The Geek Test: What’s Your Score?

Friday, August 30th, 2013

To take the 50 question test below, give yourself two points when you answer “yes” to the questions below beginning, “Have you ever…” 1. Attended a small (< 2000 people) science fiction convention? 2. Attended a one of the major science fiction conventions (e.g, Worldcon, Dragon*con)? 3. Attended a Comic-Con or media-oriented Convention (e.g. Shoreleave)? […]

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15 Most Memorable Stories

Friday, October 1st, 2010

So I just succumbed to one of those facebook memes: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen short stories (or novelettes or novellas) you’ve read that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I’m interested in […]

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Ten Mainstream TV Shows or Movies that are Science Fiction or Fantasy “Light”

Friday, June 18th, 2010

A few days ago I blogged about mainstream stories that I thought could be categorized as light versions of fantasy or science fiction.   To qualify, the stories had to fail to reflect reality in some fundamental way without being obviously science fiction or fantasy.   When that failure was over-the-top and great liberties are taken with […]

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Mainstream Stories and a Metaphorical Science Fiction/Fantasy Dichotomy

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

I was thinking about the movie 300,  Nnedi Okorafor’a detractors, and this recent blog post and comments therein.   Thoughtful people get upset by art, whether it is a book, movie, or just about anything.   I think there are good reasons and bad reasons to get upset.   A good reason is when you’re disappointed because something had […]

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Why was Snape such a Bad Teacher?!

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

WARNING: HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Spoilers A friend of mine picked up the new Harry Potter movie on DVD and I plan to watch it this week.   I was thinking back to how much I enjoyed the book, but remembered something that nagged the hell out of me when the identity of the […]

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What Harry Potter Didn’t Study

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Does it bother anyone else that essentially all of Harry Potter’s education at Hogwarts was about rote memorization of spell casting and totally divorced from “muggle” education? I mean, the wizarding world need not worry about all the same things that the muggle world worries about, but come on.   You’ve still got money, so math, […]

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How About Some Hard, Urban Fantasy?

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

OK, I know that probably sounds obscene, but I’m hard pressed to come up with a name for what I want to talk about.   What I’m talking about probably exists, but I’m not familiar enough with fantasy these days to know for sure, so I hope someone can help me out. Urban fantasy has been […]

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Poll: Best SF/Fantasy/Horror Movie Soundtrack?

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

OK, I don’t want to repeat myself exactly from yesterday’s sf band thing, but I was inspired by Phil Plait’s post about this utterly fantastic video: As you may or may not know, Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’ was used extensively in the movie Excalibur.   Other parts of the soundtrack had this great theremin-sounding stuff and wailing […]

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Interview with Eric Nylund, Author of Mortal Coils

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

In addition to being a great writer, Eric Nylund is an old friend of mine.   I first met him and became a fan of his at the Clarion West Writing Workshop back in the 1990s.   Eric has written original science fiction and fantasy for well over a decade now, and more recently has hit the […]

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My Favorite Fantasy Novels/Series

Monday, January 19th, 2009

I read fantasy and like it. It isn’t always my first choice, but I really love a great fantasy book. While there are some deeply profound and moving fantasy novels, I look to fantasy especially for escapism. I still expect it to be self-consistent but I don’t have to tear my hair out over it […]

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Problems with Heroes

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

I’ve been a big fan of comic books since I was a kid, and most make little sense when viewed from a scientific perspective.   That’s fine.   I let that axe rest years ago.   They’re a particular type of modern, urban fantasy and I can happily enjoy them as such, as long as they enjoy some […]

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