Welcome!
Found on laura-marshall.com
Thank you for visiting the Nicholas C. Rossis author blog! Before becoming an author, I had no idea just how much work book marketing entails: it’s never been easier to publish your work, but it’s never been harder to get people to read it. So, my blog is mostly aimed at helping authors with their book marketing efforts and at sharing every trick of the trade I pick along the way.
You may also be interested in my web design services aimed at authors. I also post writing tips and free stories. For some fun reading, visit the Fun Historical Facts and the Entertainment sections. If you like what you see here, check out my books on Amazon. And if you leave a comment or contact me, I’ll keep you up-to-date with my news and send you exclusive short stories as a ‘thank-you’. Oh, and please feel free to reblog and share. I’ll be grateful to you if you do! For an easy way to do so, or for those who have trouble viewing this blog, I have set up a mirror blog on nicholasrossis.wordpress.com.
[tweetthis remove_hidden_hashtags=”true”]For great #book_marketing tips and #free_stories visit the blog of author Nicholas C. Rossis[/tweetthis]
Recent Posts
How to Use Jungian Archetypes in Writing: The Ultimate Guide
Carl Jung's archetypes are a powerful tool for writers as they tap into universal symbols and themes that resonate with a broad audience. Using them can enrich your writing by connecting your story to universal themes and symbols. By understanding and thoughtfully...
Self-Massage for Writers
It's the wee one's birthday in a few days, and we bought her a new desk. Unfortunately, I spent half a day yesterday assembling it. If you're like me, you'll know what came next: I'm so sore, I can barely move today. Which is hardly surprising, as I spend so much time...
Happy Thanksgiving 2023
With everything that's happening around us, it's easy to forget how good we have it. Many of us sometimes get so caught up in everything going wrong that we despair. That's why it's so important to take a step back and count our blessings. So, this Thanksgiving I...
Kids: Not Much Has Changed in the Past 4000 Years
A letter written by a student to his mother in Babylon about 3,800 years ago shows that children's behavior has not changed much, as Silvia S., demonstrates on Quora. Can you imagine you are the archeologist who unearthed this tablet, wondering what marvelous secrets...
The Case for Writing by Hand
We used to paint on cave walls. We carved on stones and marble our stories, myths, and legends. We put our imagination to work and transformed papyrus into a thin sheet to write on. We even used animal skins to immortalize our thoughts and stories, before paper spread...
Revolutionizing Book Launches: A Guide to Creating Video Invitations
In today's digital age, the way we do things has evolved. We write our books on a computer, spell-check them with Grammarly, and publish them on Amazon. The art of marketing a book is no exception to this digital rule. Book launches, in particular, have seen numerous...
The Amazing Medieval Aerial Battle Over Nuremberg
"On the morning of April 14, 1561, at dawn, a dreadful apparition occurred in the sky. This was seen in Nuremberg in the city, before the gates and in the country, by many men and women." So begins a broadsheet news article printed in April 1561. illustrated with a...
Skills Writers Need in the AI Era
With all the recent hullabaloo about AI and its use for purposes such as the KENP scam and to create massive numbers of AI-generated books, one may wonder if writing is about to become obsolete. And yet, I use AI daily for a number of tasks, from researching and...
How to Legally Listen to Thousands of Audiobooks
Audiobooks have been among the fastest-growing segments of publishing for a while now. Which is hardly surprising, as anyone spending long hours commuting will attest to. However, buying audiobook after audiobook can become quite the expensive hobby after a while. And...
Early Middle Ages Furniture: History & Design
I still remember my visit to Florence, where the missus and I went to a lovely Medieval palazzo, smack in the middle of the city. The massive doors could be bolted from the inside. The staircase leading to the bedrooms was overlooked by an interior balcony that...
Amazon Takes the Second Step Against AI
It's funny how fast things are shaking up in the publishing industry. Barely a week ago I was telling you how Amazon is taking its first step against AI-generated books in the form of a new questionnaire you must answer when publishing a title regarding your use of...
Promoting Your Book Through Influencer Marketing
This is a guest post by Patrizia Ranzi, an experienced digital marketing professional with ten years of expertise in media strategy, social media, and paid search. She also runs the blog patriziaranzi.com, where she shares her insights and knowledge. How to Leverage...
