“What is a year?”

A year? What is a year? All time is relative. One day may be a lifetime, a year can be forever. It is not the number of days, but what goes into those days. —Louis L’Amour, The Warrior’s Path.

Fantasy from A to Z: E is for Epic

What is the ideal length of a fantasy novel? Of a fantasy series? Fantasy, as a genre, is known for being big. Big stakes, big emotions, big battles—and big books. It isn’t unusual for a single fantasy novel to run well over 200,000 words. Authors like Brandon Sanderson regularly turn in doorstoppers, with Words of… Continue reading Fantasy from A to Z: E is for Epic

How I Would Vote Now: 1990 Hugo Awards (Best Novel)

The Nominees The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson Prentice Alvin by Orson Scott Card A Fire in the Sun by George Alec Effinger Hyperion by Dan Simmons Grass by Sheri S. Tepper The Actual Results How I Would Vote Now Explanation Hyperion is, in my opinion, the best novel to ever win… Continue reading How I Would Vote Now: 1990 Hugo Awards (Best Novel)

Gearing up for another family road trip

We’ve spent the last couple of days getting ready for another cross-country road trip as a family, this time to Arkansas. My side of the family is going down there, mostly because my youngest sister works at a national park, so it’s more convenient for us to come to her (and it should be fun… Continue reading Gearing up for another family road trip

Interesting discussion of the ideal roles and partnership of husband and wife

I’ve been watching a lot of Malcolm & Simone Collins’s videos lately. They are a pair of super odd ducks, but they are both super intelligent and have some very unexpected insights into our world. On some issues (particularly the issue of Mormon fertility) I think they are off-track, but on others I think they… Continue reading Interesting discussion of the ideal roles and partnership of husband and wife

Just for fun: Retroflow 1985

So the YouTube algorithm recently recommended this channel to me called Retroflow 1985. It’s a guy in Germany who puts out these synthwave music videos, with AI-generated artwork (and probably AI-generated music) that feels like it could have come out of the 1980s (hence the term “synthwave”). I’m not a huge synthwave fan, but I… Continue reading Just for fun: Retroflow 1985

Thinking about switching Gunslinger books to J.M. Wight

Right now, I’m a science fiction writer who occasionally writes fantasy. I want to transition to being a fantasy writer who occasionally writes science fiction. But I also have a pen name (J.M. Wight) for more religious-themed books, since there are a lot of science fiction readers who have a serious ick with that. As… Continue reading Thinking about switching Gunslinger books to J.M. Wight

Fantasy from A to Z: D is for Dragons

If you were expecting a post about dragons, I hate to disappoint you. but that’s not what this is going to be. I think dragons are fine, and there are lots of fantasy books with dragons that I’ve enjoyed (Jane Yolen’s Dragon’s Blood comes to mind, as does The Hobbit, which is, after all, a… Continue reading Fantasy from A to Z: D is for Dragons

Summer plans

So summer is practically here, and that means things are about to get crazy. Next week, we’re leaving on a multi-day road trip to Arkansas, where we plan to have a family vacation with the extended family. With a five year-old and a two-year old, that’s going to be quite a ride. Fortunately, we’ll be… Continue reading Summer plans