Today when people think of science fiction and fantasy, chances are, they think of two separate genres. Science fiction, the genre of starships and computers and technology. Fantasy, the genre of knights and dragons and castles. Two distinct genres, and never the twain shall meet. The meeting of the two, science fantasy, was the exception, […]
Marcus Wynne’s THE REVENGERS
Rob the corrupt. Then kill them. Evil lurks in the streets of Minneapolis. Where the police can’t or won’t act, retired US Marines Salt and Raul Sanchez take justice into their hands. Hybrid vigilante-hitmen, they stalk their prey, rob them blind, and finish them. Permanently. Book 1, SALT, introduces readers to the world of Revengers. […]
What Makes A Story Dark?
‘Dark’ is an oft-seen descriptor for books, comics, movies, games and television shows these days. These media are usually packed with violence, swearing, sex scenes and the like. But does that really make a story dark? As I made my way through old runs of the Punisher — specifically the MAX runs, the runs filled […]
The Quest for Pulp Speed Continues!
Write fast, write well, write often. This is Pulp Speed, the foundation of pulp-style writing. With a hungry market always eager for more fiction, the pulp writer earns his bread by feeding the market everything it wants, as quickly as he can. To survive in the cutthroat business of pulp writing in the 1920s, writers […]
How to Create Believable Character Flaws
Conventional wisdom states that characters should be flawed. Nobody can relate to perfect people. Flawed characters are more believable, more likely to gain the reader’s sympathies. But the conventional wisdom doesn’t teach how. In the hands of lesser writers, this usually manifests as a grab bag of random negative traits. Alcoholism, smoking, minor but not […]
Bayani Part 1
In steel they saw the truth. For now, wooden sticks were a reasonable approximation. CRACK-CRACK-CRACK. Bayani jumped back, raising his baston to the guard. Rizal retreated too. Behind Rizal, Bayani saw a shadowed figure nod. A sheathed sword hung from the man’s loincloth. That had to be Maestro Alejandro. In the Circle, he was the […]
Changing the Game
The recipe for indie publishing success is well known. To become a bestselling author who rakes in the dough every month, you need to obey the following principles: Write in a hot genre that readers want and you can do Create a deep series — at least 5, preferably more books Produce high-quality cover for […]
Seven Manuscripts and Other Hassles
At this moment, I have seven completed manuscripts on my desk. One short story, six novels, and a non-fiction book. All of them need to be edited. While it’s a good problem to have, it does mean I won’t be writing new fiction for a while. But that’s all right. I’ll be using the downtime […]
Fantasy Without Fantasy
Modernity has ruined fantasy. At one end of the scale, there is the slice-of-life tale, with ordinary people doing ordinary things, just with some counterfactual elements. At the other end, there is a setting that appears totally foreign to our reality–and yet the people who dwell in it base their actions on values, issues and […]
Going Bright
This world is a dark world. Open a newspaper and see for yourself. Murder, genocide, civil war, assaults, rapes, kidnapping, sex trafficking, corruption, on and on, and endless litany of crimes high and petty. Any outrage, if any, will last until the moment a celebrity opens her mouth or the media moves on to the […]