Articles & Commentary

Beyond the reviews, the following are more in-depth looks at books and areas in the publishing industry, video games, and broader culture which keep me thinking, for better or worse...

Phase Three: Z-Factor TCGs

New Year, Few Titles: The Science Fiction Blues

Altered TCG Is Slipping: What in Tumult Is Going On?

Horus Heresy Series: Symptom or Substance?

Second Look: A Reread of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen

Gush-Gush-Gush:Balancing the Internet Review Formula

Did We Watch the Same Series? Defending Game of Thrones Season 8

Close But No Cigar: Response to Library of America's Nine Classic Science Fiction Novels of the 1950s

Fantasy Fiction: The Farce of Complex Characters

Why the Excitement?: Hollywood's Adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale's The Thicket

"Critically Acclaimed": What a Difference a Few Decades Makes

Coddling Readers: Spengler May Be Right

Something3: Get Onboard?

Witcher Witcher Witcher: Third Time Not a Charm

A Spade a Spade: Verifiability in Book Reviews

Tailspin: The Decline of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale Series

Today and Tomorrow: A Second Look at A Song of Ice and Fire

Deep Cave Guru, Bandwagon Rider, and Used Car Salesman: The Wave of DEI in Fiction Is Cresting

Sauron's Eye vs. Cosmic Evil: Comparing The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game to Arkham Horror: The Card Game

The Bubble Bursts: The Golden Age of Culture in Response to Ukraine

Past to Present: Ranking the Star Wars Films

It's Likely Not What You Think: Literary vs. Genre Fiction

Weighing a Critique: The Book of the New Sun

Remembering Science Fiction: Q1 of the 21st Century

Skill Up's Review of Last of Us Part 2 and the Art of Video Games

Top Ten Jack Vance of All Time

Green Faced: The State of Fantasy on the Market

State of Publishing: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Fiction in 2018

What Comes Next: Questions & Potential Answers Regarding The No-God Duology

Playing Both Sides Against the Middle: Politics and Money in Contemporary Genre Publishing

Tunnel Vision: Exclusivity in Science Fiction in Robert J. Sawyer’s Review of Oryx and Crake

Would You Like to read Me?: Snapshot of Book Publicity at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Star Wars-ars-ars-ars: Why Zahn Did It Better

Awards Like Stars in the Sky: The Canopus

Pyrite Age 2: Pulp Rides, Again

2015 Hugo Nominations *wince*

Bubble World: The Emptiness of Pulp

Diamonds in the Rough: Overlooked Gems of the Gollancz SF Series

Hugo 2014! Hugo 2014! Read All About It!

Grimdark: The "Real" Truth 

Two Cents on the Hugo: It's Worth?

Seeing the Unseen: The Cultural Significance of China Mieville's The City & the City 

Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle: Paralleling Contemporary Theory with an Eye to the Past - Part I & Part II

The Uncertainty of Reality: William Gibson's Sprawl Series

“Fictionally Interesting” Science Fiction: A Response to Alastair Reynolds

The Mythopoeic Fantasy of Journey to the West: China’s Monomyth - Part I & Part II

A Slow Exhale: The Consistency of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Stepping Stones: The Ideas Bridging The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Rocket Talk: Aiming for the Stars and Hitting a Streetlight

Out of the Phone Booth Dressed in Black: Response to Benjanun Sriduangkaew's Alter Online Ego