Tag: family

The Decline and Fall of Fandom and the Hugo Awards

Lately, I’ve taken a serious interest in family history. A huge amount of records have gone online in the past decade, making it far easier to trace your ancestors. Before that, my father was able to trace the Vasicek line to the Czech lands (places with cool names like Frenštát, Vratimov, Trojanovice, Staříč, etc), but… Continue reading The Decline and Fall of Fandom and the Hugo Awards

The Self-Sufficient Writer: How I Got Started

One of the best things my father ever did for me was tell me that when I graduated from college, I was on my own. No more rent money or financial support from my parents—I had to become financially independent, and I had to do it soon. I had a rather unusual college experience. I… Continue reading The Self-Sufficient Writer: How I Got Started

Short Blitz #7: Starchild

Title: Starchild Genre: Space Opera Word Count: 3,000 Writing Time: about two weeks I haven’t trimmed or polished this story yet, but I’m calling it at 3,000 words. If I were stricter about following Heinlein’s rules, I would only give it a proofreading pass, but with shorts I’ve heard that it’s best to cut out… Continue reading Short Blitz #7: Starchild

Trope Tuesday: Foolish sibling, responsible sibling

Whenever you’ve got two characters who interact with each other a lot, chances are that one is a foil of the other.  There are a lot of reasons for this, but the big reason is that it helps to highlight certain character traits by providing contrast.  Because the contrast is the important thing, the relationship… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Foolish sibling, responsible sibling

Back in Provo!

Wow, do pageviews drop off sharply if you don’t blog for a while. So after spending the last couple of weeks visiting family across the country–literally across the country, from Massachusetts to Iowa–I’m back here in good old Provo, Utah, surrounded by the mountains once again (I can just hear my grandma … “what’s so… Continue reading Back in Provo!

Oh hey! Happy Thanksgiving!

Funny how holidays creep up on you when you’re in a foreign country. We have Friday off here in Georgia, due to an Orthodox religious holiday.  I’ll probably head east and check out the Stalin museum, maybe Mtskheta and Qazbegi depending on the weather.  A friend of mine in Tbilisi said she’d get me a… Continue reading Oh hey! Happy Thanksgiving!