Amazon Takes the First Step Against AI
Following the flood of AI-generated books and the KENP scam I was discussing a couple of weeks ago, Amazon has started taking action — just as I had predicted. As the Goodreader reports, Amazon KDP has recently introduced new content guidelines specifically addressing...
Remembering 9/11
Every year, this is a post I wish I didn't have to write. So much evil has stemmed from this action... [tweetthis]Remembering 9/11[/tweetthis]
Amazon Ends Its Periodicals Program
As Barbara Krasnoff reports on The Verge, Amazon ended its periodicals program on September 4, 2023. The program allowed you to subscribe to several magazines as part of your Kindle Unlimited membership. Unlike books in KU, magazines were not required to be exclusive...
How to Write Books Using AI
You may recall how I recently discussed the KENP Scam, whereby AI-generated books are flooding Amazon in a blatant attempt to collect KENP royalties. You may have wondered just how easy it is to do so in practice — write a whole book from scratch. Geeky Gadgets and...
The Shape of Stories, according to Kurt Vonnegut
I recently came across this video on Upworthy, where Vonnegut explains the shape of three different types of stories. According to him, any story, from “person gets into trouble” to “boy meets girl” to “Cinderella,” can be summed up on two axes: the Y represents good...
Understanding the KENP Scam
In my previous post, I explained how Jane Friedman's name was used in a bunch of AI-generated books. Today, I'll explain how this may be part of a larger scam. As TechRadar reports, a shockingly high number of AI-generated books have appeared. As an indie author,...
A New Kind of Piracy: Jane Friedman’s Tale
Earlier this month, famous author Jane Friedman was in for a nasty surprise: several copies of books supposedly written by her were listed for sale on Amazon. Just as bad, they were listed under her Goodreads page as well. As Friedman explains, after 25+ years in the...
The 1960s: A Golden Age for Science Fiction
I'm more than happy to acknowledge that my work is heavily influenced by the 60's sci-fi trailblazers. In fact, I only keep a couple of books on my nightstand — and one of them is Philip K. Dick's Exegesis. So, when I came across a feature on 60s sci-fi on Horror...
Just How Much Does Plate Armor Weigh Anyway?
Both fantasy and historical fiction love knights. And, as everyone knows, knights often mean armor. Plate armor, to be precise. The problem is that some seem to think that plate armor was practically weightless while others have knights flailing helplessly on the...
Can You Carry Your Sword(s) on Your Back?
Witcher fans will recognize this handsome fellow immediately: One striking thing about Geralt of Rivia is the way he carries his swords on his back. While it looks pretty cool, though, how accurate is it? Can you, indeed, carry around your sword like this? Murphy...
Cipolla’s Basic Laws of Human Foolishness
I read today about the theory of human foolishness developed by Italian historian Carlo M. Cipolla, mentioned by Elena Gold on Quora. Cipolla was born in 1922 and died in 2000. He grew up during a turbulent period in Italy, that of classic fascism. Somehow, he managed...
The Amazing True Story of Sir John Chandos
Henrey Bradley recently shared on Quora the remarkable tale of Sir John Chandos who rose from obscurity to become a hero of the Hundred Years War and a knight distinct from all others. Born to a family of small nobility in Derbyshire, Chandos, from a young age, honed...
Henry VIII’s Surprising Prayer Book Markings
Henry VIII is often remembered for his cruelty: a harsh and irritable monarch with a foul temperament. And yet, a more vulnerable figure emerges from the notes in his personal prayer books according to an Artnet article by Richard Whiddington. After a jousting mishap...
Happy 4th of July
To those of you in the States, I hope you're having an awesome Independence Day! (for those in the UK, ignore those ungrateful colonials and carry on with your day) [tweetthis]Happy 4th of July[/tweetthis]
Ancient Greek Sea Monsters
Everyone knows of mermaids, and some are even aware of their Greek origins: as a seafaring culture, the ancient Greeks had several sea creatures that fit the bill, from sirens to nereids and naiads. Not many are familiar with the wide range of sea monsters that...
The Unlikely Origins of Beatrix Potter’s Tales
Everyone loves Beatrix Potter and her charming character, Peter Rabbit, which first appeared in 1902 and has since sold over 45 million copies worldwide. The inception of the tales is traced back to 1893, when Potter began writing to a friend's sick child,...
