Escalation and Eschatology in Stanislaw Lem’s Fiasco
Approximately 6,700 words • my essay from 1988, which I wrote as my Junior Independent Study thesis at the College of Wooster, now with a new introduction
In Defense of American Psycho (A Fragment) 
Approximately 400 words • A fragmentary review circa 1991 (I think)
Stephen Wolfram: in Print and in Person 
Approximately 1,600 words • notes on Stephen Wolfram’s book A New Kind of Science, and his lecture at the University of Michigan
Greg Egan’s Permutation City: Modeling the Universe with Cellular Automata 
Approximately 1,300 words • an e-mail exchange with a friend on Wolfram’s lecture and Egan’s book
Approximately 1,500 words • a reply to a friend’s e-mail message about James Joyce’s Ulysses
Channeling Tolkien: a Table Reading of “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son”_ 
Approximately 900 words • in which I recall an impromptu performance of Tolkien’s short drama in verse
The Doomsday Book, Rocheworld, and Starquake 
Approximately 1,200 words • brief notes of The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, Rocheworld by Robert L. Forward, and Starquake also by Robert L. Forward
Approximately 4,500 words • a lengthy discussion of three books about the Ruby programming language
Christopher Tolkien and The History of Middle Earth 
Approximately 1,800 words
Reynolds, Heinlein, Wolfe, and Others 
Approximately 1,900 words • short reviews of Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds, Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days also by Alastair Reynolds, The Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein, The Book of the Long Sun Tetralogy by Gene Wolfe, Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand by Samuel Delaney, Neverness, The Broken God, and The Wild by David Zindell, The Good, the Bad, and the Difference by Randy Cohen, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Slow River by Nicola Griffith, and Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow
Approximately 500 words
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and War in Heaven by David Zindell 
Approximately 4,700 words
The Boats of the “Glen Carrig” 
Approximately 9,700 words • some material that began life on Wikipedia, as well as an introduction to my audiobook podcast project
William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki Stories 
Approximately 700 words
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke 
Approximately 800 words
“The Home-Coming of Captain Dan” by William Hope Hodgson 
Approximately 800 words
William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land 
Approximately 3,300 words
Thoughts on The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand 
Approximately 900 words
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick 
Approximately 2,000 words • my review of the book, in audio form, ran alongside Jonathon Sullivan’s review of the film in Escape Pod, the science fiction story podcast
Escape Pod: the Best Recent Episodes 
Approximately 400 words
Donaldson Old and New: The Runes of the Earth 
Approximately 2,000 words • comments on my connections to Donaldson, whose work I have read since childhood, and his new Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson 
Approximately 1,700 words
On Clench Racing: Stephen R. Donaldson’s Words of Choice 
Approximately 3,000 words • in which I discuss Rick Lowe’s essay “The Well-Tempered Plot Device”
Approximately 900 words • In which I amuse myself by counting words in various books, and the number of times words occur, apropos making a sort of reductio ad absurdum argument against Lowe’s claim that if a writer has some favorite words, their writing must be bad
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson 
Approximately 1,300 words • notes on re-reading the original trilogy, many years later
Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni 
Approximately 1,600 words
On On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt 
Approximately 500 words
Some Words I Love: Animal Adjectives 
Approximately 600 words
Simon Green’s Nightside Novels 
Approximately 100 words
Hairy Bottom and the Deadly Aloe 
Approximately 800 words • Your honor, I have not further comment at this time
Dark Integers and Other Stories by Greg Egan 
Approximately 1,000 words
Galactic North and Other Recent Science Fiction 
Approximately 1,500 words • discussed: the story collection Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds, Matter by Iain M. Banks, Glasshouse by Charles Stross, and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976 film)
Approximately 400 words
Approximately 700 words • discussed: The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds (later editions have the title Aurora Rising), and several works by the late Iain M. Banks
Paul’s Nearly Complete Guide to Discworld, Part One: Introducing the Series 
Approximately 3,000 words
Paul’s Nearly Complete Guide to Discworld, Part Two: the Reviews 
Approximately 7,800 words
Paul’s Nearly Complete Guide to Discworld, Part Three: The Lists 
Approximately 600 words
The Calculus of Greg Egan Story Collections 
Approximately 400 words • how the content of Egan’s story collections overlap, and how to get most of his best work without buying all six collections discussed; twenty years later, there are a couple more collections available, but my recommendations on how to collect his older stories still apply
Approximately 9,600 words • in which I discuss in depth Gene Wolfe’s masterpiece The Book of the New Sun, the coda The Urth of the New Sun, and some critical studies of Wolfe’s work
Mean Streets by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, and Thomas E. Sniegoski 
Approximately 700 words • I review a collection of four long stories in the “urban fantasy” sub-genre
In Green’s Jungles by Gene Wolfe 
Approximately 400 words • In which I give a brief update on my attempt to read Wolfe’s difficult Book of the Short Sun trilogy
Approximately 600 words • In which I discuss the strange, surreal young adult novel by storyteller Sherwin Sleeves of New Hampshire
Doctor Who: Harvest of Time by Alastair Reynolds 
Approximately 300 words • My brief review of a surprisingly enjoyable Doctor Who novel which gets the all-important tone just right
A Refracted, Fractal World: Patterns of Repetition and Dimunition in Tolkien’s Legendarium 
Approximately 1,900 words • A listicle reflecting on the way that, in Tolkien’s legendarium, mythic and historic events repeat themselves in ever-diminishing recapitulation
