Dr. Shaun Duke, Professional Nerd

Editor. Writer. Professor. Host.

Gender, Non-Binary, and Things (or, the Likelihood of Failure)

As you may have heard, I changed my review guidelines so I could join my podcast, The Skiffy and Fanty Show, in its 2015 “Women and Non-Binary in SFF” theme.  This post isn’t really about that so much as the related subject of life and getting things right. Or, rather, getting things wrong and hoping […]

On The Interview, Terrorism, and the Artistic Expression

By now, you’ll have heard that Sony had opted to cancel the release of Seth Rogen and Ethan Goldberg’s The Interview (2014)(starring Rogen and James Franco) in response to threats against their employees and movie theaters (many of which have refused to show the film).  They have since announced that the film will play in […]

On #GamerGate — Final Thoughts Before I Find Something Else to Do

If you have no idea what GamerGate is, the Wiki page gives a decent enough summary of the major events.  Additional details can be found at RationalWiki. This is the only post I will write on this subject.  At this point, I’m basically “over it.”  The whole thing is a monumental mess.  There’s abuse on […]

On Language and Reinforcing Bigotry

[Note:  statistics will vary considerably depending where you are in the world.  I’m using statistics and studies which are mostly relevant to the United States, and so this post will focus accordingly.  This is my comfort zone, but I encourage others to take a look at these same concerns as they relate to their cultural […]

On Robin Williams

You have probably already heard about the death of Robin Williams by (apparent) suicide.  Given the public nature of celebrity deaths, I have a feeling a lot of people are somewhat desensitized to the whole thing.  I, however, feel inclined to say a few words about Robin Williams. I was born in 1983.  Basically, I […]

On LonCon and Thanks

I’m currently in Bristol after a long, exciting weekend at LonCon, resting up, seeing some touristy stuff, and generally dropping the weight from my shoulders.  Overall, this trip abroad has been beautiful.  I’ll talk about some of that here (warning:  this will be more rambly and random than usual). LonCon! I still have a few […]