Robo-Inversions

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Rawle Nyanzi

Brian Niemeier, Bradford C. Walker, and myself each have novels about mecha out. Brian has Combat Frame Xseed, now on its third installment. Brad has Reavers of the Void, the first installment of his Star Knight series. And finally, I have Shining Tomorrow Volume 1: Shadow Heart.

What’s interesting about each of these is that each one inverts the basic premise of a well-known sci-fi property. While the stories generally bear no resemblance, the settings in particular act as photo negatives of properties that have far more spread.

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The Way the Earth Treats Us

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Rawle Nyanzi

Many years ago, I ran into a video called If the Earth Treated Us the Way We Treat the Earth. One can look at it and merely see it as a sketch mocking climate change skeptics, but this video makes a far more profound point than it realizes.

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Faerie of the Scientific Age

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Rawle Nyanzi

Aliens, as commonly depicted, are faerie. There is no two ways about it; they serve the same role in modern times that the fair folk and demons did in earlier eras, especially before the Enlightenment.

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My Plans for 2020

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Rawle Nyanzi

2019 has come and gone, and the year 2020 is upon us. That means, for example, that when we speak of the ’20s from now on, we’re referring to this decade,* not the 1920s.

But besides that, here are my goals for this year.

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Veena

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Rawle Nyanzi

Veena, as pictured on the cover. Can you spot the flaw on the cover? If you read either this novel or Gideon Ira, it should be obvious.

At long last, friend of the blog Adam Lane Smith has released a new entry in his Deus Vult Wastelanders series. This novel is Valkyrie Doll and the Ashen Brotherhood, a story about VE3-N4 or “Veena,” an android who believes in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ but does not have a soul herself, and whose programming compels her to protect humanity and fight the demonic forces of evil in the hellish ruins of what was once America.

But I’m not here to summarize the story, but to gush about its protagonist, Veena. There will be no spoilers.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I read an advance copy sent to me by the author.

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My Short Film Has a New Home

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Rawle Nyanzi

A few days ago, I talked about how COPPA forced me to disable my Youtube channel due to unclear rules about what constitutes content for children. In particular, I was concerned about how my short animated film, Defeat the Witch, would be perceived since a misclassification could result in a $40,000 fine.

But now, my short film has a new online home: VidLii. You can watch it here (though the quality isn’t so good.)

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Changes in Light of COPPA

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Rawle Nyanzi

As you may be aware, the Federal Trade Commission is cracking the whip on Youtube and Youtubers after a $170 million fine was imposed on parent company Google. The thing is, the FTC isn’t merely going after big, juicy targets, but also smaller YouTubers.

Video Game Story Time summarizes this pretty well:

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Historical Fiction

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Rawle Nyanzi

As time went on, I noticed something about big geek media IP, whether Western or Japanese. It’s hard to describe, but I’ll call it “sterility” — a sense that the stories being told are totally divorced from real-world history. Everything appears to be specifically tailored to either cause little hubbub (the Japanese stuff and some Western stuff) or focus on current events (mostly the Western stuff.) Pools of reference are limited to other IP, and where it does engage with history, it only does so incidentally at most.

I have an opinion on why that is. Now, to disclaim: I’m only speculating. If you think I’m wrong about this, feel free to tell me in the comments.

I think that most big IP shies away from history because their creators either sell the art globally or want to do so, and engaging with history risks causing offense.

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Posted in Fantasy | Tagged | 14 Comments

The Persistence and Promise of Cirsova

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Rawle Nyanzi

The very first issue.

There’s a particular short story magazine that chugs along like a little engine that could. In spite of financial challenges and some less-than-stellar sales figures, it keeps on keeping on through periodic crowdfunds and targeted marketing.

I’m talking about Cirsova, the Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense, founded in 2016 by P. Alexander, a Twitter buddy of mine who did the interior formatting for both of my novels Sword & Flower and Shining Tomorrow.

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Adjusting my #BrandZero Praxis

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Rawle Nyanzi

Earlier, I detailed how I would do the #BrandZero practice of not mentioning major brands. I had initially started with a very strong position of not mentioning big brands in any context at all, whether woke or not.

However, yesterday’s blog post required me to mention a big brand so as to illustrate a point. Since I want to illustrate storytelling techniques like this in future blog posts, I have decided to adjust my #BrandZero praxis.

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