Reading Time: 11 minutes Outside my work here at OnlySky, I’m a writer of speculative and science fiction, and a translator. My science fiction usually focuses on alternative justices and social contract theory, so the overlap with my humanist essays is obvious. But my work as a translator? Well, that’s a labor of love, and an act of thanks. […]
literature
Posted inHistory, Religion
How John Milton Changed Hell — Again (Journey Into Hell #13)
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi and welcome back! During our Journey Into Hell series, we’ve sure seen the Christian concept of Hell change a lot from its humble origins. And now, it’s changing again. John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost, brought a unique point of view to Christians’ existing package of Hell-beliefs. That point of view would become an […]
Posted inBooks
My personal science fiction/fantasy canon: ‘Weirdo Feminist’
Reading Time: 4 minutes The spring semester is over but my brain is still melted from it and the rest of me is burnt out too, so here’s a fun little personal essay I’d submitted elsewhere and that had been rejected (yes, that happens to even the great Dr. Jorgensen). Ruminations on identity and SFF (science fiction/fantasy) follow.
Posted inCulture, General
Andrew Seidel on the Naked Diner Podcast
Reading Time: 2 minutes Andrew Seidel from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) talks about his new book ‘The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American’ on this week’s Naked Diner Podcast.
Posted inCartoons, General
Reader’s Block
Reading Time: < 1 minute Whether it’s the sumptuous atmospheric escapism of fiction literature or the immersive world of true possibilities and history of nonfiction, there’s always something to complain about.
Posted inGeneral, History
On Plurality and Remembering Vaclav Havel
Reading Time: 6 minutes Last weekend many members of the Atheist community took time out of their schedules to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Christopher Hitchens. Today I remember the Czech Republic’s President Vaclav Havel, who also died on this week in 2011.
Posted inBooks, History, Philosophy
Review: The Prince of This World by Adam Kotsko
Reading Time: 3 minutes As a scholarly work The Prince of this World is thoroughly engrossing if you’re a fan of the subject matter, but new readers of such works may find it challenging.
Posted inHistory, Philosophy, Religion, Religious News
200 Years of Frankenstein
Reading Time: 4 minutes It probably doesn’t come as a shock to most that, the Satanic aesthetic being what it is, a lot of people in the Satanic community are fond of the horror genre. There are legitimate philosophical and historical underpinnings that cause these stories to resonate, and one of the great examples of that is Mary Shelley’s classic ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.’
Posted inGeneral, Myth & Folklore
Why The Translation You Read of a Fairy-Tale Collection Matters
Reading Time: 3 minutes Part of the fun of being a fairy-tale scholar is revealing particularly gory versions of beloved tales to people. Here, I take a different tack.
Posted inGeneral, Myth & Folklore, Sex & Gender
Masculinity and Sexuality in Contemporary American Fairy Tales
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of my side projects involves looking at masculinity in contemporary North American fairy-tale retellings. One more fun way to fight the patriarchy, eh?