Guest Post: On Science Fiction Fascinations by S. Spencer Baker
I’ve been fascinated with science fiction since I was about four years old, even though I’m fairly sure that I didn’t know it was called science fiction in those days. There were puppet shows on TV like Supercar and Fireball XL5, and I dimly remember another show that had flying saucers like wobbling spinning tops […]
Guest Post: Writing Fear in Appleton by J. Stephen Howard
Dear Brave and Steadfast Reader, Writing the horror novel, Fear in Appleton, was a grueling yet enjoyable process that took me over three years to complete. During that time, the book went through several drafts, including one where Michael Garrett, Stephen King’s first editor as credited in King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, […]
Guest Post: Sword and Sorcery — Why “Man vs Man” is less effective than “Man vs Supernatural” by S. E. Lindberg
Fantasy readers and movie-goers maintain an expectation that protagonists will battle supernatural forces. Those forces may manifest in humans (“bad guys”); however, when the supernatural element is diluted (or superficially offered in clichéd, familiar forms so that the protagonist literally battles a man) then expectations are not met. Consumers become disappointed. The lack luster reception […]
Guest Post: 1978 by Robert Louis Smith
I don’t remember much about 1978; I was only in fifth grade. Much of what I do remember is spotty, like the fact that our TV set was a bulky piece of oak furniture with a bulbous gray screen in the middle. Back then, there were no remote controls, no cable or satellite television, and […]
Guest Post: The Polarization of Genre Fiction by David Chandler
(Don’t forget to enter here for a chance to win one of three sets of David Chandler’s books.) When I was maybe ten years old I asked myself whether I preferred science fiction novels or fantasy novels. My eventual decision was that I should prefer SF, since some day I might live on the moon, […]
Guest Post: Smackdown: Pangrelor vs. Middle Earth by Robert Louis Smith
(I first must apologize to Mr. Smith for the lateness of this post. The email containing the guest post below got buried, which has happened far more times than I think is fair. This will be resolved ASAP.) ——————————————————- In 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien published the first of a breathtaking series of books that would go […]