Purchase

Blog

What Have I Been Enjoying Lately?

Earlier this week, I rattled off a very brief post talking about Sylvia Moreno García's efforts at capturing Latin Americans in SFF. I may decide to write more about this at some later date, but for now I wanted to go over the things I've been enjoying recently. Fleabag I started watching this series through Amazon. It is a fascinating experiment in perspective, as the entire show is told exclusively through Fleabag's point of view. The fourth wall is often broken, as the audience is both confidant and accomplice in what Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character is going through. Fleabag is a mess, and the show is funny, crass, sly and--at times--heartbreaking. Legion Currently being aired on FX. Daniel Haller has problems, one of them being that what he thought to be mental illness is actually the by-products of his superpowers. Full disclosure: I had to watch the first episode more than once. This was my...

March 20, 2017
Films, Science Fiction, Series

Thank you, Sylvia Moreno Garcia

On her blog, Sylvia has started to list Latinx authors in English Language SFF. I'm glad she decided to start this project, since I've written about this before. If you have any favorite authors, feel free to fill out the form included....

March 15, 2017
Uncategorized

“Fahrenheit 451” and the Problems of A Single Story

A few nights ago, I took to Twitter to respond to all those articles I've seen urging people to read George Orwell's "1984" (or, alternately, "A Brave New World"). To which I said--and continue to say--"Hey, great books!" However, for me the book to study is Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." The reasons I can see for this are: "1984" inhabits the mindscape of Stalinist Soviet Union: hulking gray buildings framed against gray skies, far removed from how someone from the U.S. views their country. "A Brave New World," while prescient in certain ways, is too bizarre an environment for today's readers Styles change, and while I find "1984" to be much more modern-sounding than "Brave New World", Fahrenheit 451 is written in allegorical and poetic language which lends it a timelessness.   [embed]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-IcPx9uD0U[/embed]  Don't want to read the rest of the post? Thug Notes video to the rescue!   Bradbury's book is by far the shortest of...

March 4, 2017
Science Fiction

Revisions On a Story I’m Dusting Off

I dusted off a story I had thought complete years back, and started revising it. I like to go back over, rewriting entire paragraphs into what flows better for me, as well as re-ordering scenes to see how they change the effect of the story. Here's hoping I can finish the revisions by mid-March, which will allow me time to get something ready for Lightspeed when they open for fantasy. This story is the oldest of what I call the "second wave" stories I wrote around 2014. Once this one's done, maybe I can pull another one of those story drafts out of my drawer and get it ready. These days, I'm very slow. Now that I've been able to write a little more consistently, my next step will be to layer in some regular visits to the gym, which I've been missing. One step, then the next, followed by yet another.  ...

February 28, 2017
Uncategorized

Back to Regularly Scheduled Program (I Hope)

I'm back. I have to admit I knew I hadn't written a post in a while. Hell, I hadn't written anything in a while. Part of it was shifting my priorities to make sure several other personal goals were met, part was not feeling ready to write a post, or anything, really. I spent long hours away from creating anything, re-watching some favorite movies and TV shows, trusting (hoping) I would come back to the many projects needing revision. I have also been watching "Atlanta," which is superbly written, and very funny. I kept seeing Facebook messages on my author's page, guilting me with how long my followers hadn't heard from me. I felt a little guilty, but also ashamed enough that I didn't immediately post anything. Now, I'm back. I finished writing a short piece last night. I dusted off another piece I started last year, but never finished. I'm hoping to get it...

February 23, 2017
Science Fiction, Writing