It’s Sunday. I think. When you’re on a cruise, it is really easy to lose track of which day of the week it is. Fortunately, crew go into the elevators and rotate the “day plate” on the floor of the elevator. The last elevator I rode told me it was Sunday, and I believe it. So welcome to Sunday.

If I didn’t make it obvious before, or if it is unclear, I’m attending the 2025 Writing Excuses Retreat at sea. We’re just coming into Cabo, though I won’t be getting off the ship. Tomorrow is Mazatlan. The next day after that, Puerto Vallarta.

I’m not getting off the ship, but don’t feel bad for me. These were the same ports we enjoyed last year. Also last year, we did went on a sailboat excursion that led to some really bad sunburns on my feet. I was pathetic, and it was memorable enough that people are still making jokes about it this year. I’m staying out of the sun, and I’m taking advantage of the quiet times to get a bunch of writing done.

Continuing to compare and contrast last year to this year, I am getting a lot more writing on the page. Last year, I played a bunch of board games and hung out with my friends. It’s what I needed the most. This year, I still need that, but I also need to get the next Mel Walker story finished. I’m really hoping to get the first draft done before the end of the year. It would be neat to publish it at Baycon 2026, but that might not be in the cards. I don’t know yet. Have to finish the story first and see.

I’m writing this post as a way of priming the pump, as it were. I’m less than 500 words away from a scene I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I’m really excited to get to it and the character that will be introduced. I would tell you more, but I don’t want to spoil anything. It’s going to be special.

It seems like every year, I hit an emotional low point on the cruise. Something happens, someone says or does something, and I have to go off and process for a little while. I’m going through that now.

The event this for this year took place at dinner last night. Dinners during the retreat are special. We’re assigned a different table each night of the cruise, forcing us to mingle with different people. Instructors are then able to spread their time and attention more evenly across all the attendees. It’s a well executed system. Fun for extroverts, a little bit of a social challenge for introverts. I like the system. I go into each meal with the aim of making each person at the table feel heard.

Last night, the chemistry at the table was a bit off. There was at least one really strong personality that kept crushing the conversations and bringing it back to them. This is something I’m terrified I’ll do myself, and I try really hard not to be that person.

At the end of the dinner, Melissa and I were sort of exhausted. We talked about it this morning, and Melissa said she was close to getting up and leaving the table last night. She really didn’t have a good time. That sucks, and it recontextualizes the whole evening for me.

Maybe there’s a lesson I can pull from the experience.

Across the hall from me at this moment, Mary Robinette is teaching a class on tension. I feel like I have a handle on that in my writing, so I opted to go in one of the other conference rooms and write. Is there something I can pull together from last night’s dinner debacle, and relate it to the idea of presenting tension in stories?

I believe the first tool the writer can reach for when building tension is empathy. The reader tends to feel what the character feels. Do something to the main character that makes them tense, and the reader will feel it, too.

If I were the viewpoint character in last night’s dinner debacle, there would be descriptions of me taking a drink in order to swallow my words. Moments of me stopping and quietly breathing, holding back sharp rebuttals that would do nothing but lower my social standing in the group. A time or two, I reached over and held Melissa’s hand beneath the table, offering reassurance through touch. I would describe everyone’s eyes on the person that usurped the socially dominate position at the table, allowing no other opinion to be expressed that did not match their own.

Without stakes, there can be no tension. The classic Hitchcock example is showing a time bomb under a table. The reader or viewer has the information, but the characters do not. A couple sits at the table and they talk. They can talk about anything, and the person experiencing the story is on the edge of their seat. They know that there is a bomb about to go off, and the anticipation is exquisite. The stakes are obvious in this example. It’s also an example where empathy is not used. The characters feel calm, chatting it up as if their lives aren’t in danger.

Perhaps tension is the product of conflict and stakes. In the Hitchcock example, the conflict is between what the audience knows and what the characters know. Characters can have all the information, but when their conflict is with each other or the environment or some part of the plot, the tension comes from the stakes involved.

Imagine a character that’s found themselves in a trap. There is a gun on a tripod pointed at their head. An elaborate series of strings and pulleys attaches the trigger of the gun to the victim’s arms. They can try to free themselves, but if they move their arms too much, the gun will go off. We can describe this and go through the actions of the character, and as long as we believe the gun is loaded and lethal, the tension is high. If it’s a water gun, on the other hand, the stakes drop, as does the tension.

That’s probably enough for now. I’m having a good time on the cruise. I’m getting lots of writing done, and I’m having fun with this community. If you get a chance to join one of these, I highly recommend it. Next year, we won’t be leaving out of LA. I’m not at liberty to say where the next one will be leaving from, but I can tell you that it’s one you’ll want to do.

