Images that inspire stories.
Don’t Overthink Whatever you say is up to you. Fans regularly ask what they should say in a book review. Most of the time, they are overthinking the process. They see fancy reviews dissecting books into particulate blocks of thematic...
I’ve wanted to spotlight Jason Chan for many months – he’s one of my absolute favorite living artists – but something keeps coming up that is more pressing so for now, enjoy his Servant of the Panther Queen as the...
Free chapters from author Drew Briney’s books (and a couple drabbles for good measure)
While the media steals the spotlight from groundbreaking inventions and incredible technologies, scientists continue to plow through new challenges with a vengeance. What’s new? Hmm. What’s not new? Groundbreaking research in epigenetics is opening the door to understanding latent or “junk”...
The Science Scientists predicted, observed, and proved the evolution of a Florida lizard – but they were shocked at how fast and how much they changed. Within fifteen to twenty generations, green anole lizard feet dramatically changed in size and...
Photo by Hossein Zare Less is More “Less is More” is both the mantra of minimalists and authors. I believe there is truth in the statement from both perspectives but I believe this message of minimalism can be more...
UpJourney just posted an article featuring me, myself, and I as one of 20 expert storytellers explaining the secrets of their craft. Check it out and let me know in the comments below which advice seemed most helpful to...
On the eve of releasing my newest novella, Assassin Hunter, I’m excited to reveal the new cover. A few years ago, I began heavily studying transhumanism and contemplating the various less-pondered ramifications it could be bringing to our species and...
As disturbing as it may be when you take time to investigate and think deeply about it, studies about the depth of inaccuracies we inadvertently create in our memories is quite fascinating. Julia Shaw’s recent book The Memory Illusion shows...
Westworld season 1 left me feeling lost (geek allusion intended) most of the season, which was undoubtedly J.J. Abrams’ fault (he wrote/directed Lost) but Westworld’s season 1 finale was so good and the payoff was so unexpected, I trudged all...
I first started studying multiple personality disorders nearly twenty years ago. I was clerking for a small firm, trying to help a young woman escape a cult. Things happened to her but she wouldn’t remember the details. Occasionally, she’d...
My fans know I’ve been writing a screenplay for my latest novel, Unproven, because various networks have expressed interest in purchasing it for either an animated movie or a 54 episode animated series. What fans don’t know is how awesome...
What do sea dragons, epigenetics, artificially intelligent cyborgs, and magic all have in common? You guessed it: Sea Dragon Apocalypse, my upcoming sci-fi/fantasy novel. Yes, I used those terms correctly. It is both sci-fi and fantasy, not one or the...
Last fall, my family was featured on a reality tv program where we had to leave the state of Utah in a hurry. What TLC didn’t show was how I’d had a job and housing lined up in South...
I originally posted this drabble in early 2014 but a reader recently brought it to my attention with the following comment: “I read your Falling In Love prose. Amazing! It enthralled me in the first few lines.” So, I’m reposting...
Hey! After two years of hard work, Unproven is finally ready for launch and will be hitting Amazon and B&N on Tuesday, March 6. Occasionally, online stores are a smidgeon slow loading new books so if Unproven isn’t live...
I’ve written a number of posts about memory implants, memory erasure, and mind control. Scientists have inserted a brain into a robot and done several other unbelievable things in the recent past so I thought I should write a little...
In one of the more poignant philosophical scenes in Westworld, William decides to stop holding himself back from the park and decides to love Dolores despite his commitment to his fiance back home. He passionately tells her: I’ve been pretending...
Richard Browning, a UK inventor, created a real life Iron Man suit he dubs “the Deadalus” and gave it a test flight in front of a TED conference last month. Even though the suit can fly around 200 mph,...
The image is from an Ardella Cosplay When I started kindergarten, my teachers (including an assistant) suggested to my mother that I be advanced to the third grade. That was neither the first, nor the last time someone remarked about...
