I should call this entry by a different title. I’ve never had poetry. Not in the way we normally think about poetry: beautiful language arranged in careful patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables conveying a moment or an image. You can spend hours digging through Poetryfoundation.org and travel down the rabbit hole of Hendecasyllabic metrical… Continue reading Losing Poetry
At The Star Wars… Dive Bar?
More Star Wars neepery, so beware. Saw something on Facebook trying to describe TLJ and TRoS as an extended metaphor. Imagine you're in a nasty dive bar. You've got one friend who's says he loves the place and the bikers, but is going around to all of the bikers there and gleefully pointing out, in… Continue reading At The Star Wars… Dive Bar?
In Defense of Canto Bight
If what’s happening with recent Star Wars discussion can be called “The Skywalker Schism” - as posited by author Bill Bridges - I’m about to go full on Heresy here. I think the Canto Bight sequences in TLJ are necessary because they not only fed into Finn’s journey from focused survivalist to declaring himself “rebel… Continue reading In Defense of Canto Bight
Not-So-Cyberpunk 2020
The end of the year. Normally a time for reflection on the year. Honestly, though, my accomplishments can be boiled down to the following: Published in two anthologies this year. Completed draft of a full-length novel Attended two (smaller scale) workshops Kept my job for a full year Kept my personal life relatively intact Continued… Continue reading Not-So-Cyberpunk 2020
Not So SMART Goals
SMART Goals: The holy grail of getting things done. Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely goals. It’s a corporate mantra, spoken at every HR review. We want to set goals which can be achieved – vague language is for mission statements. For writing, a SMART goal sounds like this: Complete second draft of three (3), 5000-word… Continue reading Not So SMART Goals
One Step from The Horror
Mel Brooks once said, “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” One of my media professors used to talk about this as dramatic distance. The closer you are to an event, emotionally, the impact of an event changes. Or, put it another way, it’s… Continue reading One Step from The Horror
That Voice – No, not that one. The other one!
Do you hear that voice? Just over your shoulder, at the edge of your hearing. No, not the one yelling about a Meat Bicycle! Or the one saying, "You're the crunch, and I'm the Captain!" That voice we're used to dealing with, because it's the engineer on the Poop Train. Or Hamlet. And I'm not… Continue reading That Voice – No, not that one. The other one!
Where’s Andrija? Or How to Get My Stuff
My third appearance in a ZNB anthology has been out in the world for quite a bit. PORTALS features my story, "Hard Times in the Vancouver Continuum," alongside an amazing array of authors. The ZNB team specializes in making great theme anthologies and the next set of themes has been announced. I've got two stories… Continue reading Where’s Andrija? Or How to Get My Stuff
The Quality of Character
J. Michael Straczynski has a new biography out. He’s been someone I’ve followed, knowing and unknowingly, through the years. The first time I recognized his name showing up was in episodes of The Real Ghostbusters. But one thing will always be tied to JMS in my memory: Babylon 5 and its ill-fated successor, Crusade. The… Continue reading The Quality of Character
Now You’re Thinking with PORTALS
Three days from now, my third appearance in a ZNB anthology will be published. PORTALS features my story, "Hard Times in the Vancouver Continuum," alongside an amazing array of authors. The ZNB team specializes in making great theme anthologies, and I honestly wait to hear when the next round of anthologies will be announced. Writing… Continue reading Now You’re Thinking with PORTALS
Biomechanoid Blues 