The alternate title for this post would be: Writing Through My Feelings.

Melissa, Mike Baltar, and I have arrived in LA. We drove down in a rental car, dropped it off at LAX, and caught the hotel shuttle. Tonight, the Retreat will kick off with packets and a brief orientation for the new folk. Tomorrow morning, we’ll get up, have breakfast at the hotel, then bus to the port to board The Navigator of the Seas.

I’m a ball of emotions. Some of them are the standard sort you should feel when presented with the end of the world. We don’t need to talk about those right now. Maybe later.

The ones I need to talk about are more personal.

The most minor of them are the feelings I think I always get before the retreat. Do I belong here? Should I stop coming to make sure there’s room for others? Do the people in this community even like me?

I recognize the insecurity that gives birth to those questions and emotions, and I don’t take them all too seriously. The doubts are still present in my mind, but I don’t give them energy to chew on and sustain themselves. There are people in this community that like me very much. There is plenty of room for other people in the retreat and, in fact, I help make room for new voices by donating to the WXR scholarship fund. As to whether or not I belong here, that’s subjective. It doesn’t matter if I belong here or not. I’m here.

The worst emotion I’m enduring right now is disappointment. I didn’t finish the keyboard on time. I came close, but I could not get it to close.

I’ve been making keyboards as a WXR giveaway for the last several years, and I wanted it to be special this year. It hurts so much to come up empty handed. I knew it was a possibility going into it, and I stated it up front. I hoped I’d overcome, and I did not.

Going into the creation of the new keyboard, I wasn’t ready. There were some skills I lacked. In the last week or two, I’ve developed them, and I know that the next time I try to make a keyboard like this, it will be a success. It feels great that I’ve grown and learned, but it still sucks that I didn’t achieve my goal.

It’s a hard way to kick off the retreat. There will still be someone winning the keyboard. I’m still going to finish it. I’ll just ship it to them once the keyboard is ready.

I didn’t complete the keyboard on time, but it’s not the end of the world. No one else is disappointed in me. It’s entirely me, in my head and heart, wanting to have this special thing done.

There is one other emotion I should address, and that’s fear. I have a manuscript to finish. Last year on the cruise, I didn’t write much at all. I needed the break, and I played games with cool people. I had a good time, but it wasn’t as productive as I wanted it to be.

What I’m afraid of is that I’ll get on the ship with this community, and I’ll get distracted again and once again, not get any writing done. That will mean more disappointment on top of disappointment. Not something I’m excited to bear.

The story is good. I just need to get into it and let inspiration take me where it will. And I’m right before a scene I’ve been looking forward to writing for a very long time. Maybe once I get into that scene, writing will come easy and I’ll just keep going.

We’ll see!

Hey guys. Brian here.

It’s been a few weeks and I still haven’t written final thoughts on WorldCon. To be honest, it was mostly great! There was one tiny fly in the soup, which I don’t need to talk about here. The people were great. I sold a bunch of books. I had great food and great company. I’m looking forward to doing it again in LA next year.

One of the reasons I haven’t written a post in a little while is that I’ve been furiously trying to build a new keyboard for the upcoming Writing Excuses Retreat. For the last several years at the retreat, I’ve given away keyboards, and they’ve all been beautiful and special in their own way. This year, I want it to be unique and even more functional. I want it to be bluetooth and wireless. To accomplish this, I need to change up my game.

Without going too much into the technical weeds, I switched from the Teensy Arduino to the ESP32, which has built-in bluetooth and wifi, as well as a few other features that should make for a great keyboard.

Unfortunately, I’m stuck. I can detect keypresses on every key, but I can only say which row has been pressed. I need both the row and the column in order to determine the key. I have some resistors on order which might be the game changer I need on this front. Otherwise, I’m not going to get this keyboard finished on time, and that hurts.

Okay. Let’s talk about the shootings a little bit, but mostly the media’s coverage.

Charlie Kirk, a racist troll that didn’t give a shit about gun deaths to the point he said, “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God given rights,” has died.

He was shot and killed, so I suppose he would say that was worth it.

On the same day, a Colorado student shot two others and then himself. If you didn’t hear about that one, it’s not your fault. The media was too busy projecting the theory that the person that shot and killed Charlie Kirk was probably trans. Right-wing pundits and politicians were drumming up hate, threatening retribution and violence on trans people.

And then, it was revealed that the murderer was a young white man from a Republican household. He himself is registered Republican. He posted pictures of himself last year in a Trump costume for Halloween.

