Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson (2013)
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogCheck out my review policy for a few disclaimers before proceeding. Content Warnings: Fake mixed with a little actual swearing, people dying in especially horrible ways, lots of violence. For once, I have encountered a Brandon Sanderson book...
Beyonders Series, by Brandon Mull
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogCheck out my review policy for a few disclaimers before proceeding. Content Warnings: Mild scenes of torture, several suicides, lots of death, possibly objectionable use of magic, definitely objectionable use of deception, and some other...
SYLO, by D.J. MacHale (2013)
Matthew P. Schmidt My Blog Check out my review policy for a few disclaimers before proceeding. Content Warning: Swearing, people and children dying in divers horrible ways. I'm of mixed feelings about this book. I was a fan of the author's earlier, bestselling the...
It is done!
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogPrince Anak the Immortal, a manuscript entirely unrelated to anything posted on this blog is now finished! Yay! Now for a word of explanation to my null set of fans: I had attempted a pseudo-NaNoWriMo novel. I call it pseudo, because I...
Nonfiction Review: The Emperor’s New Mind, by Roger Penrose (1989)
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogThere are some books so good that they're worth reading even if you disagree with them. This is one of them.Most of the book is dedicated to a tour de force through computing, mathematics, and physics. The book is intended to be read by...
The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson (2013)
Matthew P. Schmidt My Blog Check out my review policy for a few disclaimers before proceeding. Content warnings: mostly fake swearing, children kidnapped, other people murdered. Honestly, it's tamer than G.A. Henty. I wasn't initially too enthused about a book where...
Spaceships in Fantasy fiction.
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogThe War Against the Gods is a fantasy series. It also has spaceships. Several drafts ago, the world of tWAtG was a set in a world of shards suspended in the ether. Special etherships would travel from shard to shard, as well as (what else?)...
Marrow, by Robert Reed (1997)
Matthew P. Schmidt My Blog Check out my review policy for a few disclaimers before proceeding. Content warnings: swearing, glossed-over sex, including interspecies sex (what?), lots of people getting decapitated (most of them get better) and miscellaneous violence in...
Prologue Complete!
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogI've just finished the prologue of my new, as of yet, unnamed novel. Unlike most fantasy novel prologues, it contains actual action, people dying, things exploding, and the end of a false god. Now I'm off to edit it. (Skybreaker's new name...
D’oh!
Matthew P. Schmidt My BlogThe name "Skybreaker" for a sword is already taken. Should've done the research, I guess. Now to find the new name...
Smithgift's Stuff
Blog Highlights
How many angels can, in fact, dance on the head of a pin?
The theological equivalent of xkcd's What If? column, if you will. Yet the question, absurd or not, remains.
The Melancholy of Heaven
Are martyrs sad? Standard answer: no. They are in Heaven by definition, and “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” I agree. Generally.
Lessons Learned from Making Educational Games for Kids
This is the first article in lessons we've learned, starting with the front-end design of the games themselves.
The C-x C-f Writing Method
There comes a time in every writer’s life whereupon they must stand atop the nearest soapbox, milkcrate, or indefinite cubic object to declaim how their style of writing is THE BEST.