“Sojourn” in A City of Han

So my latest publication is out! Not in the usual sort of place, though! A City of Han is a collection of short stories set in Seoul, hence the title. Anyway, “Sojourn” is a low-key story that’s set in a world of mutants and superheroes and super-powers, but which is really about people trying to live normal lives in such a world—and what a titanic struggle can be for those a little away from the peak of the bellcurve. It’s also very much about the hakwon-teaching experience. I’ve written more about it in my post on the story, along with …

Continue Reading

Blogging Pound’s The Cantos: Canto LXXI

This entry is part 56 of 60 in the series Blogging Pound's The Cantos

This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, one (or a few) at a time. The readings are atypical, for reasons made clear in my first post in this series. I’m not sure whether the fiction project that inspired this series will ever come to fruition, but I’d like to try finish the Cantos just the same. There’s also an (updated) index of all the Cantos (and related sources) I’ve discussed so far. Well, here we are, folks, at the final Adams Canto! It’s taken some time, but the coronavirus outbreak has …

Continue Reading

Cathulhu

Last Saturday I attended a “mini-con” in Seoul and had a great time. I got to play in two games, one of which I’ll discuss briefly today—in part because the other, I’ve been playing elsewhere as well, and would like to sum up my experiences with it in terms of both sessions. (And the other playthrough is currently awaiting its concluding session.)  The game I’m discussing today is Sixtystone Press’s Cathulhu, by Ingo Ahrens, Adam Crossingham and Daniel Harms. It’s a BRP-derived game, featuring a percentile, roll-under system and a hilarious set of skills as well as special “tricks” that …

Continue Reading

Ghostbusters, Spooktacular

I’ve posted here much less than I used to, but I also should note that I have heaps of posts commenting on RPGs I’ve accumulated and read over the past few years. I didn’t want this blog to become overwhelmed by them all—and some of them are kind of over-detailed—but… well, I think I’m going to start posting them (with “read more” links a paragraph or two in), because, I’m not posting much of anything else here, and because who knows, maybe other people will dig them. I’ll get around to those sooner or later, but for now, I wanted to …

Continue Reading

“Alone With Gandhari” reprinted in Bloody Red Nose

My short story “Alone With Gandhari” (which originally appeared in Clarkesworld almost a decade ago now) has been reprinted in David Higgins’ Bloody Red Nose: 15 Fears of a Clown anthology.  (For those who don’t recall, this is the one featuring a group of drugged-out lunatic terrorists who dress up like a certain trademarked clown character and attack fast food restaurants and, eventually, decide to attack a high-tech facility where beef is being produced from highly modified cows… and the tale of how one individual gets radicalized to the point of joining these lunatics.)  If you’d like a copy, drop by …

Continue Reading

“Winter Wheat” in the current Asimov’s SF!

So, the current issue of Asimov’s SF includes my novella, about which the magazine’s website says very kind things: Our September/October 2019 issue features Gord Sellar’s blockbuster novella about high-tech farming in the Canadian North. “Winter Wheat” is a tour de force that begins in the dead of winter and takes us through a twelve-year cycle in Saskatchewan. You won’t want to miss this amazing story. Very flattering. (You’d hardly guess I was a city kid who’s never lived on a farm.) Oh, and yes, it’s a novella. It spans 13 years, jumping 13 months ahead in each section. It’s …

Continue Reading

루머와 잘못된 정보에 대한 성명 (A Statement Concerning Rumors and Misinformation)

For those who only read English—and just in case there is any misunderstanding with the Korean text below—the full English text is included below, to avoid misunderstanding and clarify my intent in this post. It is a bit late, with WorldCon starting tomorrow, but better late than never.  Anyone with questions or concerns is welcome to contact me. I speak only for myself, by the way.  루머와 잘못된 정보에 대한 성명 한국 SF 내에 돌고 있는 많은 혼란스러운 루머와 잘못된 정보들에 대해 알게 되었습니다. 지금 여기서 모두 다 언급할 수는 없지만, 저와 직접적으로 관련된 한 가지 루머에 대해서 먼저 짚고넘어가야 …

Continue Reading

Reading the Numenera (Core Rulebook) by Monte Cook

I know I’m pretty late to the party, but I’m trying to take notes as I read different RPG books, in part to sort of collect my thoughts about them. Numenera‘s already got a new (backwards-compatible) edition, so I’m really behind the curve, but I’m behind the curve on everything these days, and if I let that stop me, I’d never post anything here. So, here are my thoughts on the Numenera core rulebook, loaned to me long ago by my amazingly patient friend Justin Howe. 

Continue Reading

Blades in the Dark, Round 2: The Rescue of Belle Brogan

We had our second session of Blades in the Dark earlier this week. Good time, though I am still trying to figure out a better approach to playing: my characters tend to be a fair bit more confrontational, while others tend to play theirs in a more cagey manner—and you can guess who racks up the stress by doing that.  Not that I want to revert to a more cagey approach to play, but I think it might be good if I can wrap my head around the sneakier, trickier stuff, and the tactic of standing back and waiting for …

Continue Reading

Blades in the Dark, Session 1

A few weeks ago, I got my copy of John Harper’s Blades in the Dark, but I set it aside because I was reading the copy of the Numenera rulebook that my friend Justin Howe loaned me an embarrassingly long time ago. However, by happenstance it turned out that Justin and I realized a Blades in the Dark game would be possible when someone I know on Twitter, M.R. (@ageekinkorea) expressed an interest in playing. So last week, I grabbed the rulebook off the shelf and, slowly, started reading it.  I don’t have a great handle on the system yet, …

Continue Reading