Writer’s conventions have powerful utility for the aspiring author. I suspect they are pretty damn helpful for seasoned writers, as well.
I recently spent a long weekend at Conflux, the annual speculative fiction writer’s conference held in Canberra. I’ve been …
Existentialist literature is the purest form of noir, but it isn’t the best.
Noir film and novels, according to various definitions, usually involve a morally ambiguous main character, a seedy underworld, femme fatale, corrupt system, bleak ending, and lots of …
Without wanting to be judgemental, anyone who enjoyed The Amazing Spider Man 2 is a bad human being, and any critic who thought it was okay needs to resign from their profession in shame. The film desecrates cinema, insults the …
Update: as you’ll see on the right, the art accompanying my story for the upcoming issue of Interzone looks
remarkable (click for larger image). The rest of the preview for the September-October issue is available here. I believe it …
Fathers are just as capable as mothers at rearing a child. As a stay-at-home father, this seems like a statement of the obvious to me. Rhetorically, it is something we are hearing more and more. 
Yet, culturally, deep prejudice persists …
Snowpiercer is one of the most visually stunning, violent, and at turns bizarre science fiction films of the past few years. It is rich with ideas, originality and intelligence, and as such, is the rarest of flowers in an otherwise …
If my reviews don’t seem timely it’s partly because my cinematic viewing schedule is determined by the availability of DVDs from my friendly local Ha Noi street vendor. He, I am sure, is a licenced proprietor of aforementioned DVDs
I’ve …
I’ve been struck by a bolt of literary lightning flung from the gods of science fiction. My injuries are unbridled joy, creeping paranoia, and a sudden case of stage fright.
So as I mentioned two or three weeks back, I’d …
The Left Hand of Darkness
I came to Ursula Le Guin in my early 30s. Voracious readers and lovers of science fiction would consider this sacrilege: she is after all, one of the giants of the genre.
But I’m very …
Well, I’ve finished the first draft of my novel. The natural corollary of this is telling you what you should learn from my experience.
There’s a paradox with writing advice. The people who most need it, and those that seek …
