3 Hard Science Fiction Ideas

Many of my readers enjoy science fiction as much as I do. Jacob Baumgardner recently shared an answer about which emerging technologies may have the greatest impact in the near future. He identified three: fusion power, rail/coilguns, and pre-coolers. I imagine that...

What Is the Oldest English Word?

Someone asked this on Quora and Oscar Tay gave a fascinating answer. The oldest recorded word In English is Gægogæ mægæ medu. The Undley Bracteate In 1982, a farmer in Undley Common, Suffolk, England, was walking across his field when he came across a fantastic bit of...

Medieval Rules for Travelers: Here’s My Wife

If you watch any fantasy movies or any fiction taking place in the Middle Ages, you will probably think that travelers camped outside in the open with nobody around for miles. As Joanna Arman explains in Quora, this is not the case. So, if you’re a fantasy or...

Free Online Magazines

Two free online magazines are asking for submissions and looking for new subscribers. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re well worth checking out! Writer’s Grapevine The first one is Writer’s Grapevine, created by Patty Fletcher. As I...

Medieval Chess Troubles

Medieval monasteries had a serious problem. Instead of 100% focusing on their spiritual and earthly duties, many monks loved besting each other at chess. The Medieval version of “video games cause violence” was, “playing chess leads to blasphemy.” Things got so bad...

Some of My Favorite Writing Blogs

I haven’t written one of these posts in ages, so I wanted to give you a few links to blogs and websites that have provided me with plenty of writing tips and inspiration. I apologize in advance if you have an excellent blog that’s not mentioned below....

How to Design Your Book Cover

Dave Chesson, aka Kindlepreneur, recently published what I think is the ultimate guide to designing your book cover. While I use Alex of 187Designz for all of my book covers, Dave has compiled a list of: The best book cover design software, both paid and free; Book...

Sci-Fi Tip: Futuristic Construction Technologies

My Ph.D. thesis, Design in the Digital Age: In Search of a Collaborative Paradigm, was all about finding novel ways to help designers interact with their clients. I had envisioned a tablet-based Virtual Reality environment with Augmented Reality elements for the...