James Wang

Come for the Matrix-like fight scenes and Atomic Blonde spycraft, stay for the journey of a woman who was beaten into the dirt but refuses to stay down.

(Excerpt) Afterlife Ascendant Hey reader, thanks for stopping by. The following is an excerpt of the first two chapters from my sci-fi cyberpunk novel, Afterlife Ascendant, available June 17, 2025.If you enjoy the excerpt, please ...

Hey #cyberpunk fans. My novel, Afterlife Ascendant, is a neon-soaked, transhumanist exploration of surviving in a post-physical reality where corporate greed won and is driving humanity further to the brink.

Read a sample here. Comes out next week, 6/17!

www.digitalskypress.com/post/afterli...

Cover art for my upcoming cyberpunk novel, Afterlife Ascendant.

Character art by u/zefanyamacarious
Design by me.
No AI gen used in the cover (or novel, heh.)

(Available 6/17!)

My favorite part of reading The Hobbit for my kid at bedtime? Practicing my awful accents. Why yes, I *did* watch 4 videos on nailing the Scottish accent, thank you very much.

I started reading my 4.5yo the Hobbit, and amazingly, he's actually into it. He's finally old enough to enjoy chapter books. This is opening a whole new world for us.

Excerpt from my upcoming cyberpunk novel, Afterlife Ascendant.

Musk has threatened to create a new political party. If he peeled off the techno-libertarian, rogan-diddling, douche-bros out of the republican party, that would be fucking hilarious and amazing. by all means, fragment the fascistic right, and give moderates and liberals a chance to govern.

New character art and (near) final cover design for my upcoming cyberpunk novel, Afterlife Ascendant. (Char art by Zefanya Maega. 0% Gen AI used.)

So this thing showed up.

Normalize public displays of distress like the occasional throat-ripping scream of frustration.

That is all.

Serious question. What are the biggest barriers to building housing in San Francisco, and what advocacy groups are working to tear those barriers down?

Made a little erupting lego volcano for the kiddo.

But Bong Joon Ho pulled back from earnestness while also pulling back from outlandishness. And in doing created something lukewarm and a little disappointing.

Again, I enjoyed Mickey 17. It's a lot of fun.

But it's no Parasite.

8/8

... but worth trotting out again in this day and age.

The comparisons to two of the largest figures in the US government today are obvious and transparent. Possibly too transparent.

But there was an opportunity to make a point, to reiterate something fundamental in a new, and compelling way.

7/

Herein lies the other failing. Satire can try to influence its audience

Mickey 17 has a message. It has something to say about power, greed, unregulated corporate overreach, and the cult-like devotion people can have to larger-than-life sociopathic characters.

It's a well-trodden message...
6/

...series of scifi action movie events.

Conversely, the absurdity and the outlandishness of the villain/antagonist (a hilarious Mark Ruffalo), make the *message* of the satire somewhat diminished.

When you lean too far into absurdity and satire, you lose the ability to *influence*
5/

Fantastic and absurd and disgusting. And then it kinda evens out. Act 3 is a lot of action and kinda wild things happening, but while the situation remains implausible and grows more implausible in some regards, it also restrain itself in order to coherently express a pretty straightforward...
4/

Mickey 17 doesn't quite do that. It ramps up pretty good, hits a solid 7, but then just kinda... stays there. The wackiness doesn't push that hard. The absurdity of Micky's situation, how his bodies are formed from human waste, how the scientists test all kinds of horrible things on him, it's
3/

Satire is a tricky thing to get right, imo. I think part of it depends on what you're trying to achieve.

If the goal is just to amuse and titillate or even just to offend, then you're best served just going full-tilt, balls-to-the-wall zaniness. Let it build and build, and just keep on going.
2/

Finally saw Mickey 17. My take:
* Fun, worth a watch.
* Great premise (I need to read the book)
* Robert Pattinson chewing scenery = hilarious and awesome

But Bong Joon Ho didn't *commit* to either true satire or an earnest message, and therefore failed to create something great.
1/

I'm watching movies and re-reading books as "research" for my WIP YA mil-scifi story about mech pilots. I did a Dan Wells' 7point breakdown of Top Gun. Curious if anyone disagrees w/ the plot points I've outlined.

Will I borrow an *exact* turn of phrase between different book series? 100000% yes, I will. I am that lazy.

Google should invest in identifying and flagging AI generates images, videos, and text on the web, and make it part of their search results.

Let consumers enjoy the non-AI generated web, and then charge other companies for the use of this tech.

Made a little earthquake toy with my son.

And to write a great, believable character, you need to know all three layers. Their actual, deep truth. The lies they tell themselves. The truth and lies they tell other people. And you need to know the actions they take, and how they reflect the truth and lies within them.

This creates a person.

*Everyone* says one thing, thinks another, and then behaves another. Sometimes these things are aligned. Often they're disjointed.

We tell ourselves truths and lies, live those truths and lives, sometimes wittingly, sometimes unwittingly.

It's why we need therapists to figure ourselves out.

Mat was a fan favorite for a reason. He was a hero, and oblivious to it. Other characters loved him, for reasons he didn't fathom. His friends called him on his bullshit, but loved him for it.

And Sanderson's realization is a reflection of how to write characters, because this is how people are.

Sanderson described his mistake: Mat will say one thing, think another, and do something else entirely.

And it was great. He'd complain about the people begging, thrust a bunch of gold coins at one, and then think about how it was to get them to leave him alone.

Brandon Sanderson fucked up one of the best characters in the Wheel of Time, Mat Cauthon, when he picked up the series after Robert Jordan's untimely death.

Sanderson openly admits his mistake.

It taught me something about writing real characters, not 2-dimensional caricatures.

cont'd

Hey dudes, this is your annual reminder to empty the lint out of your jeans pockets.