Alienietzsche

I assure you...Im still around. Been super busy wedding planning and my friend got me involved on an indie video game he and his friends are developing. I plan on posting some concept art this week for it. The worldbuilding is still in development but it seems like a dungeon crawler with an aztec and lovecraftian aesthetic. Expect tentacular tribal mutants forthcoming.  

Bad news is that I left my scanner in storage after moving in so I wont be able to scan new artwork. Good news is that I got a new phone with a good camera so Ill be doing mobile uploads and will have something new up tonight.

Its been a busy few past weeks. Got the flu, been packing up my apartment to move, interviewing and have been attending family weddings while trying to plan my own. Suffice to say I havent had much time to devote to art, let alone blogging. But I should be resettled this week and hope to return to it then. Sorry for the absence.

Two new blog posts posted today for my science fiction and fantasy fiction criticism blog, Secondary World Problems: 

secondaryworldproblemsblog.wor…

"Fantasy, Mythology and Ambiguity" (secondaryworldproblemsblog.wor…):

My meandering thoughts on how fantasy fiction often appropriates mythological creatures as a "race" in its world-building but as a people they lack a mythology of their own which feels unrealistic to me. 

"Speculative Versus Figurative Fiction" (secondaryworldproblemsblog.wor…):

World-building is opposed to figurative language. The purpose of figurative language is to offer insight into this world while the appeal of worldbuilding is to construct another world entirely. Writers intending for a metaphorical or allegorical interpretation of their world are missing out on why fantasy and science fiction is appealing, at least to me

Switched my fantasy / scifi criticism blog over from Blogger to Wordpress and here is the result so far:

secondaryworldproblemsblog.wor…

Please give it a look, a like, and a follow if you enjoy my perspective. 

My latest post is on a tendency I have noticed among more amateur writers and worldbuilders to give generic, literal, and capitalized names to things. Examples abound: The Dread Empire, the Voice, The Force, The Light, The Chosen One, The Tower, The Darkness, etc. Not only is it uninspiring but its also confusing (is The Empire the ONLY empire?) and insulting to the readers judgments (as if readers couldnt figure out that the Dread Empire is an empire and that it is dreadful). 

Anyways, give it a read if you like: 

secondaryworldproblemsblog.wor…

I hope to have more art and writing up over the course of the week.