Whether you’re aware of it or not, artificial intelligence is all around us and what constitutes “artificial intelligence” is becoming as definitionally nebulous as … well, whatever. Should we call your thermostat artificially intelligent because it regulates temperature in your home...
Long before Shelley’s Frankenstein, we were sharing stories about changelings, transmutations, and various forms of magic that create new forms of life. As real science has contemplated the possibilities of real life Frankenstein breakthroughs, various transhumanist experiments in 2015 more than humbly suggested...
Hollywood (and book publishing) are possibly the only industries where an 80% failure rate qualifies you to be an unchallengeable authority. Then again, maybe that’s all in the accounting. Jabs aside, I’m happy to see more strong female characters climbing the...
I was more than a little shocked to see how Disney treated Cinderella in the newest film. They got so many things right with this film adaptation that I nearly left the theater dumbfounded, wondering if I’d mistakenly heard...
At long last, 5 Blades: Riveting Realms of Adventure is about ready for publication launch – and here is our sweet cover! I’ll be featured alongside veteran sci-fi fantasy authors Jaime Buckley, David West, Jason King, and Lewis...
Jetman Dubai recently released a jet pack that has been lauded as the modern day Iron Man suit … and while that’s only marketing hyperbole at this point in time, there is little doubt that the real Iron Man suit...
While tattoos are all the rage, I have to wonder why they are so prominent in sci-fi fantasy art lately. Okay – maybe I’m a bit stodgy (none of my friends got tattoos when I was growing up because...
I had a near death experience (NDE) years ago. I find it somewhat amusing that NDEs continue to ignite such intense controversy but recently, some German scientists determined the controversy wasn’t brewing hot enough so they made it boil over....
When Terminator first came out, the ideas behind it would have been laughable but for Arnold Schwarznegger’s boss appearance. Time travel and cyborgs were so far from realistic science ventures that we all watched the movie with our reality regulators...
Science Fiction has inspired many innovations over the past few decades. Cloaking devices, chameleon-esque camouflage, memory manipulations (including erasures and implants), suspended animation, artificial intelligence, underwater breathing without tanks, Jedi mind control (almost), total immersion gaming, mind controlled prosthetics, personal...
First, MIT came out with an unbelievably effective invisibility cloak and now, engineers from the University of California at Berkeley have created a new, very thin and flexible chameleon like artificial skin. Okay – it might not make you...
Dr. Denys Makarov would have Marvel fans pretty excited if they were paying attention. He’s recently invented a new “magnetic sensor, which is thin, robust and pliable enough to be smoothly adapted to human skin, even to the most flexible...
Lagiacrus, the flagship monster of Monster Hunter 3, deserves your attention – and not just because this picture is so boss! For some reason we can all probably relate to, fire breathing dragons hog the press – and maybe that’s...
Too often in SFF, the arts are blandly portrayed, as if the arts will never flourish in the future – or in fantasy cultures. Occasionally, in quasi-visionary movies, we see glimpses of creative new ideas for the arts but they...
Drew hangs out with all-time bestselling authors on a YA recommended reading list. Okay, it’s not a Hugo Award and it didn’t land me on Oprah but sometimes a relevant People’s Choice Award is even better. After recently being voted a Top...
How is it that our PC saturated culture has created so few disabled protagonists in modern literature? After all, aren’t our heroes supposed to have some weaknesses that they have to overcome so they don’t become a stale character? Hat tip...
Suspended animation conjures images of a frozen Hans Solo, Avatar-esque space travel, and Star Trek’s infamous Khan. Doctors have been seriously experimenting with possibilities since the 1950s when space travel was first becoming a reality. Sixty years later, we’re still waiting for...
The rise of artificial intelligence is no longer science fiction. Scientists have replicated the machinations of a round worm’s brain and have given it a robot body. Okay, so watching the robot move is just about as boring as watching a...
Any great author must intimately confront the machinations of human nature in order to make characters believable. Sometimes, that means studying the thought patterns and habits of children, psychopaths, naive onlookers, cannibals, animals, and serial killers. There are several ways...
