Having experienced the climate of coastal California, I’m liking it well enough, but there’s room for improvement: it’s a bit too warm, too foggy and cloudy, and way too humid. I’m also missing the spectacular desert landscapes of the interior and the wide daily ranges … Continue readingWorldbuilding the Ultimate Desert Coast
Ah, another week, another update for the worldbuilding for the novel I plan to write. If I spared myself all these blog posts and just wrote it I might have a full-length novel by now. Oh well. 🙃 I’ve never been a pantser anyway. I … Continue readingA Diamond Baron Goes Green?
My last update on the brainstorming process for my story came a few days ago, and I have some new material! I won’t actually write it, let alone release it, for a while, since it’s bulging into a novel-length concept, and I’ll be busy with … Continue readingChristmas Blizzard: More Brainstorming
There are times when I think the most salient class divide, a huge piece of the dark matter that undergirds our lives in this country, is whether or not you’re part of the driver class, those who have no choice but to regularly get behind … Continue readingAngelenos, You Know Nothing of Hell
Saudi Arabia has its vision for Neom, The Line, a futuristic linear city, but I think we can do far better right here in America: why not a Pacific Coast City, a contiguous urban corridor on the immediate coast of California? Coastal California is one … Continue readingLet’s Build Pacific Coast City!
I know I just made a blog post about a story concept of mine (plus an earlier one!), to the extent my posts on the subject might be longer than the actual story! Though we’ll see about that. I’ve been doing some more thinking, and … Continue readingChristmas in Americasia?
I’ve been doing some more brainstorming for the story concept I outlined in my post “A Slice of Life at the Dawn of the Space Age”. I had a bit of an inspiration: why can’t the reclusive landlord (who will have a pale ghostly pallor … Continue readingChristmas Night, Rocket Night, Magic Night
In alternate history one cliche is for a polity, society, or culture to “pull a Meiji”, referring to a rapid modernization and industrialization, the archetypal case being Japan under Emperor Meiji in the late 19th century, when Japan ascended to become one of the great … Continue readingPulling a Meiji in the Arctic?
When worldbuilding speculative fiction settings, all manner of planets are considered, from ocean planets to desert planets and everything in between, but one class of planet that you don’t hear much about is the high obliquity planet. This is somewhat surprising, considering that we have … Continue readingWorldbuilding Seasons on Planets with High Axial Tilts