All posts by tmdoyle2@yahoo.com

Balticon Schedule

I’ll be at Balticon (the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention) this Memorial Day weekend. Here’s my schedule:

Friday:

Reading (with Alex Shvartsman) 8:30pm

Panel: History is Not a Monolith 5:30pm

Saturday:

10am Religion and Spirituality in SFF

4pm 50 Years Ago in Science Fiction

5:30pm How Contemporary Fears Shape Apocalyptic Fiction

8:30pm Steering the Ship of State: Government in SFF

Sunday:

1pm SFF as Mythology

7pm Ask a Historian

8:30pm Does Close Reading Ruin the Enjoyment of SFF?

Monday:

10am Non-Western Medieval History

11:30am Creating Believable Cultures

1pm Religion & Government Conspiracies

Tom Doyle’s Millennial Scholarship

During the summer of 1999, I interned at the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. While there, I read through their collection of premillennialist Christian apocalyptic fiction (such as the Left Behind series) and other related materials. After leaving the internship, I continued my studies, and I returned to present papers at three subsequent international conferences hosted by the Center.

My relevant publications:

“Christian Apocalyptic Fiction, Science Fiction and Technology,” The End That Does: Art, Science and Millennial Accomplishment (Millennialism and Society, Vol. 3), 2006.

Christian Apocalyptic Fiction,” Strange Horizons, 8 April 2002. (Also in print in Strange Horizons: Best of Year Two, 2003)  

Anti-Apocalyptic Fiction,” Strange Horizons, 27 May 2002. (Also in print in Strange Horizons: Best of Year Two, 2003)  

Competing Fictions: The Uses of Christian Apocalyptic Imagery in Contemporary Popular Fictional Works. Part One: Premillennialist Apocalyptic Fictions,” Journal of Millennial Studies (Winter 2001).

Competing Fictions: The Uses of Christian Apocalyptic Imagery in Contemporary Popular Fictional Works. Part Two: Anti-Apocalyptic Fictions,” Journal of Millennial Studies (Winter 2001)

“The Rapture, the Nerds, and the Singularity,” Fictitious Force #2, 2006.

Center for Millennial Studies Conference Presentations:

Competing Fictions: The Uses of Christian Apocalyptic Imagery in Contemporary Popular Fictional Works (2000). Presentation of two-part paper published the following year.

Premillennialist Apocalyptic Fiction and Technology:  Co-option and Confrontation (2001). 

Time for Premillennialist Apocalyptic Fiction Fiction  (2002). Regarding apocalyptic disappointment and the use of time in fiction.

MY BALTICON SCHEDULE MAY 27-29

My Balticon Schedule:

Friday, May 27 5:30pm Mapping the Landscape

8:30pm Alternate History — Just Add Magic!

Saturday, May 28 1pm Most of What You Know About History Is Wrong

7pm The Historical Study of Warfare

Sunday, May 29 10am Reading

1pm Magic in the Ancient Mediterranean

7pm A 6th Century BCE Adventure

www.balticon.org

REVIEW OF AGENT OF EXILES

Nice review of Agent of Exiles in Library Journal:

Doyle’s first installment in the “Agent of Exiles” series, available only in audio through GraphicAudio, will captivate listeners with tales of action, intrigue, and magic, set amid the pyramids and tombs of ancient Egypt. With more than a passing nod to Indiana Jones and James Bond, this rollicking story follows the adventures of Samuel ben Yohanan, a secret agent for the Judean Court, and his unlikely companion and minder, Mehrnaz of the Flame. After an imprudent decision to help Cyrus the Great conquer Babylon, Samuel is dispatched on a secret mission to gain intelligence and destabilize Pharaoh Amasis II’s Egyptian court. This expedition would be an impossible task for most, but Samuel, a master magician with untapped talents, and Mehrnaz, a healer and head magi in King Cyrus’s court, take on the most powerful villains with aplomb. This full-cast production makes the most of the audio medium, deftly employing music, sound effects, and multiple voices. The result is a cinematic production that is witty and engaging, but also satisfyingly sensitive and complex.
VERDICT A fun addition to any collection, and a good crossover choice, particularly where graphic novels are popular.
Reviewed by Sarah Hashimoto, Jackson Dist. Lib., MI , Mar 01, 2022

https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/the-league-of-set-2136785

BORDER CROSSER IN SFWA STORY BUNDLE

My book Border Crosser is part of this month’s Story Bundle from SFWA! You can get it and a bunch of other cool books for one great price of $20. Also, there’s a charitable giving option. See details below:

The Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) is releasing its newest StoryBundle, Scoundrels in Space, offering a large selection of ebooks from independent and small press science fiction writers! The StoryBundle can be purchased here: https://storybundle.com/scifi

The ebooks in this collection feature the con artists, thieves, and space pirates of tomorrow that fascinate us, all the more because these motley ne’er-do-wells so often end up saving the universe despite their incorrigibility! Pick up the SFWA Scoundrels in Space StoryBundle and get to know twelve such spacefarers who live on the fringes of a dozen wildly different worlds, until circumstances force each of them into hard choices and more adventure than they expected.

The Scoundrels in Space StoryBundle will be available for a limited time, from February 2 to February 24. Readers choose to pay $5 or more for the initial four ebooks. Spending $20 total unlocks the remaining eight ebooks with their purchase. Once February 24 passes, this particular collection will never be available again! Further details about how StoryBundle operates are available at https://storybundle.com/faq.

Core Bundle

Flotsam by R J Theodore

Severance by Chris Bucholz

Toccata System by Kate Sheeran

Swed Tyche’s Flight by Richard Parry

Bonus Books

Lex Talionis by R. S. A. Garcia

Wreckers by George Ellis

The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken

The Blackwing War by K.B. Spangler

House of Shards by Walter Jon Williams

Barbarians of the Beyond by Matthew Hughes

Border Crosser by Tom Doyle

Romance on Four Worlds: a Casanova Quartet by Tom Purdom