Having slogged through two long reviews/rants about the “official” Star Trek show currently airing (not on TV though), I can now reward myself by talking about the REAL spiritual successor to the Star Trek I grew up on and have loved for pretty much my whole life, The Orville. A lot has been said already about this show, andContinue reading “Let’s Talk About The Orville”
Author Archives: yakovmerkin
Going Full Space Opera: The Galaxy Ascendant
There have been a couple of very interesting, and, for me, relevant articles made over the last day or so, on the topic of space opera. Of most relevance is a post by Bradford C. Walker, regarding what he is looking for when he ventures into the realm of space opera. Of particular note, isContinue reading “Going Full Space Opera: The Galaxy Ascendant”
Creating a Non-Human Species From the Character Up
I did a similar post several years ago, but due to the fact that I have no had more experience creating non-human characters and species, and thus have a more streamline process, I figured it was worth doing a follow-up. (Quick note: there shouldn’t be any spoilers here for either A Greater Duty or A Looming Shadow.)Continue reading “Creating a Non-Human Species From the Character Up”
Review/Rant: Star Trek: Discovery (Episodes 3&4)
As promised, I’m doing another review of ST:D. I honestly haven;t been looking forward to it, but seeing as episodes 3&4 are the true first episodes of this series, and there is so, so much wrong here as well. I don’t plan on reviewing the rest, though I may try and find and watch moreContinue reading “Review/Rant: Star Trek: Discovery (Episodes 3&4)”
No One Expects the SFWA Inquisition
There was a special Geek Gab episode today, and a bit of a different one, as it dealt with politics–albeit those within the science fiction and fantasy publishing world. Jon Del Arroz talks with Daddy Warpig on the attacks he has faced by SFWA and its SJW allies. This is an important watch for anyContinue reading “No One Expects the SFWA Inquisition”
Review/Rant: Star Trek: Discovery (Episodes 1&2)
Ooookay. After hyping this a bit on Twitter, I really hope this delivers. Before we get to the ST:D, however, a bit of background. I was practically raised on Star Trek. My parents have been huge fans of the original series since well before I was born, and they own the entire thing on VHS. Yes,Continue reading “Review/Rant: Star Trek: Discovery (Episodes 1&2)”
Alien Lives Matter: Introducing the Burroughs Test
I was recently made aware of this excellent post over at SuperversiveSF by Nate Winchester (thanks to Rawle Nyanzi for bringing it to my attention.) In the article, Nate addresses the “current year” issue of “representation” in fiction, that being where people on the Left, primarily SJWs, make the “diversity” of a film’s cast aContinue reading “Alien Lives Matter: Introducing the Burroughs Test”
Excuses, Excuses
So it seems that “mega-author” John Scalzi is having trouble getting writing in–because of President Trump, and recent bad weather (which did not directly impact where he lives.) Author Brian Niemeier already commented on this development far better than I can, and his post triggered Scalzi so much that he publicly called out Brian (andContinue reading “Excuses, Excuses”
Writing Non-Human Characters Part 2: Pitfalls to Avoid
Now that I’ve hopefully made the case for writing non-human characters in the first place, we can move on to the actual creative process. And I figured best to get the negative parts of it out of the way first, hence pitfalls. I will preface this by saying that while the pitfalls I will discussContinue reading “Writing Non-Human Characters Part 2: Pitfalls to Avoid”
A Call to Arms
In my last post, I brought up the culture war, and some of the reasons why people on the Right essentially ceded the creative fields to the left, and hasn’t supported ideological allies who come under attack by the leftist mobs. fortunately, however, there has been resistance to the creeping cancer recently. We had #GamerGateContinue reading “A Call to Arms”
Writing, Ascendant 