An Interview with Author Rick Partlow
By Tamara Wilhite
I was first introduced to Rick Partlow’s book Glory Boy, a standalone book tied into the “Birthright” trilogy. I had the honor of interviewing Rick Partlow about this and his other works.
Tamara Wilhite: You have a military background, and some of your work is compared to “Starship Troopers” because of the power suits and their use in military warfare. Why do so many of your stories center around soldiers in mecha suits?
Rick Partlow: I suppose it’s because some of my favorite military SF books involve mecha and powered armor. Starship Troopers, John Steakley’s Armor, the Battletech Novels, William H Keith’s Warstrider books. I’ve always found the concept fascinating, high tech knights in shining armor.
TV Review: “Mixed-ish” and Tribalism in American Culture
By David Churchill Barrow
He who lets the world, or his own portion of it, choose his plan of life for him has no need of any other faculty than the ape-like one of imitation. He who chooses his plan for himself employs all his faculties. He must use observation to see, reasoning and judgment to foresee, activity to gather materials for his decision, discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, firmness and self-control to hold his deliberate decision. — John Stuart Mill – On Liberty
When I need to forget about life’s responsibilities for a time, I will watch with my wife some of the sitcoms she enjoys. Blackish, a widely acclaimed show focused upon the foibles and mishaps of trying to stay in tune with American black culture, has spawned the prequel Mixed-ish. Here we are taken back to the childhood of mixed-race Rainbow (or just “Bow,” the wife on Blackish) who started life in an idyllic commune, where supposedly race (among many other distinctions) was completely ignored. This wondrous paradise (with no flushing toilets?) was abruptly ended by an FBI raid, for undisclosed violations.
What a Smile Can Do
By Jamie Glazov
Liberty Island will be republishing a series of poems by Jamie Glazov first published in 2016, now with new images. This is the first.
Book Review: ‘Spoiler Alert’ by Richard Greene
By Tamara Wilhite
Spoiler Alert by Richard Greene is, no spoiler here, about spoilers. This philosophy book by Open Court Press is unusual for discussing the ethics, the ethos, the philosophy and many other details about spoilers.
As a science fiction fan and author, I found the concept intriguing. And as a periodic book reviewer, I wanted to know where others thought the line between blurbs and spoilers, trailers and big reveals were.
“Red Queen” Reasoning – The Spreading Mental Disorder of the Post-Modern Era
By David Churchill Barrow
“No, No!” Said the Queen. “Sentence first – verdict afterwards!”
“Stuff and nonsense!” said Alice loudly. “The idea of having the sentence first!”
Look about you and you will see it everywhere – from this latest impeachment frenzy to “living Constitution” jurisprudence – we decide a priori the result we want, and reason backwards from there. A more modern and more clinical term for this phenomenon is “confirmation bias.” Both the right and left are subject to it, and becoming more polarized by it. Each side sits in its own high-tech echo chamber. We watch and listen to different news outlets and opinion pundits, and realtors will tell you it has gotten to the point where buyers are asking if a neighborhood is conservative or liberal, as if the wrong answer is disqualifying.
