A speculative mind

One of the things you discover when you get a book published is that you need to generate reviews for your book. See, whether you are self-published or indy-published, you are the one responsible for marketing. Even major publishing houses (should you be so fortunate to get published by them) are not going to spend much in the way of marketing dollars promoting your book unless your name is Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. So, you schedule book talks and signing events. You look for ways to promote yourself on social media, and so on. Unless you are planning on spending money on some seriously expensive ads (a lot of risk with a slim likelihood of reward) your marketing reach will not extend very far. That is why reviews are so important. Reviews get your name and the book’s name out there to a wider audience. Also, as the number of reviews start to climb, places like Amazon.com start to take your book more seriously. At some point they start to put your book on their suggested read...

I have never really been much into zombies. I mean what are they really? Dead people brought back to life who can infect more dead people to bring them back to life. In other words, sort of like vampires, except way less sexy and with way fewer powers. Who would you rather watch, sexy vampires who can fly and perform mind control, or a half-decomposed creature who can’t walk very fast, let alone run, let alone fly? Zombies have to be some of the most uninspired horror creatures ever invented. Certainly, they have a creep factor, but if a zombie is coming for you: walk away. You don’t even have to run. Whereas, if a vampire is coming for you, or a velociraptor, or an orc, or a thing from outer space . . . see where I’m going? Yes, when you are dealing with massive numbers of zombies it can be a problem, but still, monsters with brains are far more interesting to me than monsters without brains. Yet zombie films and TV shows continue to be popular. I am not sure why. The orig...

What amazing things eyes are. Instruments that allow our brains to register when photons are striking them and allow us to differentiate different quantities and frequencies of light. Eyes, of one form or another, go way back in the evolutionary chain. Some flatworms and other lower forms of animals have eye spots. They are not eyes, the way we think of them, but just a few photo receptor cells that allow the organism to detect when a shadow has passes over it. Eyes are the window of the soul, or at least it feels like that to us. Reams of poetry have been devoted to eyes. How many of us have felt that someone was lying (or telling the truth) by looking at their eyes? Whether we can actually detect a truth or lie is irrelevant. It feels like we can! Apparently, we are not the only species that recognizes eyes for what they are. Pigmy owls have two large spots on the back of their neck that make it look like the two eyes of a larger creature. What are they there for if not...