Category Archives: Writing Journal

Members of the Science Fiction podcast can read the full script for the video essay on Philip K. Dick and narrative warfare. Sign in or Join for access.

Every generation gets The Batman it deserves. 40s Batman was a hardboiled PI. 60s Batman was a hipster for the hippy beats. 80s Batman was a city slicker. And 00s Batman was literally the American Psycho. Now in the 2020s the archetype of The Batman has reached its darkest manifestation literally…did this movie have anyContinue reading “Incel Batman”

Science Fiction Season 2 The season break is over, Science Fiction returns this weekend with a major new video essay on Star Citizen, the false paradise of the Open World, and the meaning crisis.

Answering some of the repeat objections to my Three Body Problem video This Is Clickbait – there’s a huge amount of uncritical coverage of 3BP, very few people have taken the time to question the pro-authoritarian stance of the book. I think the gushing essays and videos saying “this is how hard SF should be”Continue reading “Answering some of the repeat objections to my Three Body Problem video”

Us. My “Writing Hacks” course includes 11 “hacks” or heuristics to improve your writing. 3 of these heuristics are in the 4 word title The Last of Us. – small words pack a punch – load meaning into the last word of a sentence – pronouns are powerful Us. A pronoun at the end ofContinue reading “The US in The Last of Us”

Why do many Star Wars fans insist that George Lucas did not know that Vader / Anakin were the same person? Lucas is 100% clear in interviews that he knew the Star Wars backstory at the time of shooting the first Star Wars movie. And the Vader / Anakin reveal is clearly foreshadowed through AContinue reading “The lie that makes Star Wars sublime”

Tony Gilroy has said that Andor wasn’t meant to be political, and any meaning came through “instinctively”. He’s also said Cassian Andor’s story is directly based on the life of Jospeh Stalin. So. Deliberate or not, Andor has Marxist ideology baked into its core. The story of a protagonist-of-color, from a native tribe destroyed byContinue reading “Andor is a Marxist story”

The Tales From The Bridge crew invited me for a return appearance on their fine podcast to defend the honor of Iain M Banks from their skepticism. We have a great chat about good writing, bad writing, the genius work of Iain M. Banks, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,  theContinue reading “What’s so great about Iain M Banks?”

Watch the video essay on YouTube: