The PKD Files: The Little god
Many of you are aware that during the 2007-08 academic school year I took an independent study course on Philip K. Dick. I read three of his novels, a whole bunch of his short stories, and a good bit of non-fiction and biographical material. One of those novels was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? […]
Silly Reader Questions: Super Powers, Magic, Bathrooms, and Poetry
This week we have a few more silly reader questions. We’ll go in reverse order this time around and start with GothixHalo: Why in books do they never have them going to the bathroom? I don’t know if anyone is aware, but it is actually illegal to write about going to the bathroom in books. […]
How Independent Bookstores Can Survive
The other day Mulluane pointed me to an interesting discussion on independent bookstores and blogs and one of the quotes stood out to me as a particularly absurd statement: Very small stores may not have the time or the resources to devote to maintaining a blog. Small to mid-size stores may not be able to […]
Alternate History: Science Fiction or Something Else?
Tor.com’s recent post got me thinking about the problem that is alternate history. As highlighted by Tor, the opinions on alternate history seem to be relatively split down the middle: some believe it is science fiction and others do not, except in certain scenarios. I think I’ve voiced my opinions on this before, but never […]
To Shut Up or Not to Shut Up: Should Authors Respond to Reviews?
I think this whole discussion needs to be prefaced by an entirely different discussion on cause and effect. Nobody has the right to tell you that you are not allowed to do something. You can do anything you want in this world, but you must always face the consequences of your actions. If you murder […]
Reader Question: What’s the difference between YA and Adult Fiction?
Mulluane indirectly asked me this question via Twitter by pointing me to this post on the subject (you can find Mulluane on Twitter here and me here). This is one of those oft-asked questions in the publishing world and, to be honest, I’m not sure why it’s such a difficult one to grasp. As with […]