Hammering Away at the Here and Now
Let’s say you’re the newly-sentient internet. How would you decipher the meaning of all the bits and bytes whizzing past you? And what about the real world outside your electronic realm?
jamesschellenberg
Noir, With Feelings
Some types of stories are so familiar that the only way to tell your own version of, say, a detective yarn is to find an interesting new angle. Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series makes the title character a wizard who solves supernatural crimes in Chicago. Additionally, Harry has […]
A Matter of Human Agency
Let’s say you’ve just invented a time machine. Your hand is on the dial, ready to master the energies of the fourth dimension. Depending on when you’re living in the history of the universe, this might be science fiction or just the latest invention. Spaceships, atomic bombs, the […]
Drastically Out of Context
The Picture of Dorian Gray is perhaps the worst epic fantasy I have ever read. Where are the dragons? The violent decapitations with a magical sword? All the author seems to care about is witty rich people making smart remarks to each other.
Home Stretch
I have a theory that television shows get a lot of practice in the cliff-hanger, in hooking the viewer to come back next week, but almost zero experience in creating satisfying endings. Structurally, commercially, the need for such a thing just doesn’t compute. A few genre shows in […]
Not Particularly Subtle
I recently burned through all seven books in Christopher Rowley’s Bazil Broketail series. What I liked best? The broad strokes, literally (here is our hero with a sword, there goes the head of the bad guy, flying through the air) as well as metaphorically.
The Cultural Gutter 