My fondest memory of X-COM (the original 1994 game) was my first base defense mission. Which happened to be the first mission of the campaign. The run began swimmingly. I established my first base on the coast of North Africa. From here I could cover a goodly portion of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle […]
The New Age of Book Burning
This week saw two attempts by book burners to take down offensive literature. One was successful, the other failed. Both attempts are instructive for authors to prepare for the realities of modern-day publishing and digital book burning. The Case of Amelie Wen Zhao Born in Paris, raised in China, and now living and working in […]
Silicon Valley Strikes Again
The past week has seen the giants of Silicon Valley crack down on conservative voices on their platforms. Candace Owens was locked out of Twitter on Sunday after she copied and edited old tweets from New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong. The following day, Infowars was banned from most social media platforms. On Thursday, Microsoft threatened to […]
The Nihilism of The Punisher MAX
The Punisher presents Marvel with a dilemma. A Vietnam veteran who lost his family during a Mafia hit, Frank Castle transformed himself into the vigilante Punisher to wage a one-man war on crime. His defining traits are his ruthless and lethality. Unlike other superheroes, he is perfectly willing to kill everyone who enters his sights. […]
Crazy Rich Asians Versus Social Justice
In the West, Crazy Rich Asians is praised for its diversity and its representation of minorities. In Singapore, where the story is set, it has sparked outrage from the diversity brigade over its lack of diversity and representation of minorities. This is why you cannot win the diversity game. Based on the bestselling novel, Crazy Rich Asians tells the […]
Google’s Stealth Censorship Campaign against Guns is A Failure
Yesterday, without warning, Google Shopping blacklisted a series of gun-related terms. Searching for words like ‘gun’, ‘AR-15’ and ‘rifle’ returned no results. But, like all blanket bans, this blacklist had unintended consequences. As you can see above, ‘gun’ returned no results. But so did everything with ‘gun’ in it. Including: In its zeal to censor […]
The War on Truth and Free Thought
The Bible posits that the world is in the grip of the Father of Lies. With each passing day I am inclined to agree. Today there is a war on truth and free thought. It is a war fought on the airwaves, in the newsroom, on social media, in print and in lectures. It is […]
Drama at the Dragon Awards
The Dragon Awards made a colossal mistake: it caved to the whims of writers who disrespected their fans. Alison Littlewood and N.K. Jemisin withdrew their novels from the Dragon Awards nomination. John Scalzi, who initially withdrew, decided to withdraw his withdrawal. The former two claimed they were being used as proxies in the culture war. […]
Between SocJus and PulpRev at the Dragon Awards
The science fiction and fantasy community is divided by a long-standing culture war. On one side are the social justice warriors and their allies, who wish nothing more than to churn out thinly-disguised propaganda and shut down everyone who disagrees with them. On the other are PulpRev, Superversive, the Sad and Rabid Puppies and those […]
The Dark Tower Movie Won’t Come Close to the Dark Tower Novels
Watching the Dark Tower movie trailer, I understood immediately that Hollywood had once again taken a beloved franchise and warped it into something barely recognisable. Part of these changes are necessary. Adapting a novel into a movie requires requires the filmmakers to make massive changes to fit the new medium. It is a difficult process […]