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Causal Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award: I’m a bit Flabbergasted

I woke up this morning to some exciting news: Casual has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. What followed was a few hours of shock and excitement and a whole lot of not working at work. (Sorry, I’ll make up for it). Followed by a lot of anxious “how do I say thank you to people for showing their support and excitement about this?” I decided I’d write a little blog to say thank you to everyone who posted encouragement about the nomination. What’s the Philip K. Dick Award? First, for my mom who probably has no idea what the Philip K. Dick Award is. I’ll take it…

Adjustment Parenting

*Originally published in Daily Science Fiction in 2020, audio originally created by The Centropic Oracle. Behind the observation glass, James pinches Tanya. Her tender skin turns bright red. It’ll turn into yet another bruise. James watches his sister cry, I watch James, and the doctor watches me. “Isn’t it risky?” I don’t take my eyes off James. With a son like him, constant, close supervision becomes habit. “A clean wipe is usually successful in kids. They haven’t had time to form strong habits, and we can always revert to his current scan if problems arise.” The doctor’s low voice is meant to be reassuring, but it cracks with a hint…

I went down to the river to pray…

The River
Flannery O’Conner

Kicking It Off With The Devil’s Daughter

Book one for this whole cult examination is Katee Robert’s The Devil’s Daughter. To be perfectly honest, this wouldn’t usually be my first book when doing a deep dive into the literary imagination. It is a procedural romance, and it fits fairly squarely in the more traditional “trust authority, cults are bad” positioning of these stories. Being Katee Robert, there were some expectations that were flipped on their head, and there were some hot sex scenes. In the end, I’m glad it was my first, because it eases me into this exploration of the cultural imagination. Cults for Shorthand as a High Control Group One thing this book made me…

Dissecting Cults In Fiction

Intro to cults in literature part II: genre expectations and what I’m looking for in my readings.

A Final Nod: The Surviving Girls

As I transition away from my serial killer obsession and into the world of cults, I decided to read one final book: The Surviving Girls by Katee Robert. I am a huge Katee Robert fan, but mostly for the Dark Olympus series. I didn’t even know she had this series of procedural romance (is that a genre? It’s what I’m calling it) but it includes one novel about a cult (which I’ve just started) and another about a serial killer (which I just finished). First things first — I can’t say this book was about a serial killer. The killer is called a serial killer throughout, but the actual murders…