10 Phrases that Originated in the Middle Ages
Some of our most popular phrases have a long history, including some that go back to the Middle Ages. Here are 10 medieval phrases from the Dictionary of Idioms and their Origins, as reported by Medievalists. 1. “You are the apple of my eye” In early medieval England,...
Salsa Cookies and Gopher Tuna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQEfxhvAy0c Breaking news: An octopus wearing boots was sent to North Korea. Intelligence says the octopus has gonorrhea. This is spy news signing off. One of the perks of having a young child is that you get to watch with her the...
Baby Names That Mean Sword
Does your story ask for some cool baby names that mean sword? Moms who think have got you covered, with a collection of boy names that mean sword, girl names that mean sword, and, for good measure, baby names that mean warrior (I suspect this is the kind of moms who...
Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet
Happy May 1st! I've written extensively in the past about modern May 1st celebrations in Greece, Anthesteria and Thergelia, and the International Workers’ Day of May and the Haymarket Affair. So, instead of writing about May 1st, I thought I'd share today an...
Which Is the Most Beautiful Language?
Do some languages sound better than others? This is the question researchers from Lund University in Sweden and the Russian Academy of Sciences set out to answer, as reported by Big Think. So, does French sound silky, German brutish, Italian sexy, and Japanese angry...
The Intriguing Math of Punctuation
When you think of punctuation, do you think of math? You probably should, as scientists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Cracow explain in a study reported by Phys.org. The study compared punctuation between seven,...
When Ameca Met ChatGPT
It feels like every day we hear something new about ChatGPT. I've been using it to speed up my research and copywriting and it's been a huge productivity boost for me. It does come with its drawbacks, of course, but used wisely it's an amazing tool. What happens when...
The Fire Lance
Remember Stargate and the cool lance that doubled as a missile launcher? Surprisingly enough, this wasn't as unheard of as you may assume (well, not the energy weapon but the combo of lance and gun). If you are looking for inspiration for an unusual weapon for your...
That Day in Rome… and the UK
April Fools is a custom associated with making jokes (Prima Aprilis) and dates back to Roman times. At that time, or more precisely, on March 25, the Hilaria festival took place, which was celebrated on the occasion of the vernal equinox and the worship of the...
How to Use Irony in Writing
After my host's sudden passing back in January, I spent a couple of months moving over 100 clients to our new ISP - without any passwords that would let me do so in a seamless way. What ensued was a Sisyphean task of convincing various ISPs to share with me the...
Moving ISPs
I apologize for disappearing once again. I'm currently in the process of moving my website to a new host, so anything I publish here is likely to vanish thanks to the back-and-forth between servers. Which is why I haven't published yet a wonderful book I came across...
A Glove That Teaches You Piano in an Hour
Have you ever thought about how people may learn in the future? What might a school look like? And don't forget that schools are not just for kids. Perhaps a new kind of learning might also be part of, say, a soldier's rehabilitation process? If you're a sci-fi...
Interview with Author Pia Manning
Novelist Pia Manning is one of the authors who have a short story in the soon-to-be-published anthology The Haunted Train: Creepy Tales from the Railways. Today, she tells us about her childhood memories of trains, creepy experiences, and writing. What fascinates...
Interview with RJ Meldrum
Gothic short story author R.J. Meldrum is one of the writers featured in the anthology The Haunted Train: Creepy Tales from the Railways. He joins us to talk about train journeys, reading, and writing. What’s the weirdest experience you’ve ever had on a train? The...
How to Market Your First Book: The Ultimate Guide
A detailed guide on different means to employ in order to make yourself known in the publishing world and become a prominent book writer.
The Names of All Manner of Hounds
There are name generators aplenty when it comes to characters. What about their dogs, though? Have you ever been stuck looking for an authentic-sounding name for your medieval or fantasy hero's four-legged best friend? Thanks to My Modern Met, you now have the perfect...
The Ancient Art of Listicles
Annoying for some, clickbait for others, listicles are everywhere. In case you're unfamiliar with the term, ChatGPT defines them as follows: A listicle is a type of article or blog post that is presented in the form of a list, with each item on the list representing a...
Happy 2023
2022 was... unusual, for sure. We've seen the end of COVID, only it wasn't really an end now, was it? At least the economy has recovered following the ruinous crises of past years... or so I'd love to say, except it hasn't. Well, maybe climate change has... nope, not...
