Back when I first launched my Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire series, I posed this question to my email insiders. The main character, Esper, may be...
Poll: What’s it take to be the greatest bounty hunter?
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J.S. Morin
Good News, Everyone! It’s the best Sci-Fi show ever
While I hold onto hope that someday this title might get passed along to a Black Ocean adaptation, I just want to talk about the best sci-fi show...
Henchmen can be heroes too
Not sure what my Author Scrapheap is? I introduce the idea on the Author Scrapheap archive page. This edition hearkens back to some of my earliest...
Firefly: You can’t take this board game from me
I've never made a secret of Firefly being one of the main inspirations of my Black Ocean universe. And when it comes to themed board games, there...
2 techs I want to mash up
For me, the "present" is sort of permanently frozen in my mind as the mid-to-late nineties. As we drift ever onward into the future, we rob old...
Your DIY magic portal
One of my favorite seeds for story ideas is the notion of the crossover concepts. They've been big in comics since forever and huge in fan-fic. But...
Labyrinth: Two Kinds of Magic
Rumors have circulated (as rumors are wont to do) about a potential remake of the fantasy classic The Labyrinth. This is, of course, blasphemy. Not...
NASA TV
Not sure what my Author Scrapheap is? I introduce the idea on the Author Scrapheap archive page. With SpaceX making news recently, I thought it was...
Seasons: more than just awesome dice
Today I want to talk about a wonderfully whimsical game called Seasons. It is high fantasy in a vacuum. It is a myth without context, or any attempt...
Arguing with Alexa
I don't know exactly when the future got here; probably around the time smartphones became ubiquitous—definitely after widespread internet became...
Poll: Long-term fate of humanity
Today, I want to gaze into a quantum crystal ball and predict possible futures for mankind, all of which remain possible until the probability wave...
Deep Space Mine
When Matt Larkin and I were first brainstorming ideas for Black Ocean: Astral Prime, one of our first sticking points was what to call the series. I...
An idea that conquered itself
Not sure what my Author Scrapheap is? I introduce the idea on the Author Scrapheap archive page. Idea: A Conqueror's Tale (2 Books) Premise: Both...
Race for the Galaxy: the game I’ll never get sick of
I play a lot of board games. I love sci-fi. Where the two of these passions best overlap is a board game called Race for the Galaxy. This is my...
(Virtually) home for the holidays
As we spend more and more of our time indoors (those of us not deemed "essential", anyway), we're seeing an uptick in what was once solely the...
Year 7 of My 5-10 Year Overnight Success Plan
Welcome back, everyone, to my now-annual tradition of updating my blog. For those of you who don’t know, Jan 31, 2020 marks the 7th bookiversary of...
Fighting for Freedom
With Independence Day behind us in the USA, it's a good time to talk about rebellions and revolutions in fiction. Sci-fi and fantasy are rife with...
Fantastic Fathers
Back around Mother's Day, I made a list of the best mothers in sci-fi and fantasy. Fair's fair, so now we're having a look at the top fictional...
RPGs: the Fantasy Author’s Gateway Drug to Writing
This past weekend, I got together with the same group of guys I've been gaming with since the mid-'90s for some tabletop D&D action. Even though...
Are You Ready to Upload Your Brain?
So, who's ready for the robot revolution? Will you rise up and join our new robotic masters in a shiny new machine body? Or fight to preserve...
More Than a Sword
The sword is the iconic staple of the fantasy multiverse. It's among the more effective all-purpose melee weapons, while more conveniently portable...
In Honor of Mother’s Day
In honor of Mother's Day, let's talk about the greatest mothers in sci-fi and fantasy. Sadly, thanks to cloning vats and a bias toward orphan...
Meet my cat, Soria…
The life of a writer can be lonely and isolating at times. When I first started writing full-time, my wife was still working a day job. That left me...
I’m Giving You a Time Machine
I don't know when it will happen, but a time machine will be delivered for everyone to use. Someday, one will get invented, and I'll convince the...