Who The Hell Should I Vote For?

The election is almost upon us, and so every party of note has released their manifesto. If you don’t know, these are very long documents – usually filled with jargon – detailing precisely what the party will work towards should they succeed. It’s basically 80 or so pages saying: “PLEASE VOTE FOR US”

"You're Gay?!"

A few months ago, I talked about sexuality in fiction – and how I really didn't see it as a big deal despite being not only gay myself, but a gay writer. I touched upon how it’s both really funny yet also terrifying how the world fusses over homosexuality. 

How To Write A Crap Fantasy

Welcome hacks, incompetents, and/or people who only create art for money!

There are three genres that are hugely popular yet are even more difficult to get right than most works: horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. They’re difficult to get right because there’s a formula that writers always feel obliged to follow, and this in turn creates work that’s at best bland and at worst is intolerable.

So, want to break that formula and write something no-one’s ever seen before? Then sod off. This is how to write a really, really awful work of fantasy that’ll cause nothing but misery and despair. 

All Fiction Is Political. Shut Up.

So there was this tweet:

Uh...bullshit?

Why Someone Would Crash a Plane

You know about this. On Tuesday, the Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 crashed into the French alps. The co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, locked the pilot out of the flight-deck and drove the plane down into the mountains killing 150 people including himself. Andreas Lubitz had depression. 

Why are People Afraid of Contractions?

And by ‘contractions,’ I mean the contraction of “is not” to “isn’t,” “I have” to “I’ve” and so on. Not the ‘contraction’ you get in pregnancy. I feel sick just thinking about that…

Harry Potter Is A Bloody Idiot

You probably think, since this is the second post I’ve written that criticises Harry Potter, that I don’t like it.  And to you, I say: "Put a mandrake (or mantagora) root in it! Of course I like Harry Potter!"