As soon as it became inconvenient to pin the murder on a minority, the media storm dried up. They couldn’t change course fast enough, from fomenting violent retribution to praying for the killer.

None of this is surprising. None of this is right. It’s all lies and performance and hatred, and if you spend as much time as I have trying to make it make sense, you’re just going to walk away with a broken heart and wounded faith in humanity.

I’ve seen stuff online suggesting some kind of conspiracy. Charlie Kirk had been one of the few right-wing pundits loudly calling for a release of the Epstein Files, and in the midst of the media storm around that, he died. There’s less talk about the Epstein stuff, for the moment. Isn’t that convenient for Trump?

As I said in another forum: I think the kid was just a lonely idiot that could have used better influences in his life. We are all struggling. The world is fucked up for everyone. And he dealt with it the only way he knew how. I don’t think Trump hired him. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy. Occam’s Razor works pretty well in this case.

I’m really, really looking forward to the day the coup falls apart. They’re too stupid and hateful to work together for much longer. Trump will die, MAGA will explode into a thousand different racist tribes, and maybe we’ll come together to put things back together. Perhaps start with unfucking the Supreme Court and rolling back their pro-King rulings.

There’s one more topic in my subject, and that’s dreaming. I’ve been napping a lot lately, and while I don’t fully remember my dreams, I know that it feels like I’m going somewhere else. A different life, but it’s my life. Different struggles, but they’re my struggles.

I wonder if that’s what the afterlife will be. Slipping from this life into the next, as easily as falling asleep. That sounds nice, to me.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, I hope you’re doing it well, and that you’re happy. Times are hard. Times are unimaginably stupid. Hopefully, we’ll get through them together.

It’s about 9:30PM, and Barcon is happening somewhere below me. For those that don’t know, Barcon is the unofficial convention within the convention that typically takes place at the bar. There are parties in this hotel, too, and those can be a lot of fun. But Barcon is allegedly responsible for the world getting The Dresden Files, and it feels like I should be down there socializing.

However, I’m pooped. No gas left in the tank, and I have a headache. I’m going to be boring and call it a night. Before I do, however, let me tell you about the adventure today, because some valuable lessons came out of the trials.

To begin with, the first thing I heard this morning was, “Brian, we’re screwed!” It might have been harder profanity. I wasn’t fully alert when I first heard the words, but I woke up real fast when I realized we overslept by about 2 hours.

How did this happen? I set my alarm when I was laying down, but I have a hard time seeing the AM or PM when it’s dark and I don’t have my glasses on. My phone was ready to wake us at 3PM. That sucks, but it happens sometimes.

Melissa’s phone was set for 3AM, but only on Tuesdays. How did her alarm get set to that state? I have no idea. That seems like a lot more steps than just not being able to read the screen in the dark. Regardless, no alarm went off, so we got up much later than planned.

I thought it was going to be okay, though. Storm clouds circled Melissa’s head, but I thought it was going to work out. We were all packed. I put in the request for an Uber, and the driver was there 5 minutes later. We were on the road just before 5AM.

Bear in mind that we were supposed to board at 6AM, for a flight taking off at 6:30AM. Dark energy oozed off of Melissa from her side of the car, as she was absolutely convinced that we missed our flight. I just kept saying, “It’s going to be okay.”

The Uber driver, hearing that we needed to go to the airport in a hurry, started to make a right when he needed to turn left. He was about to take us through Rio Linda, which I know from personal experience is a bad idea. That would have added at least 45 minutes to our trip. The GPS on his dash said that if we just got on the freeway, we’d be there in 20 minutes. I talked him into backing up and going the right way. Crisis averted.

And, miraculously enough, everything worked out. We made it to the airport in 20 minutes, just as his GPS said. We were able to drop our bags off on the street, since I’d prepaid for that. We walked up to security, which was incredibly light. We were on the other side, right next to our gate, with 30 minutes to spare.

We could take it as bad luck that our alarms didn’t go off, and we could focus on all that extra stress we went through trying to get to the airport on time. But I’m choosing instead to be thankful to get an extra couple hours sleep. It made the rest of the day easier.

The flight was fine. We met up with our friend Mike Baltar and took the light rail together. Our room wasn’t ready, but we were able to drop off our bags and head to the convention center for registration.

The regular line was enormous and glacial. Fortunately, I’m a panelist this year, so Melissa and I got to go to the panelist line which was short. While standing in that line, I met a cool young writer that’s getting ready to have his life consumed by law school, and after talking for a little bit, he hopped onto Amazon and bought all my books. I wasn’t selling or anything like that. He just thought I was cool.

