My Best Work in 2020
Thank you for reading me this year
We’re coming up on the end of 2020, and I’ve been thinking about the work that I’ve done. It’s been a busy year: most of my writing has been for Tor.com as a news writer, but it’s also a year where I’ve finished a book (!!?!?!) and wrote a number of longer pieces for other outlets. I opened up subscriptions here when the freelance market crashed, and I’ve been eternally grateful for all of you who’ve helped support this sort of work.
Looking over the pieces that I’ve written, I’ve put together a lot that I’ve been really happy with — taking some in-depth looks at everything from how the military is using military science fiction to how the 3D printer has impacted cosplay, to musing about the landscape below my feet. I got to interview people that I’m really bit fans of, like Christopher Brown, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Scalzi, and Timothy Zahn, and quite a bit more.
So, here are the pieces that I’m the most happy with this year. A number of these were locked to Transfer Orbit subscribers, but I’ve unlocked those for you to check out.
The Clone Wars followed Star Wars’ streak of humanizing the clones (Polygon, March 14th)
Star Wars inspired Mandalorian fans, then Mandalorian fans inspired Star Wars (Polygon, April 23rd)
Wretched Hive Creations: The Creators of the Ahsoka Tano Headpiece (Cosplay Central, May 4th)
They should know better (Transfer Orbit, June 12th)
Expanding the Crichtonverse (Transfer Orbit, July 2nd)
History Of The 3D Printer: From An Expensive Machine To A Cosplayer's Ultimate Tool (Cosplay Central, July 14th)
The U.S. Military Is Turning to Science Fiction to Shape the Future of War (OneZero, July 29th)
Mushroom Clouds on the Future Horizon (Transfer Orbit, August 6th)
The Technological Landscape (Transfer Orbit, August 27th)
Timothy Zahn has returned to Thrawn (Polygon, September 3rd)
Dragonlance changed how we read fantasy (Transfer Orbit, October 22nd)
“Qanon for nerds”: Fandom isn’t immune to online radicalization (Transfer Orbit, October 18th)
Where the monsters come out (Transfer Orbit, October 28th)
Halloween Costumes Originally Started On Thanksgiving, Not October 31st (Cosplay Central, October 31st)
Tech CEOs should stop using Science Fiction as a blueprint for humanity’s future in space (Pando, November 9th)
The [AI]nformation battlespace (Transfer Orbit, November 11th)
At Last, Dangerous Visions (Transfer Orbit, November 18th)
A Star Wars writer claims Disney isn’t paying royalties — but the issues are tricky (Polygon, December 16th)
I’ve been consciously trying to limit the SUBSCRIBE TO ME pleas — I find them distracting and annoying, as I’m sure you do — but if you like what you read, please consider supporting this newsletter. I enjoy this sort of writing and telling these stories, and the financial support from those of you who are subscribing has been a huge help keeping me going this year.
Thank you so much for following along and reading what I’ve written this year. You’ve allowed me to continue to do a job that I genuinely love, and I’ve enjoyed chatting with y’all in the comments, on Twitter, and via email. I’m looking forward to what 2021 will bring.
Andrew