Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 52
August 14, 2012
TERMS OF SERVICE; DIDN'T READ
I've always wanted there to be a service like this. I just didn't know I wanted it.
I've spent many, many, many years lampooning the computer industry's tendency to use the Terms of Service (or, for software, the End User License Agreement) as an excuse to justify doing anything they wanted, to anyone they want to do it to. And from time to time we'd see a news article or a post about specific terms in a ToS that seemed... well... beyond the pale. But we've never had the opportunity to actuall...
July 31, 2012
July 30, 2012
I Finally Found a Compelling Argument against Self-Publishing
In the tumultuous, vicious, and often petty warring between the Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing factions, I have, for the most part, managed to stay out of the back-and-forth. I self publish, so I'm part of that camp by default, but I haven't been interested in the overall war, and the criticisms levied against self-publishing have never really stung.
But today I finally found one that stings. Today I have to say "yes, well, you have a point there." I have found the argument I canno...
July 27, 2012
Review: The Legion of Nothing
This review was originally posted on Web Fiction Guide. Now that Jim Zoetewey (the author) has released the first story arc as a Kindle Book (see link below) I'm reposting it here to help get the word out.
The Legion of Nothing, by Jim Zoetewey
I suppose there are people out there who will dismiss "superhero fiction" as trivial, just like there are people who feel that way about space opera, or sword & sorcery, high fantasy, or any other kind of genre fiction. I'm not one of those people, b...
July 20, 2012
Review: The Aphorisms of Kherishdar
The Aphorisms of Kherishdar, by M.C.A. Hogarth
On Amazon.com
On BarnesandNoble.com
On Smashwords.com
“I am the Calligrapher, and I serve Civilization. You know my people as the Ai-Naidar; my empire as Kherishdar. It is a society that spans five worlds and several thousand years, with laws and customs that have served us for as long as we have walked these earths.”
With these words, author M.C.A. Hogarth introduces us to a civilization that is truly alien. And the way she does it is brilliant: the...
July 18, 2012
New! Exciting! And artwork that isn't mine!
Summary: Curveball, my Latest Official Project, is a “prose comic”—a written serial that attempts to emulate the style and conventions of a comic book as much as possible despite the fact that it has no pictures whatsoever in it. To that end, each issue will update in complete form on the third Wednesday of every month. Along with with the web issue (which is available right now, at curveballchronicles.com) there will be a corresponding eBook release for the Kindle, Nook, iBook, and other e-R...
July 17, 2012
Death Of A Hero: Part Four
The Farraday City Morgue is a modern building, built when the crime families moved in and started renovating the city. The police stations, hospitals, and morgue are all state-of-the-art facilities. CB is amused that a city government so thoroughly owned by organized crime will spend so much money on a crime-fighting infrastructure—it seems counter-intuitive. Still, there’s a difference between “well-run” and “honest”—the city faithfully protects the people who can afford to pay for that prot...
Part Four
The Farraday City Morgue is a modern building, built when the crime families moved in and started renovating the city. The police stations, hospitals, and morgue are all state-of-the-art facilities. CB is amused that a city government so thoroughly owned by organized crime will spend so much money on a crime-fighting infrastructure—it seems counter-intuitive. Still, there’s a difference between “well-run” and “honest”—the city faithfully protects the people who can afford to pay for that prot...
Death Of A Hero: Part Three
In the nineties Farraday City was poised to become the next successful beach resort: middle class and white collar professionals flocked to its shores, looking to spend a few weeks of their precious holiday time somewhere far enough away to feel like a break, but not so far they couldn’t rush back to the office in an emergency. Then the recession hit, and people stopped coming. Farraday City’s economy tanked, the high-rise building projects stopped, the motel resorts were condemned, and it qu...
Part Three
In the nineties Farraday City was poised to become the next successful beach resort: middle class and white collar professionals flocked to its shores, looking to spend a few weeks of their precious holiday time somewhere far enough away to feel like a break, but not so far they couldn’t rush back to the office in an emergency. Then the recession hit, and people stopped coming. Farraday City’s economy tanked, the high-rise building projects stopped, the motel resorts were condemned, and it qu...
