Rereading Valdemar as an adult, I started to pick up on things I’d missed as a kid. Where most secondary-world fantasy is set in Fantasy England (or, if you’re a relatively imaginative author, Fantasy Eastern Europe), Valdemar is very much Fantasy America. (read more)

“Gritty antihero with a dead wife” is practically a meme at this point, and yet there’s still a slew of movies, books, comics, and video games that lean on the trope with completely straight faces. It’s impossible to take these portrayals seriously, despite the fact that the reality—that of someone who’s lost the person they chose to spend the rest of their life with—is utterly heartbreaking. (read more)

If you sell ebooks on Kindle and you want to insulate yourself from whatever raw deal those maniacs come up with next, you should make sure your ebook is also being sold elsewhere. (read more)

There are people who will tell you these explanations are vitally important, and every little timeline discrepancy needs to be explained. These people are annoying and you don’t have to listen to them. (read more)

When I was a kid, my dad once went out to buy a goldfish and came back with a cocker spaniel. Many years later, my parents went to the pet store for dog food and came home with a Jack Russell terrier. It’s therefore pretty typical that I went out to adopt a kitten and came home with the biggest, oldest, crankiest cat available. (read more)

All these takes on Adler don’t make for a more empowered female character. Instead, they reflect a desire from their creators to punch her up — to make her more worthy of her title as “the woman who bested Sherlock Holmes.” (read more)

I’m here to tell you Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure has something to say, and what it has to say is important. (read more)