Dreaming of Science Fiction Landscapes
The universe is a strange and wondrous place. We know this because NASA has shown it to us, in surprising detail with such modern scientific marvels as the Hubble Space Telescope and CERN. What once was thought of as nothing more than a vast, sparkling nothing is now a wonderfully complicated and expansive space of […]
The Five Phases of Science Fiction
The other day I mentioned that I thought science fiction went through several phases in every industrialized or industrializing nation. I thought I would further explicate my theories on this subject here. The only problem with these phases is that they are not absolute temporally. They do not happen at exactly the same time, nor […]
Pay the Frakking Writer
I’m one to agree with Harlan Ellison when he angrily complains about the state of professional writing. While I myself am not technically a professional writer, I do loathe the level of whoring oneself out present within the freelance and general writing communities. An entire generation of people have come to believe that they don’t […]
Electronic Submissions: The New Blogosphere Rant Topic
The blogosphere is ripe with rants about electronic submissions and the credibility of short fiction publications that don’t use them. Scalzi has talked about it and so has Jonathan Strahan. With such big names (in the SF/F world, at least) speaking on this issue, it seems rather pointless for me to remark here. But, this […]
Will Literacy Die and Will the Post-Literature World Arrive?
The future of literacy has certainly been on rocky ground in recent years. With the advent of radio, then television, followed by the Internet and cellphones, it would seem that much of the “civilized” world is heading towards a future in which the literate are not necessarily required in order to keep the gears rolling. […]
Reality Check: The Average Consumer and Books
Reality: The average consumer spends roughly 8 seconds looking at the cover of a book before deciding to pick it up and 15 seconds reading the back cover (or inside cover) before making the decision to buy it. Some of you might wonder who this average consumer is. Most of you reading this blog are […]