Breaking edge science can now create false memories, erase memories, and recover lost memories. Fascinating – and scary – scientific discoveries about memories abound lately. Fairly recent research from MIT discovered that memories are not stored in synaptic tissue as...
I’ll keep it short and sweet: today, SciFi Fantasy Freak recognized me as one of their top 5 authors. Check out their tweet below and then check out some of my story excerpts to tell me if you agree! ...
Star Wars depictions of diving technology may have been prophetic … so forget Harry Potter’s invasive spell for fish gills – that’s just uber unnecessary! The University of Southern Denmark has been developing crystals that absorb oxygen and then release that...
Ten years from now, teenagers may not believe Jedi mind tricks were once fiction – and it may not matter whether or not you are weak minded. I mentioned in previous transhumanist posts how mind controlled prosthetics are becoming surprisingly sophisticated,...
Years ago, my then favorite cousin introduced me to this fun song: the Monster Rap by Bobby Pickett. It was a modern take on the Monster Mash but now, it’s sort of an undiscovered classic that ought to get loads...
Singing harmony by yourself is admittedly an exotic talent but Anna Maria Hefele can make it both exotic and … beautiful. Tuvan throat singing has been an Inuit (Mongolian) tradition for … who knows how long (not even Wikipedia knows). Even...
Gamers who play violent 3D living room gaming report higher levels of anger than gamers who only play 2D systems, regardless of screen size. The study found a strong correlation between levels of anger (as guaged by participants) and gamers’ perception...
Scientists have developed a prosthetic that allows amputees to regain sensations from lost limbs. Cybernetics – communication between machines and biological tissue – received widespread attention when the Empire Strikes Back hit the silver screen. Luke Skywalker received a prosthetic hand...
When Stupid Jack declares: “Mummy you is 4x dummer than I thunk you was,” my children can’t help but to laugh. The line comes from Willy Claflin’s Stupid Jack & the Beanstalk story right after his mother scolds him for...
Scientists have successfully used light to erase unpleasant memories in mice. You’re next! Sounds scary? Well, maybe this sounds scary if you’re a conspiracy theorist or if you have enjoyed a blissfully happy life but if you suffer from PTSD and...
Verdict: Guilty by reason of brain waves. Sound implausible? Not for long. Science Daily reports that preliminary data from the Association for Psychological Science is hoping to keep us from ever lying again … well, at least they are hoping...
Threespine Stickleback fish offer scientific reasons to beef up our movie monsters. They “evolve” fast. Really fast. Within ten years, these fish can move from salt water to fresh water, change their skeletal system in a massive way (just...
Are you looking to buy an invisibility cloak? Do you want to hide something really well? You might need to wait a few years but the technology to create outrageously effective camouflage is at our doorsteps. The key? Mother nature...
Microraptor was a four winged dinosaur that provides clues as to the origins of birds. I was particularly interested in the above documentary for at least three reasons: (1) many of literature’s best loved monsters come from real creatures and/or...
At FantasyCon 2014, an astute panelist brought up an idea that I’ve thought about from time to time but haven’t given serious consideration to … at least not in terms of writing a new book. The idea is to pit...
I once read that a word smith is a creature to be feared above all others. I suppose there is a good deal of historical precedent to support that assertion – just consider Thomas Paine’s Common Sense if you can’t...
For a brilliant moment, the movie Lucy was gathering an enormous amount of attention. Since I’ve been researching topics surrounding transhumanism, it caught my eye as well. I saw several discussions about the 10% brain myth but I liked this...
Like most authors, I follow blogs and people who are interested in the technical faux pas that grammar police love to impose upon persons of lesser educated-ness. Too bad … they don’t teach as well as Weird Al:
Lately, I’ve been watching several videos about breaking edge technology, transhumanism, and the like. Among the several video tutorials and documentaries that I’ve been watching, this video by Michio Kaku caught my eye. In high school, I was admittedly...
So you think Legolas was cool? Robin Hood? Well, check out Lars Andersen – the world’s fastest archer. For all of you authors out there writing about archery, you need to check this out. Do you want your character to...
