The Big Idea

Especially in epic fantasy stories, human beings or demihumans like elves or dwarves are often portrayed as fighting to the death with a disregard to danger. Creating larger-than-life struggles is part of the appeal of epic literature, but an author should be aware of the behind-the-scenes psychology of that is normal to be able to grippingly and realistically portray the abnormal. Because it happens to be the case that people don't usually fight until the death--they fight until the surrender. Many people are familiar with the so-called "Fight or Flight" response, a state of stimulation by danger that can alternatively cause a person to fight or to run away. But as documented in the book  On Killing , when fighting members of their own species, not only human beings, but all social animals in creation have a third response--to surrender. So wolves in a pack fighting to be the dominant member of the group--the "alpha"--don't usually fight until one is de...

First off, what is the problem with magic for Christians? Or sorcery? Or witchcraft? (Are all of those things even the same?) An entire book could be written on this topic (perhaps I'll do that someday) but to keep this as brief as possible, the short reason this is a problem is the Bible has nothing good to say about the practice of magic (neither does extra-Biblical Christian tradition). No translation of Scripture will record the 12 Disciples watching Jesus walk on the water and say, "Wow, that was magical!" Nor is the mana falling from heaven in Israel's wilderness wanderings described as some kind of powerful spell that Moses used, nor even is his rod described as "magic," even though Moses had the power granted to him by God to turn it into a serpent at whatever time he chose. No, the Bible describes events like these as "miracles," or "signs," or "wonders." On the other hand, when the Bible talks about "mag...

Boussh costume of the sort worn by Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi A Breen soldier from Star Trek Deep Space 9 Interstellar cross-time transdimensional ethnographers have unraveled an unexpected fact. The Breen, best know for the Romulan saying, "Never turn your back on a Breen" and third-rate villains (in the opinion of some) as allies of the Cadassians and Dominion against the United Federation of Planets in the Dominion War, apparently at one time discovered a secret gateway to "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away." Available evidence suggests the gateway (or wormhole) interlinking Breen space with the Galactic Empire actually landed Breen troops into this far-removed galaxy in the early days of the Galactic Republic. The community of Breen, unable to locate Hoth (a world reported to be like their own--their helmets contain a refrigeration unit to keep them cold), underwent a number of cultural and physical adaptations allowing them to bet...

Our scene is a tent, someplace dusty, with wind blowing hard outside. I sit across the a wooden table from two men also seated. One I recognize from  Colony Zero , the other from  Medieval Mars. What are your names? My name is Simon Chang.  Thus says the first man, his openly blind eyes roaming across the room, his broad Asian face adorned with a wide smile. The second, a lightly built man with close-cropped blond hair and a thin blond mustache, glances nervously at Chang before answering.  M-my born name is "Evan." Though by the grace of God, I have become a rider for my Lord Pederson, the Govnor of Mons Ascraeus. So I am now called, "Sir Evan." What one word best describes you? Chang replies, his arms crossed in front of his simple brown tunic.  One word? That's difficult--but I would say I am "faithful." The full plate armor of the second man clinks slightly as he shuffles on his wooden chair.  I-I might have said the same ...

I've built a new story world and I'm inviting other authors to come explore it with me. Let me first describe the world a bit. On the description of my Medieval Mars novella, I wrote: "A future terraformed Mars that has fallen into technological collapse. Knights in armor, called "riders," patrol a circuit for pilgrims bound for the Gran Templo Bautista of Chryse Planitia, on a planet divided into feudal governments, where real dragons prowl the lowlands. When the heretic King of Olympus closes the door to the pilgrimage, the outnumbered riders of Ascraeus fight a literal uphill battle into his kingdom, one that marks Sir Evan's life with love and loss in a way he will never forget..." To add more detail to what I said above, at some future point I'm imagining that human beings deliberately change Mars to make it inhabitable. But then there comes a technological collapse after that, followed by a form of feudalism, as already alluded to. The ...

Shields, forcefields, and screens of various kinds adorn much of science fiction that deals with interstellar travel. There's a literary reason why this is so. As per the linked  New Scientist Article , while there are on average only 2 hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter in the vacuum of space (Earth's atmosphere at sea level is 15 billion billion times as dense), a ship going near-light speed would slam into so many hydrogen atoms that the effect would be like standing directly in front of the business end of the Large Hadron Collider. At a high percentage of the speed of light, a human being would receive a lethal dose of radiation in far less than a second. The way stories have dealt with this phenomenon for the most part is to imagine some future design using a force, unknown to today's physics that conveniently blocks all that pesky radiation. In a future post I'll talk about what I think the best candidate for such a design would be, but for now let's say t...

Star Trek series past the original have famously featured "replicators," machines that through technology linked to transporters could create any substance out of pure energy. In my Troubles with Transporters  bit on this blog I complained that if transporter technology really were able to work, it would have logical implications that are ignored in Star Trek, like being able to copy people at will. Not to mention there being serious issues with the realism of any transporter technology in the first place due to the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle--it is impossible under the current understanding of physics to know where all the particles of your body or an object to be assembled really are, which would make it impossible to reassemble them with total accuracy... But another approach to "replicators" is soon to enter service. A  3d printer is to fly in space  on the International Space Station, as referenced in the linked article (by the way, I was steered to th...