Dune Movie Adaptation - Analysis and Review

Did David Lynch really fail with his movie adaptation of Dune? Fantasy Authors David V. Stewart and Matthew J. Wellman analyze the movie adaptation of Frank Herbert's Classic scifi novel.

Which News Sources Should You Trust? Some Practical Advice

Returning to some ideas from the Everyday Skeptic perspective - which news sources should you trust? Are there any unbiased perspectives out there? I give some advice on how to find credible sources and how to deal with the bias that comes with most mainstream media narratives.



David V. Stewart is the author of Muramasa: Blood Drinker and Prophet of the Godseed.

Return of the King Movie Adaptation - Analysis and Review

Fantasy Authors Matthew J. Wellman and David V. Stewart talk about Return of the King in terms of its adaptation to the silver screen by Peter Jackson. We also talk about the glaring omission of the real ending.



Matthew J. Wellman - matthewjwellman.com
David V. Stewart - davidvstewart.com, dvspress.com

The Two Towers Movie Adaptation - Analysis/Review

Fantasy author David V. Stewart and Urban Fantasy Author Matthew J. Wellman talk about how the second Lord of the Rings book, The Two Towers, was adapted to screen - what was successful and what was lacking.

The Fellowship of the Ring Movie adaptation analysis/review

Fantasy Authors David V. Stewart and Matthew J. Wellman discuss the ins and outs of movie adaptation within the context of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Today, we focus on the first movie and first book, Fellowship of the Ring. In it, Jackson makes numerous omissions and additions to the source to make it fit a standard hollywood format for narrative.

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician

Malazan Book of the Fallen Overview Review/Analysis

Fantasy Author David V. Stewart and Matthew J. Wellman give an overview and rough review analysis of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, an epic fantasy series set in a universe devised with Ian C. Esslemeont. In it, atypical fantasy races engage in a divine struggle to determine the fate of an old and complex world.

The Way of Kings/Stormlight Archive - Analysis and Review

Fantasy Authors Matthew J. Wellman and David V. Stewart give a writer's analysis and review of The Stormlight Archive, Brandon Sanderson's epic fantasy series of which two books have so far been published: The Way of Kings and The Stormlight archives. We discuss how the structure supports the story, how the characters are developed, and Sanderson's "Flashback" techniques, which drop in past details at critical points to make the reader re-evaluate the main narrative.

Prophet of the Godseed - Hard Scifi free on Amazon

Until May 19th you can get Prophet of the Godseed by Science fiction and fantasy author David Stewart for free on Amazon. It deals with the consequences of time dilation in interstellar travel, singularity with technology and cognition, and whether you should interfere with other cultures that are close to being obliterated.

Top Ten Fantasy Authors (part 1)

Fantasy Authors Matthew J. Wellman and David Stewart talk about the top ten fantasy authors, based on several criteria, including contributions to the genre.



Matthew J. Wellman is the author of Fantasy Novella Cloaked in Darkness, available free for a limited time.

David V. Stewart is the author of the Hard Science Fiction Book Prophet of the Godseed, available free for a limited time, as well as the Author of the Japanese Historical Fantasy epic Muramasa: Blood Drinker and Fantasy Fairy Tale Garamesh and the Farmer, also available as an audiobook.

Music Theory: Minor Scale Forms (Harmonic, Melodic, Natural)

What are the different forms of minor scale? Are they useful composition, or merely a convention of music education of the years? I explain harmonic, melodic, and natural minor scales, what they produce theoretically when used, and how they obscure the realities of how composers actually used minor keys, creating false ideas in generations of musicians.

Why Historical Fiction is fun to read

Why do readers read historical fantasy? What do they get out of it? As the video below explains, it has to do with the interest of the setting itself, how that setting affects the characters, and the enjoyment of learning about a new culture through a meaningful story.

David Stewart is the author of Japanese Historical Fiction book Muramasa: Blood Drinker, which takes place in the late Muromachi period. It is available free on Amazon through May 14, 2017 in ebook format.

Music Theory: Minor Keys (Introduction)

In this week's Music Theory video, I give an introduction to minor keys from the theoretic perspective of ratios - Minor is an inversion of the relationships in a standard major key.

Katana: The Ultimate Weapon?

Is the Katana the ultimate weapon, or is it overrated crap? As a Japanese Historical Fiction author, I give some information for the proper context of the famous Japanese sword and how to appreciate it for what it was while not deifying the weapon. You can get my samurai epic Muramasa: Blood Dinker for free for the next few days on Amazon.

Music Theory: The Circle of Fifths (or fourths) and how keys are related

What is the circle of fifths? In this video, the circle of fifths is explained as the way different keys are organized according to their closest relationships, which is usually a movement by a 3:2 ration in the tonic or by one accidental at a time, or by an interval of a perfect fifth.



David V. Stewart is the author of Muramasa: Blood Drinker, a Japanese historical fiction novel featuring samurai. 

Music Theory: Keys and Key Signatures

What is a key? What is a key signature, and how do I read it? How is one key related to another key? This video gives the definition of two important terms: Key and Tonic. It also introduces the pattern that is common to all major keys using sets of whole and half steps, and gives a few methods for memorizing the order of sharps and flats as well as how to decode key signatures to build a major scale.