Last year, at WorldCon, I read Nexus by Ramez Naam. His presentation for Nexus was my first exposure to the concept of transhumanism and it was both thrilling and revolting at the same time. I suppose the same can be...
Today couldn’t come with more exciting news for every true sci-fi fan: NASA has announced plans to build a space ship that literally warps time and avoids Einstein’s relativity problems with space travel. Want to visit another solar system?...
The U.S. Army has announced intentions to change rules to enlistment: 25% of all applicants must be robots! Well, that isn’t quite the story but you can click on the image above for the full story. The gist...
Although he is one of my least favorite philosophers and although he has been credited with greatly influencing Hitler’s philosophies that led to the second world war, I have to admit that some of Nietzsche’s teachings are humorous and thought...
One of the things that regularly grabs my attention when reading fantasy books/magazines/articles/pitches/short stories is the utter lack of creativity that I see from magicians/wizards/mages/witches when casting spells. Okay, I admit, when I played D&D as a kid, fireballs were...
Alright Sci-Fi fans – here is another reason to be excited about the future: shark skin swim suits! 3D printing has now replicated shark skins – a feat that scientists have failed to accomplish for many years now. Thanks to...
One of my favorite roommates in college was a guy named George. As I recall, his mother was Irish and his father was Kenyan – an interesting mix for sure – and he was from Hawaii. There are a few...
One of my lease favorite composers (Arnold Schoenberg) penned these words: “Well borrowed is well composed.” He is indisputably right. Modern viewers almost undoubtedly prefer the Matrix to Plato’s Cave despite the fact that Plato came along much earlier than...
I’m an avowed UFC fan. Most of my friends find that revelation quite shocking but despite my very real fandom, I’ve been somewhat annoyed over some developments in the MMA community. A growing number of fans are beginning to believe...
Author communities often ask questions like: where do you come up with cool names? cool world-building ideas? magic systems? and clothing? To the latter question, one must at least offer an honorable mention to steampunk. Looking for an interesting Alice...
Over two decades ago, I came across some similes that ignited my imagination – not because they were particularly poetic or because they were particularly profound … they ignited my imagination because they are particularly creative in their use of...
In modern film, we usually find very bland, direct slams and insults. Occasionally, a marginally subtle and humorous attack is aimed towards a dense character who fails to understand the biting remark but rare are the times when ad hominem...
Every once in a while, I come across an idea or image that seems to write a story for me. The above image is one of those images. Some time ago, I was pondering over the success of the Star...
A what? A drabble. And that is ??? Drabbles are short stories that verge on poetry that last only 100 words long. I suppose they could be considered solely as poetry by some. I’ve only written two – both...
Years ago, I began a lifelong juggling addiction (although I’m too stubborn to join any 12 step program to help me stop). In 2000 or perhaps a little earlier, I began to tell stories while juggling. To my knowledge, I’m...
I subscribe to David Farland’s blog “A Kick in the Pants.” It is dedicated to helping aspiring writers hone their writing skills but I read his articles for ulterior motives: occasionally, he cites interesting studies about reading and writing and...
In keeping with my last post (about refined and beautiful things), here is one of several gestures from Grant M. Hansen who is painting the cover for my upcoming book Moon 514: Blaze and the White Griffon. Here are some...
I co-own thebutterflystore.com. My partner and I have been working like crazy to do a huge butterfly display for BYU’s Bean Museum. The image above is the morpho flight that we are doing – in progress. I’ll be adding a...
Here is Grant’s latest update on the cover. He got a bit shy about the swamp idea and went back to the field idea. What do you think?
“You talk so sweet I bet you have to suck on salt for half and hour to get the taste of sugar out of your mouth.” In “Seventh Son,” there are several places where dialogue typical of the eighteenth/nineteenth century...
Strive not for success but to be of value. Albert Einstein Einstein is one of my favorite personalities – not because he was brilliant – but because he was so practical. If being famous ever got to his head, he...
