The Contributions of Freethinkers: Ursula K. LeGuin
Although I’ve highlighted the lives of some amazing feminists on Daylight Atheism, I don’t want to give the impression that the only thing women can be famous for is fighting for the rights of women....
View ArticleNever Quote Discworld to an Atheist
The other day, I found this article from a Google alert: an essay on the religious website First Things by the author and Catholic apologist Elizabeth Scalia (who also blogs as The Anchoress). The post...
View ArticleA Dialogue with the Tempter
At the end of a long and weary day, with the last drops of twilight bleeding out of the darkening midsummer sky, I turned my key in the lock of my front door. I set my bags down, stepped inside… and...
View ArticleRepost: The Theodicy of Narnia
[Author's Note: I'm reposting some old favorites while I'm away on vacation this week. This post was originally from December 2006.] When I was a child, I read and devoured C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of...
View ArticleA Two-Sentence Halloween Horror Story
I really liked this article on Salon showcasing two-sentence horror stories written by professional authors. Notwithstanding the current popularity of blood-and-guts horror (more of an appeal to...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: Anathem
I found out this week that my books have been getting ratings and reviews on Goodreads, without any prompting or even knowledge on my part, which is pretty cool. So, I now have an author page on...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: His Dark Materials
There’s a lot of fantasy fiction that I enjoy in spite of its religious themes – C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, or Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. But sometimes I’m in the mood for fiction that...
View ArticleWeekend Coffee: December 28
While you rest and recover from all the holiday feasting, some links: • The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried the Roman city of Pompeii also buried another town, Herculaneum. One of the buildings...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never would.” Since...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: The Long Earth
Terry Pratchett is famous for his Discworld fantasy series, but he’s tried his hand at science fiction as well. His most recent effort in this vein, in collaboration with the author Stephen Baxter, is...
View ArticleSeason of the Tempter
On a dreaming night not long ago, I was walking by myself along a lonely road, in search of reflection and solitude. The nearest homes were only a far-off and fuzzy glow, a fleeting scent of woodsmoke...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: The Years of Rice and Salt
I’ve been getting into alternate history novels lately – The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove, Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague de Camp – and one of the better ones I’ve read is Kim Stanley...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: Terry Pratchett’s Death
I was devastated to learn that Terry Pratchett, the renowned fantasy author, died this week at the unfairly early age of 66. Pratchett had been suffering from early-onset dementia for several years,...
View ArticleThe Sci-Fi Fans Who Fear Change
The Hugos, one of the most prestigious awards for sci-fi and fantasy writing, have been hijacked. After several years in which the awardees had become increasingly diverse, reflecting the broader reach...
View ArticleSF/F Sunday: Goodnight Stars
Earlier this week, I posted about the “Sad Puppies’” reactionary campaign to hijack the Hugos. I have an addendum to that: two nominated authors, Annie Bellet and Marko Kloos, have announced that...
View ArticleAtlas Shrugged: The Cobra Commander Dialogues
If you’ve been reading the comments on my Atlas Shrugged posts, you’ve probably seen the hilarious “Cobra Commander” dialogues written by commenter and jet-setting billionaire playboy author...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: The Half-Made World
Something I’ve often wondered is why so many great or classic fantasy stories are set in a real or fictionalized Europe. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, Robert E. Howard’s...
View ArticleSF/F Saturday: The Culture
For all its virtues, Star Trek was a series that often failed to do justice to its own ideas. We’re told that Starfleet is just one small part of a vast, advanced utopian civilization, but that means...
View ArticleMovie Review: The Martian
Content note: Contains some spoilers. It says something about our era that so many of the most popular movies and TV shows are grim, depressing stories of disaster and dystopia. Is it a reflection of...
View ArticleDark Heart Now Available For Free!
Happy Halloween! Because it’s the season for tricks and treats, I’ve got one to offer. For a brief time only, I’m making my first novel, DARK HEART, available for free. It’s a fantasy epic set in a...
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