Category: Research Trivia

How much of the neuroscience in The Regolith Temple did I get right in the novel? Here are some concerns when writing uploaded brains in sci-fi stories.

Whenever I puzzle over something in my life, I often end up understanding the characters I write in my stories a little better too. A conversation with a friend helped me see that connection last year, when I learned about high-conflict personalities.

My work draws power from books such as The Evolution of God and The Pillars of the Earth, and the Vikings TV series. Here’s why I admire them and why they matter to my worldbuilding.

Most Romanians know this name. It’s mentioned in school textbooks and historical documentaries, and it appears on souvenirs sold at tourist attractions, yet it’s tricky to figure out who exactly it refers to. Was Zalmoxis an ancient Dacian king? A god? A philosopher? A priest?

It’s hard to write about books and ideas when the world is hurting all around us, but as a fiction writer, I keep trying to make sense of political power and human behavior. And that reminded me of something I once felt while reading a certain very famous book.

Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography argues that mountains, rivers, and coastlines shape nations far more than ideology or intention. The maps in this book explain so much about the world we live in but also make me wonder how much room is left for self-determination.

Patricia Crone’s book about pre-industrial societies raised unexpected questions about Europe and the Roman Empire, and it nudged my novel’s worldbuilding in ways I hadn’t considered before reading it.

To forget or not to forget? It depends on whether not forgetting can lead to healing, and whether forgetting can stop the hurting. David Rieff’s book is unsettling in more than one way. Not only does it destroy one of the quotes that pops up everywhere on political blogs, it even questions history itself.

How a scuffed copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu became my battlefield guide and inspired character flaws, plot turns, and worldbuilding insights for The Exiled Queen, my Roman Era historical fantasy.