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Speculative Fiction Writers Guide to War, part 12: Military Training Types

The military training of hereditary warrior castes, barbarians, paid professional soldiers, draftees, militias, and levies have varied. Use these types of training in your stories–or use knowledge of them to stand tropes on their head. · Travis Chapman

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 11: Training a Spartan, Samurai, or Starship Trooper

The elite training of warriors as different as Spartans, Samurai, and Starship Troopers show many features in common. These features drill warriors to prepare them to face the harsh realities of combat. · Travis Perry

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 10: The Aftermath of Combat

In the aftermath of combat, post-traumatic stress creates changes in a warrior. · Travis Chapman

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, Part 9: Perceptual Distortions in Combat

Tunnel vision, slow-motion time, abnormal hearing, memory loss, and intrusive thoughts are just a few possible effects of combat stresses. · Travis Perry

First Man: An Example of Fearlessness

First Man not only shows a fascinating lunar landing, it portrays a man unlike most people. Armstrong’s character gives insight in how to portray a hero. · Travis Perry

A March of Stereotypes

Taking a broad view of speculative fiction, and especially of science fiction, we may discern the march of female stereotypes. · Shannon McDermott

Writers Of Amish Fiction May Not Have It So Wrong

Can speculative fiction find a place for these women? Can they be our protagonists? Do we see them as worth the spotlight? Or do our female protagonists all have to do as the men do? · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 5: Psychology of War: Essential Fears

Essential fears shape much of what humans do on a battlefield, driving them to fight, flight, or surrender responses. · Travis Chapman

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 4: Spectrum of Conflict

The spectrum of conflict shows many shades of color when we use the term “warfare,” as illustrated in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. · Travis Perry

Speculative Fiction Writers’ Guide to War, Part 3: Levels and Types of War

As Star Wars: Rogue 1 showed, warfare normally happens at three levels: tactical, operational, and strategic. And has many different types. · Travis Chapman

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, Part 2: Balance of Power

Balance of Power–a key factor in how nations reason through whether or not to go to war with each other, in both fact and fiction. · Travis Perry

Alpha–“Fantasy-esque” Pre-historic Fiction

The movie Alpha shows the pre-historic past in a way that reminds me of elements I like from fantasy fiction. I explain why–and broadly recommend this movie. · Travis Perry

Does Anybody Work In Speculative Fiction?

I wonder if our attitude toward work might not improve if we began to see it as honorable and necessary in our fiction. · Rebecca LuElla Miller

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War–part 1, Reasons

For what reasons do human beings fight wars? And how can we apply understanding these causes of conflict to speculative stories? · Travis Perry

Who Does Maintenance on Your Story’s Weapons? (And Other Stuff)

In the real world weapons need to be taken care of to maintain their usefulness. Have you thought about maintenance in your speculative fiction stories? · Travis Perry

For Writers: The Spiritual Element

So whether it’s overt or subtle, there has to be reflection of something greater for a story to resonate as true. It may take the form of direct allegorical elements or a subtle symbolic thread, but in capturing some element of spiritual truth, our stories will gain impact. · Sarah Sawyer

Here There Be Creatures: Mythology and the Sense of Wonder

Rotovegas author Grace Bridges: “New Zealanders feel a strong sense of identity with our unique culture, and I wanted to convey that in my Earthcore series.” · Grace Bridges

Realism And Twenty-first Century Storytelling—A Reprise

I think there’s something else not particularly real in twenty-first century stories, no matter how real the computer generated characters might appear. We could chalk this up to “that’s just movies” if it weren’t for the fact that screen writing is beginning to dominate the way we write novels, too. · Rebecca LuElla Miller

The Metaphysics of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War isn’t preachy about any particular worldview, but still reflects a near-ubiquitous belief in a self-generating universe, a universe with no God in control. · Travis Perry

Uncommon Knowledge

This is a question Christian writers now face: With biblical illiteracy on the rise, should biblical allusions be on the wane? · Shannon McDermott
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