Gotta go fast!

So they’re making a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and the character design for Sonic is so bad that it’s spawned a bajillion memes. Within days of the trailer’s release, it got so bad that the director said they’d redesign the animation, and suddenly thousands of nine-year-olds became drunk with power. I have a few thoughts… Continue reading Gotta go fast!

I love these trailers

Holy cow, I cannot get enough of this trailer for Civilization: Beyond Earth! It’s like something from a book I would write. There’s the classic Science Fiction story about leaving Earth to colonize the stars, but there’s also a deeply human element to it. And I love the religious element to it, how the colonists… Continue reading I love these trailers

Revisions, X-COM, and working on my short game

So I finished putting together the revision notes for Heart of the Nebula on Monday, and started working on those today.  It was interesting to compare the original rough draft (which was completely broken) with the incomplete revised version that I’d worked on about a year ago (which was also completely broken, but in different… Continue reading Revisions, X-COM, and working on my short game

Parents: talk to your kids about Dwarf Fortress

So if you’ve been wondering why I seem to have gone missing from the world of the living lately, it’s because I recently started playing Dwarf Fortress.  Those of you who know what Dwarf Fortress is are probably shaking your heads already, but for the rest of you, I’ll endeavor to explain. Dwarf Fortress is… Continue reading Parents: talk to your kids about Dwarf Fortress

Trope Tuesday: Schrödinger’s Gun

The world of a fictional universe isn’t fixed beyond what the author has revealed to the reader. This is what happens when Schrödinger’s cat gets hold of Chekhov’s gun.  There are a whole lot of interesting and potentially useful plot points lying around, but the writers are pantsing it as they go, playing a game… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Schrödinger’s Gun

Sorry, no Trope Tuesday (again)

Yeah, sorry, no Trope Tuesday this week.  Third week missed in a row!  Not so good.  Thing is, I’m really focused on finishing Star Wanderers: Reproach (Part VII) right now, with a self-imposed deadline of May 31st. I figure that’s more important, and I really don’t want to break my momentum. I’ve been vacillating a… Continue reading Sorry, no Trope Tuesday (again)

Z is for Zenith

Has space opera passed its zenith? Sometimes, it certainly looks that way.  All the major stuff seems to be reprints of past series and reboots of decades-old franchises.  Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Ender’s Game, Dune, Babylon 5–all the big names seem to have had their start at least a generation ago.  At… Continue reading Z is for Zenith

Y is for Yesteryear

They say that the golden age of science fiction is about twelve years old.  That’s definitely true for me. My first exposure to the genre was Star Wars: A New Hope.  I saw it when I was seven, right around the height of my dinosaur phase.  Everything about the movie completely blew me away, from… Continue reading Y is for Yesteryear

L is for Lost Colony

As we discussed in I is for Interstellar, space colonization is a major theme of science fiction, especially space opera.  Of course, things don’t always go smoothly.  Space is a really, really, really big place, and sometimes, due to war or famine or simple bureaucratic mismanagement, colonies get cut off from the rest of galactic… Continue reading L is for Lost Colony