Merry Christmas 2022
Thank you all for being a part of my writing journey! I wish you the merriest of Christmas and the happiest of New Years!
Where Can I Get an Idea for a Book?
5 sources of inspiration for a writer The 21st century is the age of the web, where people write for their blogs, and social networks. Fortunately, books have not disappeared! You need a flash of inspiration to create something truly worthwhile. Of course, inspiration...
Bookbird: an Amazing Resource for Writers
I came across Bookbird when I was hired by Yves Lummer to work on the website's content. Bookbird is rapidly becoming a top resource for authors looking for help with writing and self-publishing, with tons of excellent advice covering everything from name generators...
Happy Thanksgiving
I know I haven't been terribly active lately. If you've stuck around despite that, you have my gratitude! I'm grateful for you 🙂
New Release: On Other Shores by Nelson McKeeby
I had been following Nelson McKeeby on Quora for a while before finding out that he's a fellow author! He has now published On Other Shores, the first book in his Tea Merchants series. You can find him on Prince of Cats. On Other Shores Despite being rogue and a...
Using a Cloak as a Shield
What would happen if you tried to use a cloak to block a sword? Eric Lowe (and here) has two illuminating answers to this question - both opening up many possibilities in fiction writing. It's not a shield Before going into any details, the first thing to remember is...
Khopesh, the Bronze Age’s Superweapon
We are all familiar with swords and spears but what about the formidable khopesh? As Colleen Anne Coyle explains on Quora, the khopesh was more than a symbolic weapon of the Pharaohs and an emblem of Egyptian Deities. A true weapon of war, the khopesh/ sword was...
Forearm Guards: Fiction or Reality?
I always found forearm guards to be rather quaint and decorative rather than effective in battle. Then I came across this answer by Eric Lowe on Quora. Like me, Eric confesses to originally writing off forearm guards as fantasy. His research, however, showed him...
NASA Crashes Spacecraft into Asteroid
And of course, today's big news is that NASA has successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. It will be a few days before we know if that means that the Agency has passed the first-ever planetary defense test, but navigation was the hardest part of the test...
Top 5 Fiction Books Dedicated to Cars
Car owners are well aware of the fact that a car is more than just a means of transport: it can have its own character, story, and destiny. This is why so many writers took inspiration from the image of the automobile and embodied it in their works. How about cars...
The Master List of Fictional Characters
I recently shared some common (and less common) types of short stories. Like you, I was surprised there were so many. How about a list of characters regularly found in fiction? Surely the list would be relatively short, right? Well... no. Ken Miyamoto shared no less...
Three Crucial Design Elements of a Killer Fantasy Book Cover
I must have gone through a dozen iterations of my Pearseus covers through the years, which is hardly surprising: we fantasy fans expect familiar book cover design elements when searching out our next read. We're a picky, dedicated, and loyal lot, so I didn't want to...
10 Types of Short Stories to Enhance Your Writing Prowess
As you may know, short stories are how I started writing and I still love them dearly. The short story, however, is not a single literary format but multiple ones grouped under a single banner. This gives short story writers a multitude of structures to use to tell...
Tips for Effective Research On Your Novel
I haven't written in a while, mostly due to the surprisingly (for August) high demands of my copywriting job. I'm now back with some thoughts on research. Whether for copywriting or novel writing, research is a big part of our work. And while writers today have more...
Three Years of Her Life by Christine Robinson
Christine Robinson is a long-time friend of this blog (and my work). Her historical fiction book, Three Years of Her Life, has now been released on Amazon. Three Years of Her Life is her debut historical fiction book, inspired by Grandfather Gustav F. Heim's last...
New Book: Writing and Publishing a Book Series
Rayne Hall is the successful author of dozens of books in her celebrated Writer's Craft series. A few months ago, we wrote together a book chock-full of copywriting tips called Copywriting: Get Paid to Write Promotional Texts. Rayne and I have now finished a new book,...
Convert Text from Image
AI software like LaMDA is pretty impressive but we've been using AI for years without even realizing it. One perfect example of this is OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools that let us digitize printed documents. While there's something to be said about the...
LaMDA: A Sentient AI?
In case you missed the news, a Google engineer called Blake Lemoine believes that LaMDA, the company's AI, has already achieved sentience. Lemoine has since been fired from Google for going public with his belief, thus violating the company's confidentiality policy....
