Giants in War: Frost Giants & Firbolgs
When I attended Balticon 50 over Memorial Day Weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing an amazing panel that looked at created religions in science fiction and fantasy. I arrived...
Eleanor Konik
Colonization: Battling Man, Battling Nature
Lately I have been trying to plan out the latter books of my fantasy series, the Chronicles of Verraine. As with the prequel I discussed, I’d like to have a plan firmly in...
Curious Disasters: Failed Marriages in Folklore
It’s hardly a secret that folk tales exist to deliver a message. Most people can name a piece of folklore that warns about the dangers of talking to strangers, or...
History’s Leaders: Great Men or Sons of Society?
I’ve mentioned before that my novel features a religious element. It’s a central part of the conflict that a small, anti-mage religious sect became very powerful after a cataclysmic series...
Fermi’s Paradox and Mythology as Science
I know a few people who get a real kick out of those History channel shows where they talk about how all of humanity’s greatest achievements are all due to aliens, and...
Exaggeration: History Becomes Myth
It was the Black Company series by Glen Cook that made me realize how often history becomes myth, exaggerated beyond meaningful belief. The Books of Glittering Stone detail a religion...
The Electoral College: Tyranny & Treason
I recently read a Facebook post where a former coworker of mine declared that any Superdelegate or member of the Electoral College who “voted against the will of the people”...
Migration: Immigration vs. Invasion
Tensions in America over immigration are, once again, reaching a fever pitch. Nativism has been a problem since the founding of our country; even Franklin and Jefferson fought over the citizenship of German...
Myth Cycles: the Prevalence of War in Religious Texts
As I research background for my novel, I’ve noticed that many of the stories from which we’ve gained our understanding of ancient cultures have fundamental similarities. It’s common to find...
Fictional History: An Exercise in Loglines
I believe that the history of a fictional world should be compelling in its own right. Our history is frequently made into stories, be they wildly exaggerated ancient epics like...
