Paul

Rebirth and Alienation

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There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.—George Orwell Every day, minions labor in the clouds to come up with some new meteorological phenomena. A polar vortex, a microburst, that sort of thing. But when they’ve lost their creative mojo … Read more

Book Review: Wandering Star by Steven Anderson

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I just finished Wandering Star by Steven Anderson. I read the Audible.com audiobook, but it’s also available in print and eBook. Geologist Ted Holloman is on the science team of an interstellar reunification project. As he hops from one planet to the next aboard the ship Wandering Star, he avoids an assassination attempt, discovers a … Read more

How to Fill a Wastebasket

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At the keyboard

We’re watering our trees again. While the mild weather facilitated this morning’s pre-dawn bathrobe-and-slippers dog walk, at this point I’d prefer a foot of snow. I can keep wishing. Colorado’s second-worst drought since 1895 is unlikely to break anytime soon. Like the weather, my writing has dried up. I’ve done nothing but rough drafts for … Read more

Order First Encounters Today

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First Encounters. A Speculative Fiction Anthology. After numerous late nights laboring over word choice, endless debates regarding the Oxford comma, and scratching our heads raw as we navigated the self-publishing industry, my critique group has produced its first annual anthology. Read my story Jimmy’s Hat, then tell me who did a better job portraying Jimmy … Read more

Prepare for First Encounters

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It’s been five months since my last blog. Instead of writing to you, my faithful half-dozen readers, I watched my dad desiccate like an autumn leaf. It’s easy for me to forget he’s gone. If I hear a good joke, I imagine sharing it with him in that brief moment before I realize I can’t. … Read more

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

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The RMFW 2020 Anthology, Wild: Uncivilized Tales, is now available. I’m happier than a puppet husky in a snowstorm to have my story in print. The Re-creation of Sahmik Ghee is a science fiction retelling of the classic poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee. Two hunters set out on the frozen frontier of a distant … Read more

Geordi’s Visor

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The days run away like wild horses over the hills, according to Charles Bukowski, and that’s my only excuse for not blogging more about technology. But the news that a company is curing blindness with sci-fi tech straight out of Star Trek compelled me to blog. In a 2011 TED talk, Dr. Sheila Nirenberg described … Read more

Writing Under Lockdown

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I hope this update finds my half-dozen loyal readers healthy and free of COVID-19. In my previous update dated February 27, I thought COVID-19 was something distant and intangible. But for the past three months our lives have turned into a dystopian apocalypse. The Pandemic as Science Fiction For more than a century, stories like … Read more