I talked last Sunday about science engaging with the supernatural in fiction and the worldbuilding stuff that can be generated from that. In this article I’m going to talk about the opposite end of that spectrum. The supernatural engaging with science. This is where I bring up Alchemy. Now ...

So it's fun to rant about tropes I hate but I actually prefer to gush about tropes I love.

And one of them is what I call “the bargain”: it's really a game of wits between a (usually lawful) villain and a hero (or protagonist/antagonist, take your ...

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I consider Drunk Duck (or the Duck Webcomics) to be the Heavy Metal of webcomic hosting sites, because like that excellent anthology comic publication we celebrate the ...

The first time I learned about the gentle sea cows of Florida’ everglades was through a Sierra computer game called EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus. Sierra was actively doing its part to help better the world through creating a series of games that brought to light the dangerous effects of ...

The rent is due, Atom Man! There is no time to sleep all day while a big robot destroys half of downtown, time to get ready and fight a metal Cyclops. Later in the evening, the news features an explosion at Centra-Tech, a power research facility, and its CEO Simon ...

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Cults are weird. Unlike normal religions (from which many cults stem), cults are usually based more around charismatic individuals rather than simple doctrine. Which means the followers ...

Photo: “One of these days, you’re gonna die laughing.” Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

The 1988 mixed animation-live action film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, set in 1940s Toon Town, had a whimsical villain called Judge Doom with a team of henchmen in tow known as the Toon Patrol. The ...

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Last week we did a thing of the persistent myths of fiction- fictional conventions that we all just accept, and are repeated over and over and even ...

Photo: “Rhino and Zebra Playing Chess”. Illustration from The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. (1988)

My uncle could see nine moves ahead in chess. Nine moves. I could never understand how one could predict the future moves of an opponent by sheer chance. A predictable opponent makes predictable moves, yet ...

“I found you in pretty bad shape,” mentions the scruffy, bearded Issac as a hot canteen of liquid is passed around the fire, “I want to ask you a few questions, just to make sure nothing is wrong, ok? What planet are we on?” The obsidian-haired stranger responds in kind ...