Blog about books

The adventure-first branch of fantasy that invented episodic reading: nine sword and sorcery picks, from Conan and Elric to Kings of the Wyld, and why they hook serial readers.

Ten epic fantasy books and series worth the commitment, from The Lord of the Rings to The Priory of the Orange Tree, and why the form rewards reading a chapter at a time.

Storytellers once told great myths, and those stories continue to inspire writers today. Here are ten modern reads with a delightful dose of ancient mythology.

A complete index of every post on the Fictionate.me blog — writing craft, self-publishing, serialized fiction and reading recommendations, listed alphabetically with summaries and jump links by letter.

Twelve Arthurian and legend-retelling novels that hand the old stories to the people the myth left out: the queens, the monsters, the knights who came after.

Ten post-apocalyptic novels worth your time, from 1949 to now, with what each one is really about and one craft move a writer could steal.

Twelve military and war novels worth reading, from All Quiet on the Western Front to The Things They Carried: the gap between the official war and the lived one.

Nobody in a spy novel can say what they mean, and that shortage is a craft engine. Eight books across more than a century, plus what serial writers can take from the way espionage fiction schedules information.

Twelve alternate history novels where a single changed event reshapes the world, and what the fork costs the ordinary people living through it.

A recurring antagonist has to stay compelling across a whole serial. Six craft moves for writing a villain who survives a long, chapter-by-chapter story.