The Bookening: New Reads in the Chamber of Serpents

Shortly before the world went into full lockdown, I did what any book dork would do: ordered a bunch of books. Today’s book haul mostly contains books in the “things I want to read” category with a smidge of “books I bought to support authors.” On the list:

Struggles in Heroism: On the (New) Star Wars Expanded Universe

It’s probably not a big secret that I have had “issues” with Star Wars in its Disney years. There are a lot of things I love about the direction things are going — a more diverse cast, the emphasis on big sprawling adventure, etc. — but there are also problems I have with the cohesion […]

One More Week!

In a lot of ways, I’ve been pretty fortunate to work for Bemidji State University. While losing two weeks of class sucks, BSU didn’t choose to rush into the university-wide shift to remote learning. The result? A lot more breathing room (for me). So in addition to all of the things I’ve been doing to […]

Pondering the Editors Behind Our Fiction

Yesterday, I received an advanced copy of Subterranean Press’ new anthology, Edited By. The book collects notable works of short fiction that have been, well, edited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most notable short fiction editors in the world of SF/F/H. It’s a beefy book full of stories by some incredible writers, including Elizabeth […]

Academia During a Pandemic: Hunker Down Philosophy 1A

COVID-19 is upon us in the good old United States of America. Like many totally great countries, we are really prepared for a global pandemic involving a virus for which there is no direct treatment and which kills vulnerable populations a tad too easily. We’re super prepared. Mega prepared. So prepared it’s like this country […]