We spotted my nephew and his girlfriend in the long line and said hi. We ran into other people we’ve known from other conventions or the Writing Excuses Retreats and said hi. Everywhere we went today, we found people we’ve met or know, and it’s been really sweet catching up.

There are lots of details I could include in this post about how the day went, but it mostly amounts to the same thing: we have friends in this community, and it’s good to have friends.

As a final example, I had my first event today, which was a TableTalk. That’s the new name for a kaffeeklatsch. When I say I had a TableTalk, I mean I was the host. Which is absolutely wild, and perhaps a little bit silly, since I’m so unknown.

As expected, no one actually signed up to see me. However, Caleb, a friend I met during the Writing Excuses Cruise, was there, hoping there’d be a spot so we could talk. Caleb and I took one of the tables and chatted for the full hour. During that time, Cliff Winnig also showed up and visited for a little while.

I’m not a famous author drawing crowds to my kaffeeklatsch, but I have friends, which I think is better.

That’s the lesson to take away from this whole day. Embrace the positive when you can and where you can, because it’s so much better than the alternative.

I can’t believe the next WorldCon is almost upon us!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but WorldCon holds a special place in my heart. My first WorldCon, which took place in Reno in 2011, changed my life. I was still working at a life insurance agency as both IT and a programmer, and I was overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, and horribly depressed. Suicidally depressed, actually. I was making plans. I could tell you the most popular and seemingly most painless way to kill yourself, popularized in Japan at the time.

In any event, WorldCon changed everything for me. I found my people, and they reminded me of this whole side of my life that had always been important, but that I hadn’t been feeding. I came away from that convention with a life plan, and I executed on it. That’s how I wound up where I am today.

Fourteen years later, and I’m attending WorldCon in Seattle next year. Not only attending, but I have the privilege of participating on panels.

Here is my schedule!

Date, Time	Location	Event Name/Title	Description
Wednesday, 6PM-7PM	Room 427	Table Talks	Have an intimate discussion (up to six participants) with one of your favorite creators. Advance signup is required.
Thursday, 10:30AM-11:30AM	Rooms 433-434	Building Writing Skills Through Fan Fiction	Before we write, we read, and often, it’s our favorite stories and characters that inspire us to be writers in the first place. Whether you stick with fan fiction or not, fan fiction is a place where young writers can play in a familiar sandbox, honing their skills and building their own authorial voice. Which fanfic writing skills translate directly to pro-writer skills and what fanfic skills don’t connect to commercial markets at all?
Sunday, Noon-1PM	Rooms 420-422	Reclamation Through Fanfiction	Fanfiction often ignores the canon setting and relationships to tell stories the original creators never intended. But can it ignore the setting’s creator? From Lovecraft to Rowling to Gaiman, many authors of beloved works are later discovered to be prejudiced or predatory or both. Can fanfiction be used to take back some of these works and put distance between the author and the art?
Sunday, 3:00PM-4:00PM	Rooms 443-444	Crit Groups — Yea or Nay?	This panel explores the benefits and drawbacks of participating critique groups. Some people swear by them, while others are left wanting. How do you find a crit group that meets your needs and contributes to your writing joy? How do you leave a group that doesn’t suit you without burning bridges? Why do people have multiple crit groups, and how many is too many? Panelists discuss the good, the bad, and the complications of crit groups in all their myriad forms.

Getting to participate in such a way doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. It’s not actual validation. It doesn’t mean I’ve “arrived” or some nonsense like that.

On the other hand, this as an opportunity for me to give back to the community that’s given me much already. I’ve been participating for a long time, taking notes, and really trying to hone my craft and learn this business. Opportunities like this allow me to pass on what I’ve learned, not only from attending panels and retreats and whatnot, but also what I’ve discovered while out there in the writing world, getting my hands dirty.

If you’re at WorldCon this week, come say Hi! You can even sign up to meet with me at my TableTalk. They used to be called koffeeklatches, but I don’t think there’s any coffee involved anymore. TableTalk is easier to say and to spell. If you come to mine, I’ll probably give you a free book.

Oh! And since I just joined SFWA this year, I will also be participating at the SFWA table in the Exhibit Hall. If you’re curious about SFWA, come by the table and I (or someone like me) will talk your ear off about it.

Whether or not you’ll be in Seattle this next week, let’s hope we all have a great time, no matter what we’re doing.

I have several hours to kill in the Salt Lake City airport. Melissa and I will get home well after midnight, which our bodies are going to tell us is actually 3AM, and I think this work week is going to be hellish. I finished this book on the plane, and if I don’t review it now, I probably won’t do it justice later.

