Authors can go to extraordinary lengths to build their fictional worlds. They have travelled the world, and spent decades in research. James Cameron has gone where few men have gone before–in ocean depths that few have ever seen. Based on his research he wrote The Abyss (one of my favourite movies ever) and Titanic. J.R.R. Tolkien invented […]
Tolkien’s Sources… Read More »
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction writer who is also a political activist, with a lot to say about capitalism, most of it not nice. He does not mince words. Recently, he wrote a long post that is of relevance to both authors and readers. ‘How a billionaire’s mediocre pump-and-dump “book” became a “bestseller“‘ takes
Helping Authors Without Spending A Penny Read More »
Under one of my other pen names, I received an email from a reader who had found a post I wrote years ago, debunking the myths about crop circles. His email was a single line, which I will paraphrase: You write about magic, but you don’t think crop circles are supernatural? I admit my jaw
Authors Must Write About What They Believe? Read More »
142 years ago, Queen Victorian narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by Roderick Maclean, who was offended by the Queen’s response to some poetry he sent to her. It was the last of eight attempts by separate people to kill or assault Victoria over a period of four decades…and Victoria is considered to be one of
Assassination as a tool of Statecraft Read More »