The following was written essentially to let off steam, and is not to be taken as an attempt to bring others around to share my opinions — excellent and worthy as those opinions may be. I look forward to discussion, even if that discussion should include violent (but civil, for we are always civil here) disagreement with the opinions expressed below.




When it comes to the rules of good writing, there are three different...

This is a revised version of something I posted in my forum a few years ago. I hope it might provoke some lively discussion. Because it's longer than the software will allow for one blog entry, I will have to post it in two parts.

Cynicism, Realism, Sensationalism — and Where DID I Misplace that Sense of Wonder?

Part I

After using The Lord of the Rings as a convenient reference point in earlier entries, I’m going to begin this one by allowing the author...

Part II

Now I don’t believe that any one work of fiction, all by itself, ever did or ever would drastically alter the way that readers think. What I do believe is that a book can reinforce and encourage ideas that we already have or already feel inclined to adopt. When somebody reads a book, they are most likely to take away something very similar to what they brought with them.

But do we read fantasy to confirm what we think we already know? Or is the best fantasy...

That's right, folks! Your favourite emu (actually, I might not show up as an emu here... maybe one of those sepia emo types, with a custom location, I might add, but not an emu, alas) has fallen in love! It's taken me eighteen years, six months and twenty-nine days, but I've finally been struck by cupid's arrow.

Her name is Tactus. Optimus Tactus. We call her little Oppy-Tac for short, and damn is she fiiiine.

She's also a keyboard, but who are you to say that such a...