Short Review

Here is the short review in case you don’t want any spoilers. This is a fun, light read that does a good job of entertaining. The prose is really good. It’s a short book, and you can treat each chapter as its own short story. If you’re looking for something that’s not too heavy, with occasional moments of humor, I recommend this book.

Longer Review

I don’t think this review is going to be all that long, actually, and I’m not sure there’s that much to spoil.

During Baycon, I picked this up off the table and read the first few pages. It surprised me! My pickiness can be a real problem for me to engage and enjoy a story, but The Sum of its Parts didn’t cause me to stumble. When I say the prose is good, I mean it.

It starts basically where Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ends. We follow Frankenstein’s Monster throughout the book (with one exception, which I’ll get to) and the story begins at the arctic. The Monster adopts his creator’s last name and refers to himself as Frankenstein throughout. When Victor dies, Frankenstein finds himself unsatisfied, conquers his hate, and determines that he will make a life for himself that will amend for his sins and mistakes. He becomes a detective, and his motto is: “No case too monstrous.”

After the introduction, each chapter becomes a pleasant walk through Universal’s Classic Monsters: Dracula, The Mummy, Wolf-Man, The Invisible Man, and others. Igor, who really shines in this story with his quips, plays Watson to Frankenstein’s Sherlock.

Most of the book is written in first person, all from Frankenstein’s perspective. The last chapter/story, which shares its name with the book, is written in close third and changes viewpoints characters several times. It’s clear enough, but surprised me since it broke pattern.

The handling of Frankenstein (which I wish was named Adam, as he once referred to himself as “Frankenstein’s Adam” towards the end of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) is one of the strengths of this book. This particular monster has the appearance of the 7 foot tall version from the classic movies, with the bolts in his neck and the flat head. But, he’s also intelligent and thoughtful, as depicted by Mary Shelley.

This isn’t a book that’s going to challenge you much or make you think too hard. Like the Universal Movies, it’s the book equivalent of popcorn fun, with excellent prose that pays a wonderful tribute to both the original book and the movies that came after.

Here is a link to the product page on the publisher’s website, which links to all sorts of purchase options. Often, there is a link to get books signed by the author, but I’m not seeing one at the moment. If that option comes up, it will be on the page I’m linking.

Here is a link where you can buy it from bookshop.org.

Again, you can buy from Amazon, and I’m not going to be upset if you do. I just don’t have to provide a link.

I’ll give you this massive google search link, though, which yields all sorts of options. Barnes & Noble is fourth on the list, if that’s your kink.

On the other side of the RWA conference, I’ll evaluate how I feel about the event over all.

It’s a little after 10PM on the last night of the conference, and the event is essentially over. Tomorrow, Melissa and I can get up whenever, catch our bus back to Toronto, and hopefully experience uneventful travel, putting us back in Sacramento around the crack of Midnight. I don’t think either of us took Monday off to recover, so it’s going to be a long week, folks.

With that in mind, if I’m going to write a timely wrap-up for this event, it’s now or a week from now. Let’s do it now.

This has been great! Melissa gave her presentation today, and while she was nervous at first, she shook off the nerves, locked it in, and did a really great job. She had me up there with the second microphone to cover things from the author perspective, and we played off each other really well. People in attendance complimented Melissa on how well her presentation went.

I think she may even get some people submitting their work to Cupid’s Arrow, which is fantastic.

Writing came easy for me this week, and it’s been a lot of fun. I’m almost to one of the scenes I’ve been looking forward to ever since I conceived the idea for writing this book. I really can’t wait to share this book with you all, because I think this one might be really special.

Pretty much everything I said in the previous post still applies. Melissa and I felt welcome the entire time. We met some great people, and it’s been the perfect way for us to celebrate 30 years together. Earlier tonight, we were in the audience for the awards ceremony, which was sweet but also a far cry from the presentations of the past. It’s a far cry from The Hugos, to be honest. The presentation and speech for the Lifetime Achievement, given to Jane Porter, lasted most of an hour. Again, sweet, but long.

Next year, RWA 2026 is in Albuquerque, from July 15th through July 18th. Neither Melissa nor I can commit to attending yet, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. We had a good time.

Politics at Conferences

There was a moment during the conference where Melissa and I met someone from a red state that was new to going to conferences. She’s a very sweet lady, but she’s also a product of her home. While talking about traffic in our cities, she said something along the lines of “Covid and BlackLivesMatter destroyed her town” and I sort of paused and looked around at the other people in the conversation. Melissa didn’t seem to catch it. The other two ladies caught it, also paused, but clearly didn’t want to make a scene.

