Tomorrow, Tuesday June 11th at 12 PM PST, I have a very special guest on for Geekchats, author Beth Cato, famous for her Clockwork Dagger and Blood of Earth series, some of the best steampunk and alt-history around. We’re going to chat all things steampunk from tropes to alt-history to final fantasy and back again. […]
The Last Crusade: Judging Evil and Wickedness
I’ve talked about common phrases that non-Christians like to take out of the Bible and smugly use to criticize Christians into silence. The topic at the time “turn the other cheek”, attempting to dupe Christians, but there’s another that does pretty much the same thing, which has been used to con a couple of modern […]
How Do We Fix SFWA’s Brand – Part I: Identifying the Issues
From my poll the other day about whether I should join SFWA. It was a good sample size for my audience, which I estimate to be at about 4,000 people overall based on blog clicks/book sales. It’s no bestseller status (yet) but no chump change either in the science fiction and fantasy community, which has […]
The Should I Join SFWA Poll
SERIOUS VOTES ONLY. I have been told that I will get what I give if I join SFWA. Should I do it? — Jon Del Arroz (@jondelarroz) July 7, 2017 So far, my audience is pretty adamant, but there’s still 12 hours left for SFWA to get a chance. President Cat Rambo, who last month […]
Hot Take: Milo Sues Simon & Schuster
The culture war has shifted in a way I never thought possible. The big media conglomerates have been put on the defense on every front, to the way the fake news has gone full tilt in an effort to preserve their power, resulting in their lower ratings, not to mention the entire internet declaring war […]
Drown The Cat – The Writer’s Guide For The #PulpRevolution
Doing a post on writing advice this morning reminded me of a new release this week, something that flies in the face of conventional “how to write” guides, focusing on dialing in the passion of a writer. Drown The Cat quite intentionally parodies the title of Save The Cat, the writing guide that so […]
On Writing: Character, Character, Character
I used to worry heavily about concepts, about extreme details about setting, worldbuilding, plot, and pacing. All of those things are nice, and when they come together, they can make for a fine book, but what differentiates a book most readers find good or even great, is having a relatable protagonist that people can care […]
Review: Wandfasted by Laurie Forest
I’ve been saying that within 2 years, Laurie Forest will be one of the biggest, most respected names in fantasy. Her new novella, Wandfasted, will go a long way toward making that reality. It’s a longer novella, almost full novel length, which is good bang-for-your-buck in terms of entertainment/cost value. And actually, it’s almost two […]
#CNNBlackmail: The Mainstream Media’s Waterloo
On the 4th of July, a day dedicated to celebrating independence from tyranny, CNN used its corporate power to strong-arm an anonymous internet user into apologizing for posting a meme. The article was written by Andrew Kaczynski, a reporter who came to fame via his Buzzfeed platform through publicizing a poor joke by an average young […]
Geek Gab: On The Books At 2 PM PST!
I’ll be on talking Indie vs. Trad Pub with Dragon Award winning author, Brian Niemeier. Tune in! I’m sure the both of us will have very nice things to say about the traditional publishing market/outlets/corporations.
How I Use Rhetoric To Sell Books
I’ve been thinking a lot about the use of rhetoric vs. dialectic lately in life, and how that works as a tool for persuasion. I won’t get into the details of it, but you can look up some pundit guy you may have heard of named Aristotle if you want to get into the nitty […]
Anthology Review: Straight Outta Tombstone
Straight Outta Tombstone – edited by David Boop. Between the title and the cover, it didn’t take much for me to be salivating over buying this. I’m a big fan of the Weird West, as many folk know, going back to my work on Doomtown Reloaded for the Deadlands RPG universe. Add in some of […]
