Dragon Awards 2017

Here are my recommendations for the 2017 Dragon Awards. You can enter your nominations here, but remember you can only do so once. Be sure not to nominate anything in more than one category, or your nomination will be void. Also note that you must use a real email address when submitting your nomination because you will be sent an email requesting confirmation of your nominations, without which they will not be counted.



Best Science Fiction Novel
 
ALBION LOST by Richard Fox

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

A SEA OF SKULLS by Vox Day

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel
 
SWAN KNIGHT’S SON by John C. Wright
 
Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
 
STARSHIP LIBERATOR by B.V. Larson and David VanDyke

Best Alternate History Novel
 
NO GODS, ONLY DAIMONS by Kai Wai Cheah

Best Apocalyptic Novel
 
THE RETREAT #4: ALAMO by Craig diLouie, with Stephen Knight and Joe McKinney
 
Best Horror Novel
 
THE HIDDEN PEOPLE by Alison Littlewood

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet
 
LUCKY MAN by Sky 1

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie
 
LOGAN directed by James Mangold

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game
 
TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER by Sega

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game
 
LEGENDS OF CALLASIA by Boomzap Entertainment  (the mobile release was Sep 2016)

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game
 
GLOOMHAVEN by Cephalofair Games

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game
 
DARK SOULS: THE BOARD GAME by Steamforged Games

The vanishing male college student

Pretty soon there will be no one left to claim fake-raped 4 out of 5 college women:

Whatever the reason, enrollment data show men are becoming less of a presence on college campuses both in Colorado and across the United States.

A higher percentage of Colorado’s female high school graduates than male graduates were enrolled in college from 2009 through 2015, according to state records. In 2015, 61.2 percent of Colorado’s recent female high school graduates attended college in the fall, compared to 51.8 percent of male graduates, according to the Colorado Department of Higher Education.

A similar trend is occurring nationally. Although more people than ever are attending college, the ratio of male to female students is nearly 1:2. Compare that to 1960, when there were 1.6 males for every female graduating from a U.S. four-year college and 1.55 males for every female undergraduate, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Today, women hold almost 60 percent of all bachelor degrees, and women now account for almost half of students in law, medical and business graduate programs.

This is socially disastrous and societally dysgenic, as it not only demonstrates the declining value of a college degree, but due to hypergamy, functionally sentences half of the USA’s most intelligent women to barren celibacy. Women always tend to drive men out of previously male occupations, and education is no exception.

King of all cucks

This guy actually may have managed to top both Rod Dreher and Erick Erickson for over-the-top cuckery. He was actively cucking while caught in the midst of an Islamic attack.

Literally on the floor, during a terrorist attack, and one Brit scolds another for being Islamophobic about it all.

First guy: “Fucking Muslims cunts!”

King of all cucks: “Don’t shout that. Fucking idiot. It’s not Muslims.”

The best part is his tone of voice. Totally smug and clueless SJW superiority complex.

Guess who’s back?

Milo Yiannopoulos is back with what is, incontrovertibly, the most controversial book of the decade, DANGEROUS.

A few other sundries. First, I was pleased, and flattered, to learn that the Injustice Gamer has published his Dragon Award thoughts and is recommending John C. Wright’s SWAN KNIGHT’S SON for Best YA novel, and my own A SEA OF SKULLS for Best Fantasy novel. I’ll be publishing my own list later this week, but you can be fairly confident that you’ll find me in agreement with those two well-considered recommendations.

Second, John C. Wright fans will be pleased to learn that THE GREEN KNIGHT’S SQUIRE will be available very soon in hardcover. This is the trilogy that includes the aforementioned, plus FEAST OF THE ELFS and SWAN KNIGHT’S SWORD. We will also have the third Good Guide, PUSH THE ZONE, out in paperback within a week.

Third, the Divine Right team is looking for another volunteer programmer or two. The team lead has put together the following list of requirements.

  • Realistic ability to commit to minimum 5 hours per week for a year.
  • Real-world C# experience (doesn’t have to be professional paid work but something beyond a how-to course or youtube video).
  • Ability to work independently and take the initiative.

Those are the must-haves. He said it would also be desirable to have one or more of the following:

  • Unity
  • Entitas or working knowledge of MVC or ECS Architecture
  • Shader experience
  • AI experience

So, if you want to get some game dev experience with a real team working on a real game that people actually want, this is a good way to acquire it. If you’re interested, email me with DRDEV in the subject.

And fourth, the May Brainstorm will be tonight. Invites will be out within an hour. Sorry for the delay, but we’ve been extremely busy getting no less than five books ready to go out the door in the next two weeks.