History of the Ferrari Brand
This blog usually deals with Medieval or ancient history, but I'm also interested in more recent history. While researching an article, I recently came across some facts about Ferrari, the legendary sports car brand created by Enzo Ferrari. I hope you'll enjoy them!...
Helen after Troy
Bradford McCormick, a reader of this blog, mentioned Helen of Troy in a comment and got me thinking. What did happen to that crazy lass after Troy fell? Well, turns out the answer, as told by Steve Theodore on Quora, is both complicated and fascinating. A Happy Ending...
Ancient Surgery
Plenty of ancient resources mention medical procedures such as surgery. The early Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (c. 140-208) is credited with being the first recorded person to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for...
Polishing vs. Painting vs. Seasoning Your Armor
One thing I inherited from my late father is a small house in Evia, an island off of Athens. When I first visited the place, it had been closed for a couple of years, with no one visiting. What struck me was how rusted everything was, including even nickel faucets and...
Short Time Sales
Many of you write romance that includes scenes that range from explicit to implicit. For you, I have this little nugget I came across the other day on Quora, which you may particularly enjoy if your romance takes place in the 19th century. During the 19th century,...
Why Picture Books Are So Important For Children
I have been quietly working on a pet project, a picture book for toddlers, in collaboration with the very talented Thanasis Psarros. Here is a sneak preview: My experience with the wee one has shown me just how essential picture books are for young readers. They are...
WoW and Cross-Faction Gameplay
If you're anything like me, you may have started your fascination with fantasy thanks to games. World of Warcraft (WoW) is probably the best-known one, letting you play online with your friends, form factions, and fight both other players and non-player characters...
Neither Lazy, Nor Sick
Having gone from posting once every other day to twice a month, you may be excused for wondering if I'm turning increasingly lazy or if something worse has happened. Thankfully, all is well but I do confess to being somewhat exhausted. Between writing and editing some...
Flawed Heroes – What’s Their Appeal?
This is a guest post by Rayne Hall. You may know Rayne from her successful Writer's Craft series. And you may remember how we wrote together Copywriting: Get Paid to Write Promotional Texts. Rayne is also the author of Storm Dancer, one of the finest fantasy books...
Should You Publish Your Book as a Paperback, Audiobook, or Both?
This is a guest post by Junaid Ali, a full-time blogger at The Character Counter. He has successfully grown organic revenue by 74% in 5 months through better analysis of the website and SEO Activities. To grow your website, you can contact him at...
The World’s First Tik Tok War
War has once again broken out. And Mike Elgan has an excellent report on what makes this one so different from all previous ones. As he points out, when the US invaded Iraq twenty years ago with the intention of removing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and installing a...
Looking in the Mirror
I came across a great thread on Facebook the other day and it got me thinking. A (male) writer was asking the following question: I have a female character looking at herself in the mirror. First naked then in a white nightdress which shows her figure. She is a very...
Beware Misguided Writing Advice
Author Anne R. Allen published yesterday a great post titled, 10 Dangerous Critiques: Beware Misguided Writing Advice. In it, she explains how trying to please everybody who beta-reads or critiques your WIP can turn a novel into a kind of jackalope of unrelated parts....
Interview with Tylluan Penry
Remember my interview with Pamela Turner, one of the authors of Among the Headstones, an anthology of Gothic horror stories? Today, I'm interviewing Tylluan Penry, another one of the anthology's authors. Interview with Tylluan Penry Hi Tylluan, it’s great to have you...
Talking Without Words
No, I'm not talking about non-verbal communication, i.e. shrugs, facial expressions, etc. I'm talking about emojis and, specifically, a new form of communication: “fake typing.” As Mike Elgan explains in his newsletter (which I highly recommend to anyone interested in...
Are Animals Multilingual?
I am multilingual and consider myself a native Greek and English speaker. People like Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, famously speak a total of 59 world languages. Can other creatures share that ability, though? Specifically, can dogs understand more than one language?...
Interview with Pamela Turner
You may remember Rayne Hall from our recent collaboration: we wrote together a book on Copy Writing. Now, Rayne has edited an anthology of graveyard tales called, appropriately enough, Among The Headstones: Creepy Tales from the Graveyard. For today's post, I...
