Oct 20Fixing Robyn HoodRobyn Hood is a little Canadian show that has managed to gain international attention, at least online. A race and gender-swapped retelling of the Robin Hood story, it casts the legendary hero as a poor black rocker who takes up arms against John Prince, an evil land developer intent on…Storytelling7 min readStorytelling7 min read
Oct 17Revisiting the Night the Hugo Awards Burned…Eight Years LaterThis article is inspired by an incident that occurred recently on the /r/Fantasy subreddit. I had covered the Puppy Wars as a columnist for The Escapist back in 2015 and 2016. I came to it from a perspective somewhat different than most. I was a published fantasy author, but I…Hugo Awards12 min readHugo Awards12 min read
Sep 17Why You Shouldn’t be the First to Write a Fables StoryDISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, and I am neither allowed nor qualified to give legal advice. What follows is my understanding based on owning and operating a publishing company for over 15 years and having worked in a Canadian law firm as a researcher. If you want to act…Comic Books5 min readComic Books5 min read
May 18G.J. Meyer’s A World Undone and How Bad History HappensNOTE: This story has been edited for accuracy. (August 4, 2023) A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914–1918, by G.J. Meyer, is not a good popular history book. As histories of the Great War go, it has some truly bad takes, and anybody reading it is likely…History16 min readHistory16 min read
Feb 26What the Fantasy Genre REALLY NeedsPublishers. The fantasy genre needs more PUBLISHERS. And yes, this is a call to action. I’ve told this story before, but back in the early 2000s this film trilogy called The Lord of the Rings opened in theatres and was a massive hit. The big fantasy publishers glutted themselves with…Fantasy3 min readFantasy3 min read
Feb 23A Publisher’s Statement Regarding AI-Written SubmissionsYesterday, in response to the recent news of Amazon being flooded by AI-written books, I implemented a full ban on AI-generated submissions to my little publishing company, Legacy Books Press. Legacy Books Press will not consider any AI-written submission of any kind for publication, now or ever. But, this deserves…AI6 min readAI6 min read
Jan 15Gamergate — A WarningI was on the fence about writing this for a very long time, but I think there are things here that need to be said. If nothing else, somebody has to send up a proper alarm. A second Gamergate is now very likely. And, if it happens, it will be…GamerGate8 min readGamerGate8 min read
Dec 12, 2022A More Balanced Perspective on Book Covers with AI ArtThere’s a lot of heated discussion about AI art, people using it for creative projects like book covers, and a lot of people, frankly, talking alarmist nonsense about it. So, let’s have a more balanced discussion about it, from the perspective of the owner of a small publishing company, and…Ai Art6 min readAi Art6 min read
Sep 3, 2022How The Rings of Power got diversity wrong (and House of the Dragon got it right)One of the truly remarkable things about Amazon’s The Rings of Power is not so much its focus on diversity, but the degree to which it managed to botch it. Far from being an example of diversity and representation in television, it stands as a shining example of how not…Rings Of Power7 min readRings Of Power7 min read
Jun 22, 2022Amber Heard probably does NOT have a book dealYesterday, OK! Magazine published an exclusive story that Amber Heard, fresh off of her court loss for defamation against Johnny Depp, has inked a “Multi-Million Dollar” deal to write a tell-all book about her relationship with Depp. In fairness to the article, this claim is limited to the headline —…Amber Heard4 min readAmber Heard4 min read
