Reboots: What Batman Can Learn from Bond

Bond

The arrival of Skyfall at my house this week, along with the announcement that Star Wars will be doing spin-off stories, has had me thinking quite a bit about reboots. It’s funny that a franchise like Bond, which was wallowing in its own mediocrity not even a decade ago, could become the poster child for how to reinvigorate an intellectual property, but I guess stranger things have happened — like J.J. Abrams sitting astride two of the most beloved sci-fi universes that have been or ever will be created. Or Daniel Craig turning out to be one heck of a Bond. Seriously, did anyone see either of those things coming? Continue reading →

The Ongoing Battle: Content Versus Time

Doctor Who

There will never be enough time to consume all the content you love.

Yikes, that seems really cynical when I look at it again. But alas, I feel like it’s true — or at the very least, it’s true for me. There will never be enough time to watch all the shows I want to see, read all the books I’m dying to read (including graphic novels and comic books) or take in all the brilliant Internet posts that are waiting in that gigantic online whirlpool.

Because you see, as crappy as it is to say, we’ve only got a finite amount of time in which to consume this content. Continue reading →

Rule Dumps in Fantasy

After my post about writing bad epic fantasy the other day, a friend of mine had a nit to pick with me regarding one of my qualms with the genre.

“Friend!” she cried, brandishing a steel sword kissed by Death. “I disagree with your list!”

“Bring your most logical argument!” I shrieked in reply, magical power coiling around me like a writhing serpent.

Actually, none of that happened. We were playing 7 Wonders around a dinner table, and she said she didn’t like that I said rule dumps were lame. But sometimes I really do wish my life had magical battles. Continue reading →

How to Write Epic Fantasy

Lodoss

I’ve got a strange love-hate thing going on with epic fantasy, guys. In some ways, it was my first love. High tales of chosen one heroes and grandiose adventure-taking is what spawned my love of reading in the first place. Things like Record of Lodoss War, the Wheel of Time, Final Fantasy games and the like. Despite the genre’s numerous downfalls, it’s the thing that I still want to write again someday, even if I’m a bit burned out on epic fantasy as a whole for the moment.

So, in preparation for that day of passionate reunion, of once again walking the fields of Middle Earth or a loving rip-off of it, here are some of the best tips I can give you on how to write the most amazing, generic epic fantasy of all time.

Note: And for the record, none of this is serious. It’s so hard to tell over the intertubes, sometimes.

Continue reading →

A Glimpse of a Robot Gangster

I can’t seem to make up my mind these days. I’ve got lots of life stuff going on and I’m zipping around between a million ideas. The most achievable of these is a short story concept that I’ve been sitting on for a little bit, so I decided I would knock that out this month before jumping back into another big project. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to really polish something that I wanted (or needed) the satisfaction of doing something short and sweet that I could finish quickly.

That doesn’t mean it’s been easy, though. After all these 100,000 word dragons, I’m discovering the 5,000 word eagle still has talons, too. Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 6

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Several months after part 5, here we are at Part 6 (of 7) of my re-read of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. And here I thought I’d knock this thing out in just three short essays. I apologize for the delay, but Jurassic Park knows best when it tells us that “life finds a way”, and that includes interrupting all of our plans to write about wizards.

In this edition, we talk about Ridgebacks, centaurs and the stars. The end of our last session found Harry spying on Severus as he threatens Quirrell for the Sorcerer’s Stone. Or so it seems. Dun dun dun, and so forth. Continue reading →

Why I Love the Internet: The Tale of Qwikster

There are some things that are so Internet that you can’t even begin to describe them. I’m sorry not to have a better word for the bizarre organic phenomena that occur across this vast network of tubes, but I’m sure someone smarter than me will come up with one and make a billion dollars while I cry into my Voltron blanket.

In case you aren’t a Netflix subscriber, or you didn’t read that weird personalized e-mail from CEO Reed Hastings, you might have missed out on the news that Netflix is splitting DVD and Streaming not only into two plans — but separate businesses. Continue reading →

Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Part 5

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Prior Incantato: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Prior Incantato: In Harry Potter, a spell that can reveal the last spell performed by a particular wand. In other words — magic revisited.

HP Mirror

After a long Labor Day weekend, Prior Incantato is back, with the piece of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that I’ve been waiting to cover ever since I first got the idea for this thing. We’re going to talk about mirrors, desires, phantoms and Flamels. At the end of Part 4, Harry vanquished a troll and got his Quidditch on. What’s next? Continue reading →

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