Happy 2022 with Good News
2021 is almost over but 2020 casts a long shadow: So, you are excused if you feel that 2021 was a bit of a bummer with nothing much to show for it. Thankfully, The Happy Broadcast and Modern Met have got you covered. Illustrator Mauro Gatti is happy to balance things...
Police Sketches of Literary Characters
I came across an unusual post on My Modern Met the other day. It featured the work of artist and filmmaker Brian Joseph Davis, specifically his ongoing project The Composites. The project produces police sketches based on what the book descriptions suggest and is a...
The 1914 Christmas Truce
Such was the carnage of The Great War that it was thought it would put an end to war for good. The war affected the lives of millions of men, including Tolkien and Milne. It gave birth to some rather unusual WWI alphabet primers. WWI also triggered medical advances...
A Christmas Feud
Christmas is a time when friends and relatives gather around the table to celebrate love, joy, and all things good. I know that this is the time of the year for inspirational stories, and I promise you'll have one of those for Christmas. Unfortunately, it is also a...
Flying Aircraft Carriers. For Real
As Popular Mechanics reports, the US Department of Defense wants the ability to launch and recover small drones from C-130 Hercules transports. The drones, nicknamed Gremlins after the mythological tricksters of the air, would be equipped with customized payloads and...
Who Will Rid Me of This Troublesome Patriarch?
A couple of centuries before King Henry II uttered the infamous words, "will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" a Byzantine Emperor was facing a similar problem: a Patriarch who was less than enthusiastic about the idea of resigning. Even worse, his heir was no...
How to Recover a Hacked Facebook Account
This seems to happen more often than I'd like: someone lets you know that they received a Facebook message from you, usually asking for money. Only, you never sent one (duh). You were hacked! So what do you do next? An alltop9 post has the steps you should follow if...
An Executioner’s Tale
While browsing Quora, I came across the fascinating tale of a family of executioners in the Late Medieval era. I just know this will inspire your writing, so here it is. Thanks to Jean-Marie Valheur for the great answer. A Reluctant Executioner Imagine you’re a...
5 Fun Ideas to Engage Your Readers
This is a guest post by Dave Chesson, aka Kindlepreneur. Dave is the creator of Publisher Rocket, his #1 Book Marketing Tool. Connect with him on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. 5 Fun Ideas to Engage Your Readers Engaging readers is the key to book success....
The Adverb Strikes Back
We all know how adverbs are supposedly an author's archnemesis. They are to be avoided like, well, passive voice. We're to go through our manuscripts, find each and every one of them, and kill them while crying out, "die, rebel scum!" Hemingway has a lot to do with...
Happy Thanksgiving
Even though Greece doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, I went to an American school so the family and I sort of do — mostly because we love the idea of a day dedicated to gratitude. In that spirit, I am very grateful to all of you for your love and support all these...
I’m on the Voice of Indie Podcast
Something to be thankful for: if you've missed my nuggets of wisdom and anecdotes from Greece and Scotland, don't despair. I was invited over at the Voice of Indie podcast by two very charming gentlemen, Beem Weeks and Stephen Geez, of Fresh Ink Group fame. We...
Ye Olde Spelling
Have you ever wondered about the ubiquitous "ye" in old publications (and certain Bible translations)? Did people actually go around using "ye" instead of "the"? How about quaint shops with signs like "Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe" — or even "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese"? How...
What Were Stone Age Clothes Made of?
Many fantasy books mention clothes. These are usually made of wool or linen. If there's an "Asian" civilization nearby, perhaps even silk. But what did early civilizations really use for their clothes? I'm not talking about Medieval clothes or even Roman ones. I'm...
Is There Life on Venus?
A hundred years ago, people thought there may be life on Mars. However, it turns out that moons like Europa and Titan are more likely candidates for life. Now, Venus is added to the list of possible life-bearing destinations on our doorstep. As Popular Mechanics...
The Cossack Sorcerers
Almost everyone knows about Japanese Ninjas and Chinese Shaolin monks. How about the secretive and magical Warrior Society of Ukraine, though? I am, of course, talking about the Cossack Sorcerers. Never heard of them? Well, neither had I until I came across a...
The Real Tower of Babel
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then...
How Tolkien’s War Experience Shaped His Work
In my last post, I described how Winnie the Pooh may be seen as Milne's attempt to describe his PTSD to his son. However, the Battle of the Somme affected more than one famous author. J.R.R. Tolkien was also there, and his experience shaped his work, as another one of...