I talked to Melissa about it later, saying that I feel like I should take the lady aside and recommend avoiding political topics like that. I figured I could do it with as much kindness as I could muster, without attacking her personally. Melissa didn’t think it was a great idea, so I just kept the thought in the back of my head.

Tonight, as Melissa and I were leaving the ceremony, Melissa needed to use the restroom so I waited in the hall for her. And there was Red State Lady getting confronted by another woman that was very upset. She said something about “concentration camps in Florida” and I understood what was going on. Red State Lady was getting the talk I was going to give her, but without the attempt at kindness.

Red State Lady approached me and said she’d just been reamed. Before the other woman had left, I heard Red State Lady say “I’m sorry” but also “That’s your opinion” and honestly, I didn’t have a lot of sympathy to offer her.

On this blog, I am very clear about my politics and, most importantly, why my politics are what they are. This is a place where I’m having a conversation with you, and it’s where I’m talking about the change I want to see in the world.

At conferences, I avoid topics that will start a fight. I might still talk about being anti-Trump. I talked to someone here at the conference about exactly that when it was clear that it wasn’t going to create a problem.

And, I’m not avoiding political topics out of cowardice or fear of conflict. If you’ve known me for long, you know I love to argue.

I avoid political topics in person because I know that we all have more in common than the differences highlighted by our political leanings. I want to make friends, and then through kindness, compassion, empathy, and generosity, convince my friends that we are on the same side. If I’m going to change hearts and minds, it’s going to be through looking at controversial topics from a place of respect and kindness.

If I’d had a chance to have that talk with Red State Lady, maybe I could have helped her. But then again, if she’s been on the Fox News train too long, maybe it would have become an argument after all. I avoid the topics, but I’m not going to lie or let harmful lies float by unchallenged.

Melissa and I talked about it and she said there were a couple of other people “talking bullshit” in her presence, and I don’t know what to say about that.

We had a good time. I think Seattle Worldcon is the next event. For now, I’m going to look at The Psychic Out of Time for a few minutes before we go to bed.

I’m writing this from a Starbucks at the base of The Brock at Niagara Falls, where the 2025 Romance Writers of America conference is taking place (The Brock, not The Starbucks).

Why Am I Here? Do I Write Romance Now?

I’m here because for nearly 15 years, Melissa has traveled with me to dozens of SciFi/Fantasy conferences, but Romance is her genre of choice. Until this trip, we’d never been to Niagara Falls before, and Melissa always wanted to see it. So, for our 30 year anniversary, we’re celebrating by going to a conference that’s all about Romance.

I’m not yet writing Romance, but I’m not opposed to it. I have an idea for a Romantasy, actually.

What’s it Been Like?

There are over 200 women participating in the event. There are four or five men, including myself. Of the attending men, one is representing an agency that is looking for Romance and Women’s fiction. I might be the only active male writer here, and I sort of stand out with my long hair.

I’m answering the gender-gap question first, only because it’s one of the first things people ask about. From my perspective, it has been no big deal whatsoever. Melissa and I both feel very welcome here. It’s honestly been great.

When I first signed us up, I bought myself a guest pass. When they offered Melissa a slot for presenting Cupid’s Arrow, they upgraded my guest pass to a full membership. For the most part, I follow Melissa around and, when I’m feeling impish, introduce her to a stranger and pull her out of her shell. This sounds like I’m being a little mean, but she’s making friends and having a great time.

My plan was to mostly be a shadow, but I’m at a conference with other writers and I just can’t help myself. I’ll be present for conversations discussing topics I have studied, and I’ll chime in with some of the stuff I’ve learned over the years. Topics have ranged from pitching, writing styles, branding… you name it.

What’s really funny is that each time I’ve piped up, it has been met with almost identical reactions. First, there is surprise. Then there is a sort of recognition, like, “Oh! He’s one of us!” Depending on the circumstance, there is usually an invitation to keep contributing.

To be clear, I’m not mansplaining or doing any weird gender dynamics. I’m just another writer that’s been to a lot of conferences, and I’m offering the stuff I’ve learned and not forcing it on anyone. The recognition I mentioned before is really important here, because I think it transcends gender boundaries. The writer experience — the stress, the techniques, and the insecurities — are shared across all genres, it seems.

The lessons taught at this conference are very much the same as what I’ve heard at the SciFi/Fantasy conferences. The perspective is slightly different, which has been interesting to me and to the people I’ve been talking with here.

I’ve been told that if I commit to coming to the RWA conference next year, I could propose and present a panel next year on pitching. Which is utterly wild to me.

