Getting on the Wagon

How can books leech off the continuing success of open-world games? The answer is simple: Lengthy tower-climbing segments followed by even longer descriptions of everything in the vicinity. People love that stuff, no matter what was said in your fiction workshop.

Doubts Regarding Space Dragons

If we find space dragons, will scientists be reluctant to call them space dragons, or will they be all for it? Komodo dragons were a long time ago. Long enough to be retro. All right, I've decided, it's all space dragons from here on out. Though the "space" part might be a problem. Star dragons. Void dragons. Vacuum dragons. Stellar dragons.

Founding of the Space Patrol

Volunteers packed the auditorium. Volunteers to become the first of the Space Patrol.
"The importance of your duties cannot be exaggerated," the general told them. "To survey astronomical bodies, to combat space piracy, to swing by the other side of the sun from time to time and check nothing untoward is going on back there. I know you all expect as much, but understand this."
He surveyed the body before him, thousands of men and women distinguished by courage and ability. "Out of everyone who enters the training, a few will die. A third will wash out. And a fourth of those who remain . . . They will have to become space pirates, because there aren't any to combat yet. A fourth for now. We're still unsure of the proper proportion."
"Can't we just wait for people to take that up themselves?" one volunteer asked.
"There's the first washout."
"I'm not saying I won't do it. I think we all just want to fly around in spaceships."
"Glad to have you back in the program, son."
Finis

A Seismic Conundrum

"Earthquake" already sounds like a fantasy term, so do fantasy authors have to come up with a new term for it? That's before getting into fanciful causes for them. Or is it? Perhaps an earthquake caused by a catfish should have a different name from one caused to two smiths competing to create the strongest suit of armor underground. The latter would I suppose be a hoploclasm, and as for the former, "thrashwhisker." Those are bad, and therefore they fit in with "earthquake."

Addendum

I'm not saying wizards aren't real, but if I can pretend to raise a dog, reality is demonstrably no bar.

The Age of Videogames Is Ended

Now that we know what the next generation's prices are going to be, people will finally realize that instead of paying $500 to pretend to race, they should spend $20 to pretend wizards are real. Let's just hope they never find out they can pay $0 to read a history of Cuba written in 1920.

Addendum

You can prove it wasn't a real leak now though.

You Can't Prove This Isn't a Real Leak

I can't believe the Switch 2 is actually an e-reader that can play Snake! What a change in direction! It looks like ebooks win again.

The Future of Theater

Little robot fellas performing plays on your dinner table while you eat. They get the scripts from the cloud, which is a very futuristic place, and they provide their own music and sound effects on separate channels from that which their voices use.