Over the years, a lot of authors and scholars far more knowledgeable (and opinionated) than me have tried to nail down science fiction, defining it in a variety of ways, sometimes in contrast to other genres like fantasy. Here are a few: John W. Campbell: “Fiction is simply dreams written out. Science fiction consists of…
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I’m offering my science fiction novel, Strictly Analog, as a FREE download today at Amazon. Ted Lomax does his best to get by as a private detective in a society where almost nothing is private any more. He lives in a near-future California that has gained independence from the economically collapsed United States and where…
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My science fiction novel, Take Back Tomorrow, is available as a FREE download today at Amazon. Eddie Royce thinks he’s got things all figured out. He’s managed to cheat the system and gotten himself published in the sci fi pulps by “borrowing” plots from Shakespeare. He doesn’t mind being a cheat and a plagiarist as long…
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All this talk of shopping, of black this and gray that, of small-business-something and cyber-something-else, and all of the idealized advertising images that accompany such mayhem have reminded me of one of my Christmases past, probably my first “adult” Christmas when I jumped into the buying rituals with both feet and then had to ask…
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While capitalizing on a cute phrase he stumbled upon, Robert McCrum at The Guardian has come up with a list of literary genres. Since this is coming from a UK perspective, it’s not surprising that he would have a very different set of genres than an American critic would have. On this side of the…
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When you think of E.M. Forster (if you think of him at all), you probably think about British novels that have inspired Oscar buzz-worthy films like Howard’s End, A Room with a View, and A Passage to India. All good, but the kind of thing most science fiction fans don’t jump to as their next…
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When I was about 5 years old, my favorite book was Captain Kitty. And by favorite, I mean I had my mother read it to me so many times that 35 years later I was still able to recite the first several pages even though my copy of the book was long gone, probably in…
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You know who I’m talking about, right? The mustachioed miner from the Rankin & Bass claymation Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer from the mid-60s. He’s a bit rough around the edges but helps Rudolph, ends up on the Island of Misfit Toys, and finally helps save the day in the end. The thing I keep…
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Over the summer, I released my urban fantasy novella, Dead Man’s Hand, as an e-book on Amazon. Maybe it was a timing thing, but it really seemed to fly under the radar, so I thought I’d post a sample. What follows is a short excerpt from the third chapter. If you’d like to see more,…
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Back when I had a literary agent sending my work out to major publishers, we ran into a little problem–editors at the major publishing houses didn’t know how to categorize my books, especially Take Back Tomorrow. It’s science fiction, a time travel novel set in 1940 Los Angeles. But it’s also a mystery, as the protagonist…
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