What Else?

Melissa is having a great time. That’s the most important thing, to me. I’m obviously enjoying myself, but I would tape my mouth shut and sit in a corner if it meant an ounce more enjoyment for Melissa. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like it’ll come to that. This event is going very well for her.

Today, I got up very early and joined the writer sprints at 6AM. I’m not sure what happened, or what’s in the air, but I added over a thousand words to The Psychic Out of Time before 8AM. The conference programming today isn’t entirely my cup-of-tea, so I’ve wandered around and found other places to write. If this were November, I would already have my target daily word count.

Niagara Falls itself is nice. Last night, we went to the restaurant at the top of the hotel, ate desert, and watched fireworks explode over the falls. Apparently that happens every night at 10PM for 5 minutes during the summer. Today, we walked along Clifton Street, which is what happens when an amusement park breaks containment and spills out into the wild. We split a pizza at Boston Pizza. Niagara Falls hasn’t been quite what I expected it to be, but it’s been fun and fine.

What’s Next?

We keep going. I’m not getting quite enough sleep, but that’s what naps are for. We’ll keep meeting cool people. I’ll keep writing whenever I get a chance. On the other side of the RWA conference, I’ll evaluate how I feel about the event over all.

Next month is Worldcon in Seattle. The month after that, the next Writing Excuses Retreat. I need to get working on the next keyboard very soon. This year, I want to make it wireless.

I think that’s about it. Please check out my review of The Black Rose if you haven’t already. I hope everyone is having a great and productive summer.

I started writing this while on a plane, flying to Toronto. I didn’t have Internet at the time, but I jotted down my notes, saved them, and now I’m finishing this from Niagara Falls in the midst of the Romance Writer’s of America conference. More on that in the next post.

This review will not spoil the plot of the story, but I will talk about the setting and the world building.

The Short Review

Here is the short review in case you don’t want any of the story spoiled: This is a well written book that accomplishes what it sets out to do. It’s a short stay in a familiar world. I had a good time with this book and I think you will, too.

The Longer Review

Arlo describes the story as a mix of Tombstone with Van Helsing and I can see it, especially Tombstone. I think this undersells some of the fantastic and fresh world building Arlo weaves into this tale. This is a place where silver rushes up out of the mines of Nevada and roars across dry riverbeds, chasing the full moon and drowning the unwary. This is a world in which machines Awaken, and gunslingers hunt these animated objects like Holy Avengers.

The writing is solid all the way through. I was never bored, and some of the descriptions and language really leap off the page. And, touching on the setting again, the worldbuilding is laid out naturally and without heavy exposition dumps. The writer trusts the reader, which is as it should be.

I have a couple of quibbles in the middle, but it’s nothing serious. There is a framing device that is partially abandoned towards the end, but these are things most readers aren’t going to notice. No book is perfect, and this one is entertaining enough to allow me to overlook any flaws I might perceive.

This is sold as a horror. Is it scary?

I didn’t think so, but I rarely find books scary so I might not be a good judge. There is some disturbing imagery sprinkled throughout. There are uncomfortable circumstances, but nothing beyond my comfort level.

It is a weird western that will make you feel bad for an animated object. The truth of that statement alone should be enough to make you want to pick up this book.

Here is a link where you can get your own signed copy.

Here is a link where you can get the book from bookshop.org.

It’s also on Amazon, but I’ll let you find that link on your own. Bezos doesn’t need the extra advertisement.

Get the book, read it, and let me know what you think.

It’s been a couple of days since I saw it, and I have some thoughts. I’ll start with the non-spoiler things, then I’ll mark where I’m getting into spoilers. There are a lot of other reviews out there for this movie, so I’m going to try and keep to things that are relevant to my perspective.

Non-Spoiler Stuff

TL;DR — It is excellent! You should see it in the theaters.

James Gunn had one assignment many things he needed to accomplish in this movie, but the most important was getting Superman himself right. With an excellent performance by David Corenswet, this was the Superman many of us were hoping to see.

From the trailers, the movie looked like it could be bloated with too many characters. While all of the characters were present and had their moments to shine, this centered on Superman, Lex, and Lois. This is their movie, and while Mr. Terrific stole a few scenes, James Gunn balanced this movie as well as he balanced Guardians of the Galaxy.

Nicholas Hoult is a stand-out Lex Luthor. He is smart, driven, and evil. You’ll hate him just right, if that makes sense.

Rachel Brosnahan is a stand-out Lois Lane. She’s strong and witty in the way that Lois is supposed to be. She’s an actual journalist in this movie, and it is relevant to the plot.

