The Casual Piracy of the Internet: Stealing is Stealing

Not long after my Star Trek novella came out I discovered a pirated file of the anthology online while searching for reviews. I posted about it on Trek BBS, a very popular message board for Trek fans and writers. I was surprised at some of the responses, that people thought my anger was a waste, …

Warning: Liberal Political Rant to Follow

I fully admit that raising the taxes of the rich will not singlehandedly cure our budget woes. Now I expect in return that conservatives will fully admit that cutting the taxes of the rich will not inherently help our budget woes.  I'll wait. Still waiting. Man, it's quiet. I've encountered conservatives ridiculing liberals as ignorant …

The Scarlet W: On Being a Writer in the End Times

I picked a great time to have my writing career briefly regain consciousness, didn't I? The acquisition of Honor in the Night, my Star Trek novella, back in 2008 seemed to roughly coincide with the beginning of the end of traditional publishing. As blogged elsewhere, the novella had a bumpy road to print, but it's …

All Things Being Equal, It’s Better if Things Make Sense

A recent episode of the Hawaii Five-O reboot—spoiler warning!—built up to Danny finding out his brother Matt (or Chris, depending on which website you believe) had made some poor financial decisions and was now in over his head with bad guys and in serious legal trouble. Danny counseled Matt to turn himself in and promised …

The Collaborative Process in Traditional Publishing

Previously on Enemy Lines…I'm a writer who makes my living as an editor. It's my day job, like Bruce Wayne without the money, that covers for my writing, like fighting crime, but without the crime or the fighting. It's the perfect metaphor, except for all the exceptions. Literally. I was a writer for many years …