Who doesn't love a good pirate book? Yes, I know that The Pirates of the Caribbean might have outstayed their welcome. But luckily …
Continue Reading about Two Excellent Pirate Books Set in Gorgeous Fantasy Worlds
Who doesn't love a good pirate book? Yes, I know that The Pirates of the Caribbean might have outstayed their welcome. But luckily …
Continue Reading about Two Excellent Pirate Books Set in Gorgeous Fantasy Worlds
Well, it's official. There's at least another month of lockdown/quarantine/social distancing going on in the US. Rather than lose …
I can't help it. I don't care about genre conventions. If there's a book that grabs you by the throat, turns you upside down, …
It's all a bit overwhelming, isn't it? Especially if you spend too much time reading the news media. There was a time (I think) …
Continue Reading about To Make it Through Quarantine, Read… A LOT
We are told that empathy is what makes us human. Without empathy, we would be sociopathic and cold-blooded. In fact, screenwriters …
Continue Reading about Empathy vs Compassion: Or How Game of Thrones Got it All Wrong
You've heard me rant about bad storytelling before (like here, for instance). And I will admit I have been a bit worried about the …
Continue Reading about The Sun Eater cycle – Best Epic SciFi Series of this Decade
Recently, one of my friends asked me to recommend some new books that were not merely good, but great. I had to stop and think for …
Continue Reading about Six Best Fantasy/Sci-fi Books of 2019
Seems like an obvious answer, no? I certainly thought so. Of course we should be inspired by the masters, even copy them …
Continue Reading about Should We Emulate the Masters or Subvert Them?
Last night, I invited best-selling fantasy and historical fiction author Christian Cameron (Miles Cameron to his epic fantasy …
Continue Reading about Five Favorite Fantasy Novels with Best-selling Author Miles Cameron
In my latest video book review/cultural rant, I consider an odd shift going on in popular culture. We're not longer telling the …
Last week I restarted my Q&A series with authors both traditionally and independently published. My guest was the author of a …
Continue Reading about 5 Graphic Novels You May Have Never Heard of (but should read)
As I've written about extensively in my Writer's Manifesto, I strongly believe that literature of the imagination (my preferred …
Continue Reading about My Recommendations for Literature of the Imagination
Recently I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Adrian Tchaikovsky, an eminent fantasy/ sci-fi writer, had written a sequel …
Continue Reading about Cute Monsters and the Problem of Evil
Yes, I said it. I was surprised I said it. But there are some cases when the movie is actually better than the book. It's rare, …
Continue Reading about Arrival – the Movie is Better Than the Book (Gasp!)
You know we all love them--those fantasy books we read as kids. Those fairy tales that stuck with us all day and kept us up at …
Continue Reading about My 5 Favorite Children’s Fantasy Series
So a few weeks ago, I did a wonderful podcast recording with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, who has just started a new Tolkien …
Continue Reading about Amon Sûl Podcast: The Bridge of Kotar-dûm
Game of Thrones fever is getting bad again, just months before the last seasons airs. While I'm ambivalent about the series …
Continue Reading about The Wheel of Time and Identity in Fantasy Literature
Does it surprise you that one of the most popular and critically acclaimed books of the last few years is a straight-up retelling …
Continue Reading about Why Are the Ancient Myths Still So Popular?