About this Site
This site is the online presence of Andrew W. H. House, which is not a terribly helpful description since I’m not a celebrity. That shouldn’t really matter, since I’m trying to provide readers with content, not information about me, but if anyone is interested in learning more about me specifically, then go read the short biography I’ve prepared.
I have stated what this site is — mine — but I have not said what this site is about. Given that the section is entitled “About this Site”, it seems rather remiss of me. This site is my public face to the Internet — the stuff I don’t mind the world in general knowing about me. This is, however, tempered with the awareness that there’s a lot of stuff people don’t need to know about me, even if I don’t mind that they do.
So, first of all, this site is a venue for my writings and rants that might be of interest to people beyond my immediate circle of friends: reviews and commentary on books, movies, television, theatre, and music; thoughts on computing and technology; thoughts about writing; the fields of science fiction and fantasy in general; commentary on issues important to me; and whatever else I’m motivated to write about. It is my hope that I can develop these writings to be interesting, entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking.
It is also a central home for my professional pursuits, which at this time are concentrated within the realm of academia. That section of the site will have information about my academic research interests, my teaching, my publications, and anything else that is relevant.
Now we get down to the nitty-gritty of this page.
Blog Content
The content I post here will mainly flow from my areas of interest, both personal and professional. This means I will basically post about whatever I want, but in general you’ll see posts from me on the following topics:
- computers and technology
- high performance computing
- technology issues
- music
- video games
- science fiction and fantasy
- fiction (books, short stories, magazines)
- movies
- television
- comics and manga
- animation and anime
- non-fiction books and articles
- writing
As to the style of content you are likely to see, that will run the gamut as well: response pieces to other blogs and online articles, original essays, discussion, reviews, and commentary. I do, however, have something of an editorial policy that I will use to filter what I write about. Currently, it has two major points.
- Though I will post about writing and my efforts to improve my writing (both fiction and non-fiction), I will not offer writing advice. At least, not until I’ve had some measure of professional success as a writer. After all, there’s no point in the blind leading the blind.
- My reviews of written science fiction and fantasy (SFF) will focus on the stuff I like, and will quietly ignore the stuff that I don’t. The reasoning for this is two-fold: I’d rather promote the good stuff that complain about the bad (as per John Scalzi); and since I have aspirations to produce written SFF myself, I don’t really want to trash-talk potential colleagues. Thus, I won’t write positive reviews of stuff I don’t like — I just won’t write about it at all. Frankly, if I disliked it that much, I probably wouldn’t want to waste any more time on it, anyway.
As the site develops, the content mix of this site should become more clear.
Site Disclaimer
Everything on the site is my opinion (excepting, of course, visitor comments and guest blogger entries). While I generally try to avoid offending people, that’s not always possible, since people can be offended by just about anything. My solution to this is as follows: if you don’t like what I’m writing on the site, don’t read it. I’m not going to change what I do on my own site to make you happy, and while I welcome discussion, I’m not so interested in complaints and whining.
Comment Policy
Visitors to the site are welcome to comment, and discussion and debate is encouraged. Flame wars, trolling, threats, and personal attacks are not. Thus, I reserve the right to delete or modify any comments, and to ban any users, at my discretion. If comments are veering to a place where I’m likely to start deleting and/or banning, I’ll probably give a warning, but I make no guarantees. If you want full freedom to express yourself however you see fit, I suggest you get your own site, rather than using mine.