Darkstream: hate is a Christian virtue

On tonight’s Darkstream, I explain why there is no contradiction between the famous injunction to love your enemies and the repeated commands to hate wickedness and evil. It’s more than a simple “hate the sin, love the sinner”, so do watch it before expressing an opinion.

I thought it was informative to see how this, more than any previous Darkstream, stirred up trolls and Churchians. It may serve you well to ask yourself this: why are they so opposed to hate? If they so readily accept so many other sins, why does hate so readily draw their angry attention?

Hope for the future

Europe belongs to the youth of the European nations and they know they will have to fight for it.

A EUROSCEPTIC teen destroyed a European Union flag while furiously addressing the Polish parliament over its membership of the political project. The teen declared the EU is a replica of the dictatorship of the Soviet Union but under a blue banner, as his audience applauded his speech.

The boy, Michal Cywinski, was speaking at a children’s parliamentary session, for children’s day, in Poland, this year’s topic: “De-Communizing Public Spheres”.

“We find ourselves in the Sejm of the Polish Republic. In this place, where on a daily basis those who are responsible for our state’s functioning are in session. We sit in the same place as the people who took us out from under the Soviet banner and put us under the blue banner of the European Union. They took us out from under the Soviet banner and put us under the blue banner of the European Union. Under their dictatorship of political correctness, hundreds of people die, run over by trucks, blown up by explosives or are shot to death by extremists, who were imported by the leftist rabble in Brussels.

“Today the communists are not red, today’s communists are blue. Furthermore, I believe that the European Union must be destroyed.”

At this point, young Michal proceeds to hold aloft a print of the European Union’s blue flag, before ripping it to shreds.

This is indicative of a massive shift in public opinion among the young from 15 years ago. The youth of the European nations used to be hugely in favor of the EU. Now, being the primary victims of multiculturalism, diversity, and vibrancy, they are its most fervent opponents.

Nice to see a correct reference to Cato as well. I would not be surprised if we hear this young man’s name in the future.

Good luck with that

While it beats the usual “diversity is stronger than hate” ritual, the UK Prime Minister’s new anti-terrorism program falls well short of one with any chance of success:

‘We cannot and must not pretend things can continue as they are. Things need to change and they need to change in four important ways.’

  • Defeating the extreme Islamist ideology to make them understand ‘pluralistic British values’ are superior 
  • Ending the ‘safe space’ online for the plotting of terror attacks 
  • Continuing military action against ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria 
  • Tougher prison sentences at home for terrorist offences  

First, the problem is not “the extreme Islamist ideology”, the problem is Islam. Period. The West will continue to suffer these attacks so long as Muslims are permitted to reside in the West. There is a reason why Western nations periodically expelled troublesome minorities, and they will have to do so again if they prefer peaceful societies to diverse ones. The West will either embrace Reconquista 2.0 or it will cease to exist.

Second, pluralistic British values are not only not superior, they are not even coherent. “Pluralistic values” is a self-contradiction.

Third, the problem is not safe spaces online, but the safe spaces in the West. It’s very difficult to commit an attack in London or Manchester if you reside in Libya and your travel is banned. Not so tough if you reside in Bradford.

Fourth, fighting them there instead of here hasn’t worked since 2001. It’s not going to work in 2017 either. Military action against Islam is needed in the UK, Europe, and the USA, not in Iraq and Syria.

Fifth, imprisoning terrorists has historically proven counterproductive everywhere from Egypt to Germany. It usually leads to more terrorist attacks and hostage-taking. Even simple deportation is probably preferable. And the prospect of prison is not likely to dissuade suicide bombers. Only severe reprisals will suffice to do that.

The leaders of the West are still shirking their duties. They’re trying to win a war without fighting it. That is why new leadership is required. And that is why the God-Emperor should now declare martial law and imprison the judges who are illegally attempting to tie his hands.

Simply gorgeous

The amount of control and skill exhibited there, not only by the goal scorer, but the three previous players who touched the ball, is truly remarkable. It still wasn’t enough to beat Real Madrid, but it does justify the description of the sport as “the beautiful game”.

My last season started pretty well. I practiced indoor over the winter with Ender’s loan team, and although I did pick up a minor ankle sprain when getting them almost literally broken by the shifty center-mid, I did have one shining moment of Messi-like glory when I managed to dribble past three opposing players before scoring. It was enough to provoke a respectful “whoah” from the young guys; I didn’t bother to tell them it was one of the first times in 30 years that I’ve managed to beat three players in succession without relying on speed.

Of course, the kids show no proper respect for their elders these days. After I was floored by virtue of blocking an attempted cross with my face, instead of rushing to my aid, my obviously concerned son shouted “you break it, you bought it” at the guilty party.

