Nihilism and Genre: Some Random Thoughts
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the issue of nihilism/darkness in genre fiction. This post will come off as a kind of random exploration of things swimming around in my head. Some seem to think that we live in a world that is far more nihilistic and dark than any other moment in the […]
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, […]
We’re Not Your Bitches — Signed, A Book Blogger
Dear Mr. Morrow and Publishers Thinking of Doing the Following: Book bloggers read and review books for the love. We are not paid. At best, some of us will sell a review here or there, or we might earn a little cash from advertising. But almost all of us do this because we love books, […]
How Barnes & Noble Can Lose Me as a Nook Customer
A long, long time ago (in a galaxy far away), I bought a B&N Nook. Why? Because I liked: the design (the first Nooks were beautiful) the touchscreen at the bottom, which makes navigating the device easy and searching for books more interesting than other eReaders (it lets you browse by the covers) having a […]
Science Fiction = Naturally Optimistic
Nothing I will say here should be misconstrued as “original thought.” Rather, these are the things that spring to mind when I read posts like this one by Bryan Thomas Schmidt on how science fiction lacks optimism and hope. But before getting into the reasons why SF is naturally optimistic, I want to explain where […]
English: The Non-essential Fun Degree?
The basis for this post comes from a troll who left a frothy list of accusations and assumptions about what I know, and, most importantly, what I do. As trolls are wont to do, much of what was said can be waved off as pish posh and poppycock, but it’s the attack on the English […]