More than four years ago, I wrote a fairly popular post on writing non-human characters, which I think shows that I am far from the only writer interested in writing such characters. I think now is as good a time as any to revisit the topic and expand on it. Also, to be clear, forContinue reading “Writing Non-Human Characters Part 1: Why Do It?”
Author Archives: yakovmerkin
On Dragon Awards Drama, and Author-Reader Relations
Once again, I find myself compelled to make a quick, off-the-cuff post despite having a number of other things I would rather–and should be–doing. This wasn’t the most productive week for me, in part due to non-writing obligations, but that doesn’t lessen the workload. (And, I recently learned that I finally have a confirmed dateContinue reading “On Dragon Awards Drama, and Author-Reader Relations”
On Identity
The word identity, or perhaps, the concept of identity, has become increasingly politicized of late, first with the general rise of identity politics, and, more recently, with identitarian movements that, seeing as identity politics are here to stay, they have to make strong statements regarding who they are. As for me, personally, while I sympathizeContinue reading “On Identity”
Why I Write Space Opera, and Why it’s Awesome
The question, “Why do you write [insert genre, type of story]?” is one that writers can be certain someone will as at one point or another. So, I think I’ll get the jump on that question, or at least on one of my answers, as I also write fantasy, and plan to write historical fantasyContinue reading “Why I Write Space Opera, and Why it’s Awesome”
Pulp Speed
For those who missed it, yesterday there was a great episode of Brian Niemeier’s Geek Gab: On the Books. In this week’s episode, he spoke with author Lucas Flint, on the topic of pulp speed. What is pulp speed, you might ask? Put simply, according to prolific writer Dean Wesley Smith, it is more ofContinue reading “Pulp Speed”
History Repeating Itself: Tish’a B’Av Today.
(Disclaimer: This touches on both political and religious issues. As I’ve said in the past, posts like this will by no means be a regular feature here, as I would much rather focus on my writings, but there are things that need to be said, and when I deem it necessary, I will say it.)Continue reading “History Repeating Itself: Tish’a B’Av Today.”
PulpFail
Brian Niemeier recently put up an excellent post on his website, in which he discusses the reasons pulp historian and author of Appendix N, Jeffro Johnson, gave for why Rogue One: A Star Wars Story failed to meet the pulp tone and standards of the original trilogy. Many of these issues are similar to the ones I hadContinue reading “PulpFail”
The Reformation of Star Wars
This is technically a share of a share, but I saw the original post through Nick Cole’s site, so it followed that I should link to his page. The post which he shared is actually a review of Galaxy’s Edge: Galactic Outlaws, the second book in the Galaxy’s Edge series, written by Nick Cole andContinue reading “The Reformation of Star Wars”
Misrepresenting History–Again
I have numerous writing projects I’d rather be working on right now, but, yet again, I’m seeing people misrepresent the piece of history which I spent a great deal of time researching and writing about. To write something every time someone wrote an article with outright falsehoods, mistakes, and over-generalizations about Miklos Horthy and theContinue reading “Misrepresenting History–Again”
A Call for Beta Readers for The Scarred Princess
Time to add something else to the growing list of new things I’m doing this year. I’ve asked publicly for beta readers before, but it was always either in relevant Facebook groups I was a part of or generally on my Facebook page, not here on this site. However, there are hopefully people that readContinue reading “A Call for Beta Readers for The Scarred Princess”
Writing, Ascendant 