The cohort for the Clown School class of 2022 met in the lotus auditorium on a cool September afternoon in Los Angeles. The black curtain covered the stage, everyone waited for the president of The Clown School to make her grand appearance. Everyone except Jecinda expected the grand entrance, anyway. Jecinda expected a normal entrance, … Read moreClown School #flashfiction
In each genre, there are conventions that readers expect to find. Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, General Fiction, non-fiction, and the rest each have norms that define them. This information helps readers decide whether he or she might be interested in a book, and helps the storytelling along. So, there is both a marketing … Read moreFive Awesome Science Fiction Tropes
Before there was Game of Thrones or Star Wars, there was Dune. War and the power struggles of those who wage it have been central plot devices for millennia. War is as primal as sex and love. Now, take a world with a cosmic power struggle and add man-eating sandworms, a hostile desert planet, and an addictive magical substance, and … Read moreDune: Then, Now, and Why it Holds Up
I’m switching gears from science fiction to read and review a war novel for Coffee or Die Magazine. I pitched it to their Senior Editor who handles the entertainment section. After a few emails and spitballing ideas over the phone, I have concluded that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan produced few war novels. Sure, … Read moreThe War Novel- 6 Picks
It occurs to me that I have never written about how to start writing fiction. While I don’t have a completed novel under my belt (yet!), I’m halfway through a third draft. I have already sunk tons of time into my manuscript and $1K in editorial services. I think that’s something. The fact is that … Read moreHow to Get Started Writing Fiction- Five Things I Would Do Differently
Arrakis. Dune. Desert Planet. Paul Atreides. Bene Gesserit. Gom Jabbar. Mentat. Maud’Dib. This list of strange words goes on. If none of it means anything to you, don’t worry. It didn’t mean anything to me either when I first started reading Dune, Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic published in 1965. Dune is making a resurgence … Read moreBook Review- Dune
It’s September of the year 2007. The first iteration of the iPhone was released only a few months ago, and a handful of disagreeable Wallstreet guys stand to make a fortune against the collapse of the housing bubble that hasn’t yet happened. 2007 is also the year of First Contact with aliens. Axiom’s End is … Read moreBook Review- Axiom’s End
Deep in the Florida preserve lived a Barn owl. On the periphery of the preserve, there lived a raccoon. One evening, late at night, the barn owl went down to the pond for a quick bath. She looked up and noticed something scurrying nearby. It was a raccoon. He was dipping his hands in the … Read moreNew Flash Fiction- The Raccoon and the Owl
Here is a list I have compiled of science fiction books to read in 2021. I’m limiting candidates based on date of publication (I’ll go as far back as one year ago)*, and the content or premise must be speculative in nature. This includes typical features of science fiction such as: time travel, aliens, speculative … Read more9 Sci-Fi Books to Read in 2021
Military people tucked away in high-level staff sections love to speculate on the imminent threat of China. Authors Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis have confronted that collective sense of forboding with the narrative, 2034: A Novel of The Next World War. They don’t pull punches on what war with China would mean. It’s not … Read moreBook Review- ‘2034: A Novel Of The Next World War’