The casting was perfect. The writing is great. The pacing is just right. I can’t think of any moments that dragged, or anything that felt like it could be cut. And the entire thing looks and sounds beautiful.

And then there was Krypto.

That’s all the non-spoiler stuff I can think of without repeating myself. I love this movie. I’m probably going to grab either my kids or friends or both and go see it again.

Spoiler Stuff

At this point, if you’re still reading this and you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend you either delete the email, close the browser tab, click onto something else… whatever. I’m going to talk about stuff that happens in the movie, and I’m not sure if it will detract from your viewing experience or not. Rather than risk it, just leave this post until after you’ve seen the movie.

This is your last warning. Spoilers beyond this point.

Okay, let’s get into it. I’m going to start by addressing some of the criticisms I’ve seen online. Then I’m going to talk about how I see this movie and this character from the perspective of someone that was adopted at (or near to) birth.

There’s been a lot of bullshit online about this movie being “woke,” but I don’t want to give those criticisms or those people too much of my time or attention. Superman has been “woke” since literally his first appearance in the comics. And, people that use “woke” as a criticism are stupid mouth-breathers that should always be ignored.

I saw one person post something about Superman being an orphan, not an immigrant, and… look. If your understanding of the character is that deeply flawed, maybe sit this one out. You’re just making yourself a target for scorn and mockery, and I don’t have time for that. I’ve got better things to do.

I’ve seen a couple of criticisms floating around that the plot of the movie is sloppy. To that, I have two things to say. First, I don’t agree with the criticism in general, in that I was able to follow everything that happened in the movie without external guidance. Second, even if it was a little sloppy… this is a superhero movie. It’s supposed to be popcorn fun with heart. It achieves this and more, and while there are a couple of things that happen that seem a little convenient, easy, or fast… it’s fine. The plot of this movie is fine.

Let’s talk about a couple of those plot points that are fast. That is, when the message from Superman’s birth-parents goes out on the news and the world immediately turns on him, and when the details of Lex’s plan goes out on the news and the world immediately turns on him.

In both cases, the reaction is very fast. Too fast for realism, because there would be people that question the truth and stick with the people they are rooting for. People don’t change sides that quickly. However, this is a movie with aliens, power rings, screaming hawk girls, and metahumans. For the sake of the movie and pacing, it’s fine and forgivable. This is a case where dedication to realism would have made the movie a slog.

A lot of what I’ve said so far are things you could have read anywhere. While I occasionally do movie and book reviews, that’s not what you’re here for. Let’s get personal. Let’s talk about the moment I related to Superman more than I’ve ever related to him before.

The news goes out, and Superman hears for the first time the rest of the message from his birth-parents. He was sent to conquer Earth and rule it, creating a new Krypton. It’s a moment that shocks him to his core, because it goes against everything he believed about why he was sent to Earth. He knew in his heart that he was supposed to serve humanity and do good, and learning the truth of his heritage made him question everything he knew about himself.

You could see it in his face as he walked away from the crowd to catch a moment and recover. I recognized the look in his eye, because I felt it when I learned the truth about my parentage.

I knew I was adopted from the beginning, but I didn’t know who my birth-parents were. Until I learned, I saw myself as someone chosen by my parents. And, I thought that I could be anyone, because I was born from strangers. I had unlimited potential, and I was special because I was adopted.

The truth shrank my world. It called into question… everything. It reduced me in ways I wasn’t prepared for.

The resolution for Superman in this movie is the same resolution I found. I had to learn it on my own, but Pa Kent put it this way: We are the choices and decisions we make. We are more than the complexities of our genes.

Let’s talk about Ma and Pa Kent real quick, and then I’ll wrap this up. Melissa did not like the choices James Gunn made depicting Martha and John Kent the way he did. They talked slow, with southern accents, and didn’t seem particularly comfortable with technology, like cellphones. Melissa said they were portrayed as idiots, and I think she was going a little too far.

The Kents were depicted as Kansas farmers. Simple folk of the Earth. Human. They had a folksy wisdom about them, and they are exactly the kind of people that would love and raise an alien baby to grow up to be Superman.

Superman himself is a reflection of those kind of parents. He’s clever, but also naive in a way. He sees the beauty in everyone, cherishes life, and acts in a way that reflects the hope inside him. A big blue boy scout that saves lives because it’s the right thing to do. Any other consideration is secondary to doing what is right. That’s Superman.

There really is more I can say about the movie, but I’ll stop here. This is my favorite Superman movie, and my favorite depiction of Superman.

Let me know what you think of it.