May Question
Is Recluce your favorite “universe”? If not, which one is? Although I’ve obviously written more books about characters in the world of Recluce than in any other setting, I honestly can’t say that any...
View ArticleBelief or Thought?
The vast majority of people believe what they want to. What distinguishes a thinking individual from a believing individual is that thinking individuals do their best to evaluate all the facts in their...
View ArticleBenghazi and BLM
The Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have formed another committee to investigate the so-called Benghazi scandal. Besides being a waste of time and money, it’s also an example of the...
View ArticleCyador’s Heirs and Giveway
Not only with Cyador’s Heirs be released next week in both hardcover and ebook format, but Far Beyond Reality is giving away two copies of the hardcover at...
View ArticleBusiness
The biggest problem American companies and probably every other corporate-level business in the world has is that few of them, if any, understand that there can indeed be too much of a good thing, or...
View Article“Cost” of Education
The last few days, with graduations occurring somewhere practically everywhere, it’s not surprising that I’ve run across columns, letters, and blogs all decrying the increase in the cost of education....
View Article“Senior” Management ?
This past weekend, an interesting analysis appeared in a number of newspapers, showing that the highest-paid people in medicine weren’t the doctors, but the “senior management” types in healthcare....
View ArticleMonsters
Some dictionary definitions of “monster” include: (1) one abnormal, unnatural, or hideous in appearance or (2) one that inspires hate or horror because of cruelty, wickedness, depravity, etc., (3) a...
View ArticleBuying into the Stereotypes
As I’ve noted before, stereotypes persist in all human cultures, unfortunately partly because they’re convenient mental shortcuts, and partly, again unfortunately, because the group being stereotyped...
View ArticleJune Question
Do you think you will ever write a Recluce book that takes place after The Death of Chaos? As I’ve said before, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever write a Recluce book that takes place after The Death...
View ArticleSelling the Packaging
There’s an old, old advertising maxim that says something to the effect that “you don’t sell the steak; you sell the sizzle.” It was true sixty years ago, and it’s even more true today… especially in...
View ArticlePhoenix Comicon
On Thursday, I’m headed to the Phoenix Comicon, where I’ll be just one of a number of well-known authors. Here are my appearances: Authors’ Kickoff 7:-00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, with Carrie Vaugh, John...
View ArticlePhoenix Comicon
I generally don’t write about conventions and the like, but since my trip to Phoenix involved my very first comicon, I thought I’d make an exception, particularly since my first F&SF convention was...
View ArticleRepetition… or Reaffirmation and Refreshment?
I receive a certain number of comments about my work. Some readers cannot wait for the next book, and others, an apparently much smaller number, dismiss my books as repetitive. With that wide a gap,...
View ArticleNames
Just the other day, a dissatisfied reader charged me with using “hard-to-say” names, and there have been a few comments about the names I’ve used over the years, as if I had committed a horrible sin by...
View ArticleWhere Belief Is Concerned…
… all believers are irrational, sometimes mildly so, and sometimes wildly so. When I mentioned this to someone I know, she replied, “Belief makes people stupid.” I don’t know that I’d go that far, at...
View ArticleCertainty
As I’ve noted before, almost all human beings desire certainty, except for the adrenaline-junkies and thrill-seekers, and yet, as more than a few savants have noted, nothing in life is certain except...
View ArticleA Few Thoughts on Style
Obviously, different writers have different styles, and some writers’ styles are almost indistinguishable from others, and some writers’ styles are very different. Occasionally, a writer’s style is so...
View ArticleGovernments That Work … ?
In Starship Troopers [the book, not the movie], one of Heinlein’s characters makes the point that the society which governs Earth at that time isn’t necessarily the best, but that it has one redeeming...
View ArticleReligion… and Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the Hobby Lobby case, declaring that companies, at least those privately held, are not required to provide birth control benefits under their health insurance plans...
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