To Expose Or Not To Expose…That Is the Question

In fiction, exposition breaks away from the ongoing action of a scene to give information. It can be a paragraph or go on for several pages. Exposition often provides contextual information critical for the reader to buy-in to character-motivation or the ideas promoted in the story.

Read More

Characters: Cazaril from The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is your typical medieval fantasy. There’s magic, and knights, and people in distress and political schemes. On the surface, it doesn’t seem much more than a carbon copy of everything else out there. However, Curse of Chalion does have a lot to make it stand out from the crowd. Among them, is Cazaril, the protagonist. He is not your typical, heroically minded, buffed-up warrior, handsome features hero. The interesting thing about Cazaril, is that he used to be.

Read More

Book Review: Tell My Sorrows to the Stones

It’s week five of Six Weeks of Scares. This time out, our subject is a single author collection, namely Tell My Sorrows to the Stones by Christopher Golden. Golden’s work has been highly acclaimed and in horror circles he’s well respected. This book contains a dozen reasons why that’s the case. Golden’s work is of the quiet school of horror, much like that of the late Charles L. Grant. The selections presented here have a wide range of tone and subject matter.

Read More

Lisbeth Salander

We’ve been having some pretty wild weather here in the Wairarapa lately, which meant that I’ve been sitting without power for over 24 hours earlier this week. While sitting around waiting for the contractors from the power company to turn up and put me back on the grid, I’ve managed to read myself through a substantial chunk of Stieg Larsson’s “Millenium” trilogy*: finally! I should say!

Read More

Review: The Colors of Space

In the tradition of Heinlein, The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley is a provocative space adventure for young adults. But upon closer look, there is a lot more to the story as it becomes a prime example of an archetypical hero’s journey.

Read More

Bad Robots

Robots are supposed to follow three laws that will maintain their loyalty to humanity. But as we all know, even a bunch of nuts and bolts can go bad. So let’s take a look at some of the bad robots we’ve grown to love.

Read More

Review: GRABBERS (2012)

There’s nothing better than a good monster movie. The problem is, most monster movies these days suck. Some intentionally (Sharktopus, I’m looking at you). The Syfy Channel seems to specialize in these CGI stinkers that […]

Read More

Wonder Woman’s Foreign Successors

I’ve been reading Mike Madrid’s The Supergirls, a really fantastic look at  the history of superheroines in mainstream American comics. I just reached the 1970s, and the karate-chopping, white-pantsuit-wearing, depowered Wonder Woman era that came with […]

Read More

Stumbling Into a Free-Fall

Free-Fall by Graham Templeton is a thought provoking story from the June 2013, Issue 18 of Clarkesworld Magazine with precise character utilization, and a pleasure to stumble upon.

Read More

Save Our Stereotypes

I don’t want to destroy the damsel in distress. I don’t want to destroy the sleeping beauty. Or the femme fatale. Or the pollyanna. Or the ditz. Or the girl next door. I watch attempts […]

Read More

Characters: Spike Spiegel

Ask someone to name the most important SF anime of all time, and chances are they’ll say Cowboy Bebop. It’s hard to argue. The sometimes-drama-sometimes-comedy about spacefaring bounty hunters had most of what you could […]

Read More

Pretty Soldiers: Hotaru Tomoe

Hotaru Tomoe is abused by her father. She suffers from an illness that leaves her breathless, weak and wracked with pain. She is picked on by her classmates. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune are planning […]

Read More