What is Historical Fantasy? This is a question I’ve been asking myself more and more these days. I always viewed “historical fantasy” as the genre of my novels Enoch’s Device and The Key to the Abyss – stories set in the real historical world with fantasy elements, such as magic. But if you look at…
It’s probably been a year since I finished The White Tower, an epic fantasy by Michael Wisehart, and I’m beyond past due in recommending this book. Commercially, the book has been very successful and racked up thousands of positive Amazon reviews. For readers who like sprawling fantasy novels with abundant magic and a small army…
Saint Patrick’s Day is one of my all-time favorite holidays, so today, I’m re-posting an article about Stephen R. Lawhead’s Patrick: Son of Ireland. I had little appreciation for Saint Patrick’s story until I began my research for Enoch’s Device. The novel tells the story of two Irish monks who try to prevent the apocalypse at the end…
I’ve been away from the blog for nearly three months, although there’s been a good reason for my absence — I’ve been working feverishly to finish the final book in my Dragon-Myth Cycle trilogy, and a complete draft is nearly in sight! But I am way behind on writing reviews for books I think my…
As I do each year, I’m re-publishing my post on the very first Thanksgiving. Happy holidays everyone! Growing up, I never paid much attention to the origin of Thanksgiving. Other than what I may have learned in elementary school, all I recall knowing was that it was a feast between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sometime…
Of all the fantasy novels I read growing up, Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz was among the few that affected me the most. Published in 1970, it was a short novel that introduced me to two things that have influenced my writing ever since: a quasi-historical medieval setting and a puzzle-like plot. The novel takes…
Well, that wasn’t the ending I expected for Season 4 of Westworld. My primary theory after last week’s episode ended up D.O.A., though we did get answers to several season-long mysteries. *Spoilers* to follow as I try making sense of it all on Westworld. After Episode 7, I had really hoped we’d see Bernard and…
The mind-blowing seventh episode of Westworld Season 4 left me with one huge question: What’s real and what isn’t on Westworld? Keep reading for my best spoiler-filled guess. Into the Sublime The episode begins with Bernard in one of his many simulations. This time, he and Maeve are breaking into the Hoover Dam to open…
Season 4, Episode 6, titled “Fidelity,” turned out to be the Frankie and Caleb show. We learned nothing more about Delores, but something very important about Charlotte Hale/Halores. And it may be setting up the endgame on Westworld. Caleb-278 The best part of the episode was seeing Host Caleb, version 278, play through an escape…
Episode 5, titled “Zhuangzi,” brought some clarity to what’s really happening on Westworld. Let’s just say we’ve entered the Matrix. Big *spoilers* to follow. Michael Crichton’s Westworld was always a story about the dangers of artificial intelligence. We’ve seen the same story play out in The Terminator series and later in The Matrix. In HBO’s…
Just when it looked like some theories were beginning to solidify after three episodes, as soon as we hit the season’s midpoint, everything has changed on Westworld. Most of the theories I had so carefully crafted have gone kablooey after episode 4, titled “Generation Loss.” Big-time *Spoilers* to follow. We Had The Timelines All Wrong…