of the waters), and nest. I would have liked to have seen one of the bison that live in the park, but not this time. On the following day, I drove up to Sundance. [caption id="attachment_408" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The panorama waiting to welcome me to Sundance.[/caption] The resort was lovely. Very conducive to...

April 25, 2018

Uncategorized

“Writing for the End of the World” is Up at Nature

My story, "Writing for the End of the World" is up at Nature today. This was a lot of fun to write. From the inspiration for the story, to being able to integrate one of my favorite jokes as a type of parallel to the main story, everything came together in delightful fashion. The initial inspiration came from reading Beth Cato's wonderful little story, "The Library Is Open" over at Daily Science Fiction. It's not the first story of Beth's that deals with a post-apocalyptic world (she has at least two others I know of in the pages of Nature, as well), and what with all the types of apocalypses out there in books, movies and TV, I wondered where the modern end-of-the-world story came from. It's not a very well-kept secret certain more secretive government agencies invite science fiction authors to speak as "futurists" (to which I say: great gig if...

March 8, 2018