Conniption Fodder
Any political differences I might have with the Puppies, any feelings of dismay I might have about the racism and homophobia and sheer unpleasantness displayed by some of them, are secondary. What...
View ArticleWhat You Find Putting Lovecraft “In the Context of His Time”
On the subject of Lovecraft, to which we keep returning: My own take is that he was supremely talented at describing dread and disgust and horrifically deficient in describing anything else; his...
View ArticleWhile I’m At It
And another thing. A small thing, really. “I am among the finest writers working today.” Who the fuck even says that? Writers are permitted ego. You need ego to think that any silly shit that comes out...
View ArticleEnough With the Fershlugginer Chocolate Cake, Already
Look, I’m going to explain this in terms you might be able to understand. I like chocolate cake just fine. I think chocolate cake is one of the things that makes life worth living. As a fat guy, I not...
View ArticleThe Giant Becomes A Smaller Part of the Landscape
John Scalzi wrote, “the fetishization of Robert Heinlein creeps me the fuck out.” Me, too. And let me explain precisely what I do, and don’t, mean by that.… First, this is what Heinlein means to me. I...
View ArticleOn Reviewing A Writer’s New Work By Panning 30-Year-Old Books
If someone tells you online or in person that he’s just read a book by a given writer and pronounces it superior, you cannot win an argument about the quality of the writer by declaring that you gave...
View ArticleSome of My Unpopular Opinions
Some Of My Unpopular Opinions: * The death of Scarlett O’Hara’s daughter is the campiest scene in GONE WITH THE WIND, unintentionally hilarious as dramatized. * And aside from a few effective...
View ArticleWriters Should Not Let Scorpions Nest on Their Sensitive Flesh
Originally published on Facebook 7 May 2013. Edited for this publication. Josh Olson, a screenwriter, wrote an essay called “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script.” Its thesis was that if you had a...
View ArticleOn the Necessary Art of Verbal Self-Defense
Originally published on Facebook 11 July 2016. David Gerrold has a post up today about being fast and ruthless with a comeback, and not particularly looking for opportunities to show it. Guys: the same...
View ArticleTolerance for Cthulhu
Origingally pulished on Facebook in 2015. My mind just drew an interesting mental parallel between the Lovecraftian protagonist exposed to some cosmic terror so vast that it drives him mad, and the...
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