E is for Empire

Almost every far future science fiction story has a galactic empire of some kind.  From Dune to Foundation, from Star Wars to Firefly, there’s always someone trying to rule the galaxy, often in a way that makes life difficult for the protagonists. Why?  Rule of drama, of course, but also because it gives the story… Continue reading E is for Empire

Story Notebook #4

Alright, it’s been too long since the last time I posted any story ideas here on this blog, so I thought I’d go back to my old notebooks and post a few of them here.  Currently, we’re on notebook #4, which basically covers the second half of 2009. And so, without further ado…here goes! A… Continue reading Story Notebook #4

Old story notebook, part 3

Alright, it’s time to finish up with the old story notebook I discovered a couple of weeks ago.  These ideas were written down back in 2007, when I was writing the first draft of Ashes of the Starry Sea. Without further ado: In the future, people live in arcologies, and wars are fought outside by… Continue reading Old story notebook, part 3

Goodbye DC

So I have some crazy, unbelievable news to share: I got fired from my internship, under disputed circumstances.  That’s right: fired from my unpaid internship four weeks before it was scheduled to end. The exact reasons for the termination were never made completely clear to me, but I suspect politics played a significant role and… Continue reading Goodbye DC

Why I love Robert Charles Wilson

From Mysterium, which I plan to review here soon: “Do you ever wonder, Howard, about the questions we can’t ask? “Can’t answer, you mean? “No. Can’t ask.” “I don’t understand.” Stern leaned back in his deck chair and folded his hands over his gaunt, ascetic frame. His glasses were opaque in the porch light. The… Continue reading Why I love Robert Charles Wilson

Hellish week (and I’m still crossing my fingers)

Holy cow, this week was insane.  INSANE. Two papers (13 pages and 8 pages respectively) in one week, hours and hours wrestling with Sambanis’s Civil War dataset and Excel (I wish I knew STATA–it’s so much more useful for analyzing ginormous datasets), 33 tests to grade (of which I’ve only graded about 11), peer reviewing… Continue reading Hellish week (and I’m still crossing my fingers)

Final polish

I mapped out all the major assignments for my capstone class for the next month on my calendar.  Turns out I’ve got a lot more work than I thought I did.  Because of that, I decided to start work on Genesis Earth 4.0 today. This is the final polish before World Fantasy convention.  Of all… Continue reading Final polish

Busy busy AWESOME day

I had an awesome day today.  Totally awesome.  If every day this semester is like this one, I’ll be dead tired before Thanksgiving but so happy it won’t even matter. It started at 7am.  Woke up, worked out, read a galley from Dragon Moon Press for Leading Edge while working out.  The book wasn’t that… Continue reading Busy busy AWESOME day