Robert Wack

  • 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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  • Michigan and the Fate of the Universe

    What do the boundaries of the State of Michigan have to do with the ultimate fate of the Universe? Strap in, we’re going for a ride! On a recent trip with friends to Michigan and Indiana, I learned about the Toledo War, a boundary dispute during the early years of Michigan history. The region has been…

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  • Something else to worry about

    Staying ahead of current events is a constant challenge for Science Fiction writers. What seemed like gee-whiz future tech yesterday is now sitting on the kitchen counter. If you are not careful, the future you create may end up looking like a bad episode of the Jetsons. Thanks to a recent post by Cassie Kozyrkov (@decisionleader.bsky.social), we…

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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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  • Cecelia Payne

    One thing about writing in the SF genre is the challenge of constraining your speculations by what known science says is possible, or if you really want to loosen up, what might be possible. To do that, you have to get into the actual science quite a bit to make sure you know where the…

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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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  • WELCOME!

    Welcome to the Robert Wack Author web site, very much a work in progress. As I continue building this out, I’ll update you on upcoming publications, some thoughts on the writing life, and other interesting nuggets about science fiction, history, culture and why we do this (reading, writing, imagining). A quick note about AI: I…

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Robert Wack