A Far Out Fantastic Site

Last week, the FCC did something that any indie author or artist of any sort would never want to see it do: it repealed the net neutrality regulations. These regulations protected fair access to online content that wouldn’t be hindered by big companies paying for faster service. Indie authors and their readers can’t afford this repeal since it will limit access to certain websites on the internet. Doing so will limit access to niche genres of fiction. In general, the absence of net neutrality will cause internet users to have to pay extra for faster access to websites. It will also cause many website owners to have to pay extra to make their content accessible. This puts many indie authors and their readers at a disadvantage because many indie authors don’t have the funds to pay for the faster internet service when promoting their work and many of their readers are in a similar financial situation.  This class preference of internet access can limit the choices for con...

This Fourth of July weekend I’ve been trying to finish the cover illustration for “Circa Sixty Years Dead” and so far am making progress. I also started a new short story for the first time since . . . I don’t even want to say. For me it’s been hard to write new short stories each week as I’d like because, as a self-publishing author, I’m a Jack of all trades. Unlike with traditional publishing, a self-published author has to arrange for the book’s design, including its cover illustration, formatting and marketing. In my case, not only do I arrange for the cover’s illustration, I make it. That’s because I like doing the art, since I’m also a visual artist (I minored in the subject in college), but it’s still a hell of a lot harder work than one would think. But as there are many hardships to self-publishing there are also many advantages to it, ones that add up to freedom. I’ll list three links to some really neat articles by other self-published authors that talk about that freedom as...

Photo Credit: Solomon Barroa/Pixabay.com Defining science fiction can be tricky. The term science fiction can refer to anything related to science that is fictionalized, even if the story is simply set in space and with a futuristic technological background. Star Wars falls under this loose definition of science fiction, which many, including the creator of the franchise himself, George Lucas, do not like to consider it as such. Others have a more strict definition which is often: any scientific, plausible phenomenon that has not yet become a reality. Along with this definition is that the scientific phenomenon is central to the plot. Perhaps trickier yet is defining science fiction’s subgenres such as space opera, post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk and steampunk. In fact, some raise the issue whether or not steampunk is science fiction. Defining Steampunk So what is the definition of steampunk? For sure, steampunk is alternative history fiction which doesn’t necessarily have to...