I started most of the games this season, but almost all of them on the wing rather than in attack. We didn’t have a particularly good season, as we finished last in a group that we probably could have won if we hadn’t given away three games to injury, one of which was mine. A number of the younger guys have replaced the old guard, and but we still don’t have a proper replacement for our oft-injured center-mid, and without him we just don’t generate very many good opportunities for the attackers.

But we have a new captain next year, and he’s a bit more of a tactician than his predecessor, so it will be interesting to see what he does and how he shuffles the players around. I’ve played up front with him before, so I’ll be curious to see if he puts me back on the attack or relegates me to the bench in favor of one of the younger guys on the wing. Either way, it’s fine. Given my age, I prefer to play 40 to 60 minutes per game rather than the whole 90 minutes.

Ender’s season was difficult, as he spent most of it coming off the bench and playing on the field instead of in goal for a team that lost all of its games except the last two. But his season ended very well indeed, as he played the final game in goal, held the opponents to two goals, stopped two one-on-zeros (picking up a yellow in the process) and came up with a last-minute kick-save to preserve a 3-2 upset. He’s also very happy to be returning to our club next season; our second team needs a backup goalie since the first-team goalie is moving up to join the vets, so they asked for his return from the loan team.

I’m always sad to see another season end, but these days I’m also relieved to reach one without any serious injuries. This summer, my goal is to cut another 7 pounds, stretch every day, and do speed drills once a week. I’ll need to do all that just to keep up now that we have guys who are 17 years younger joining the team this fall.

At least three terror attacks in London

Three incidents, one vehicle, one stabbing, and reports of gunfire. Police are not sounding in control, trying to clear the area, but have at least one man in custody. Multiple asualties reported.

Incidents are: London Bridge, Borough Markets, and Vauxhall.

UPDATE: Jihadi terrorists shouting ‘this is for Allah’ kill seven in knife frenzy at ‘FIVE’ locations in the capital: Hunt for men with 12in blades who began the rampage by mowing down revellers on London Bridge.

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to emerge soon and explain how strong and united Britain is, and how hate will not divide the British people from the not-British people who are killing them.

Sadly, very few London police were able to respond to the attack, as Scotland Yard and most of the force was too busy trying to hunt down all of the people posting hate speech on social media.

UPDATE: five explosive blasts in the last 40 minutes.

NOW IN PRINT: Rocky Mountain Retribution

In the post-Civil War West, the railroads are expanding, the big money men are moving in, and the politicians they are buying make it difficult for a man to stand alone on his own. So, Walt Ames moves his wife, his home and his business from Denver to Pueblo. The railroads are bringing new opportunities to Colorado Territory, and he’s going to take full advantage of them.

Ambushed on their way south, Walt and his men uncover a web of corruption and crime to rival anything in the big city. And rough justice, Western-style, sparks a private war between Walt and some of the most dangerous killers he’s ever encountered, a deadly war in which neither friends nor family are spared. Across the mountains and valleys of the southern Rocky Mountains, Walt and his men hunt for the ruthless man at the center of the web. Retribution won’t be long delayed… and it cannot be denied.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN RETRIBUTION is the second book in The Ames Archives, the Classic Western series that began with BRINGS THE LIGHTNING. Author Peter Grant is a military veteran, a retired pastor, and the author of The Maxwell Saga and The Laredo Trilogy. Now in paperback for $12.99.

From the reviews:

  • Great reading even if you don’t regularly read Westerns…. As with Brings the Lightning, the technical details of rugged living, especially regarding firearms, make the novel that much more immersive. Don’t give this one a miss!
  • The second western by Peter Grant, it’s IMHO better than the first. I haven’t read many westerns since Louis L’Amour passed on, and none that were worth my time until these came along.
  • A nice continuation of a great western saga. Mr. Grant does his research and it shows in his writing. love the storyline, character development and action scenes.
  • This is the second of Peter Grant’s western series “The Ames Archives” and it’s fantastic. I never thought I’d like westerns, but this is a great book on grit and frontier justice. Grant takes pains to accurately portray life in that era using many real locations and historical events as backdrops to the story.
  • Grant has crafted another excellent throwback to the golden era of western novels. But it’s more than a throwback, really. The two books so far in his Walt Ames series really stand on their own as a solid reads, any way you want to measure them today. What really stands out at the forefront of this novel (and its predecessor) is how well researched it is. Grant took painstaking measures to make sure that all of the details, from the geography to the firearms, are completely accurate for the era. And the amount of detail provided is excellent. He doesn’t overwhelm us with historical details or exposition that overly explains things, but there’s plenty of detail to bring the world to life.