Robert Wack

books

  • Social Media Complexity Theory

    Things get messy when fat stacks hit the table This is more a speculative essay than a good old angry rant. You know my opinions about the adverse effects of social media in the hands of the grifting “influencers”. We’ve always had frauds and charlatans peddling snake oil and potions, but the powerful manipulation of…

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  • The Next Scam

    I wasn’t planning to write on this topic again so soon, but I guess the state of the world is such that it can’t be avoided. I recently needed to avail myself of the services of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, using their online portal. First, what a wonderful service! Kudos to the hardworking…

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  • Scam-a-rama

    Well, this is something I didn’t expect. I mentioned before the new (to me) expectation that authors are supposed to do the lion’s share of the marketing and promotion of their work, and that the publishing industry is fragmenting into a jungle of “consultants” seeking to help with every step in the editing, publishing, and…

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  • Summer Update

    Summertime, and the living’s easy. Trying to get some writing done, enjoying time off, and let’s be honest, the old “writers have to market” hustle has taken a back seat to other priorities. Hence, the lack of updates in a while. Regarding the time off: my paying job came to an abrupt end back in…

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  • Breadcrumbs vs. Spoonfeeding

    One challenge all writers of fiction encounter at some point is how much detail to give, especially around interesting plot points. Too much, and you risk killing the narrative flow by sounding tedious and pedantic. Too little, and the reader may become confused and lose interest. I call this Breadcrumbs versus Spoonfeeding. Every cool story…

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  • In the Beginning…

    Since this is the first of many blog posts about writing generally, and science fiction particularly, perhaps it’s appropriate to start at my beginning with the genre. Although I’m sure there were other books before, the first sci-fi novel that I remember to this day as making a deep impression on me is Andre Norton’s Daybreak:…

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