Godlike superheroes

Holy Week encompasses extreme lows as we remember Jesus was beaten and crucified, and the brightest, incomprehensible joys in His resurrection. Herein also lies a fissure between the reality of Jesus and the expectations of humanity. Jesus’ life is well chronicles in the Bible. His humble, miraculous birth to a virgin is told in our […]

March 31, 2024 | Posted in faith, Story Courses
The Distorted Feminism of Dune

SPOILERS ABOUND WITHIN THIS ARTICLE It might be said that one of the reasons Dune is so well loved is that there are enough elements to the story that readers with different interests can enjoy the same story. Director Denis Villeneuve focuses on a number of things in his films including Paul’s reluctance to ascend to power, […]

March 17, 2024 | Posted in Commentary
The Controversial Nature of the YA Genre

From time to time a brouhaha stirs up around the idea of what qualifies as a YA book. Generally this begins with the insistence that a true YA book is written for a teen audience, which would seem self-evident. The genre, after all, is Young Adult. And yet… if it were so simple there wouldn’t […]

November 18, 2023 | Posted in Commentary
A New Tattered Heart

So, I have done the unexpected, the unconventional, perhaps the unwise but it’s done regardless. I have (sort of) rewritten Tattered Heart. The Long Version (There’s a Short Version you can skip down to, if you don’t want to read all this) Years ago, I mean YEARS ago, I bought a compilation of The Lyra […]

December 19, 2022 | Posted in Tattered Heart
5 Essential Lessons from Shadow and Bone

It’s hard to know what to say with Shadow and Bone. Are these lessons in writing? Are they lessons in adaptation? I think they must be a bit of both since there’s only 8 episodes to work with, a popular book to draw from and all sorts of things to say. **there’s like spoilers everywhere […]

May 1, 2021 | Posted in 5 lessons
5 Essential Lessons from Timeless

Timeless is one of those shows that I misjudged, badly.  I saw the previews when it debuted on NBC and didn’t think it looked that interesting or that the characters seemed that compelling.  If they’d advertised the auspices of the show I’d probably have given the pilot a chance since I like Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke […]

January 19, 2020 | Posted in 5 lessons, Story Courses, tv
NovaTeen 2019

NoVaTeen is a book festival put on every year in the DC area by One More Page Books and a couple of county libraries (there’s several counties all clustered together around here). The focus is on YA books and authors and every year it’s a great blend of interesting, serious topics with lighthearted, frivolous fun. […]

April 8, 2019 | Posted in author events, Life
5 Essential Lessons from Roswell, New Mexico

The first three minutes of the original Roswell pilot are some of my favorite moments on tv, ever. One scene in BSG also makes the top 5 list, but this is about Roswell. That haunting Sarah McLachlan song, the urgency and intimacy of it all was absolutely captivating when it first aired and it’s never […]

March 13, 2019 | Posted in 5 lessons, Story Courses, tv
110 Planets

I need to lay some groundwork for The Helion Chronicles because my “science” is probably going to shock some people. There is a great deal of the science in these stories that is absolutely made up. They are science fiction set thousands of years in the future so I didn’t feel the need to make […]

June 4, 2018 | Posted in Helion Chronicles
5 Essential Lessons from Eureka

Eureka is now on Amazon Prime so it’s a good time to catch up if you haven’t watched it before. There’s 5 seasons which is a good blend of enough episodes to keep you entertained but not drown you in a show you never finish. When it first aired, I watched the pilot and a […]

May 28, 2018 | Posted in 5 lessons, Story Courses, tv