Nonfiction Portfolio

I write about science fiction and fantasy, games, and collecting hobbies.

Selected Work

The Craft of Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF)

I am a Full Member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), qualifying as a game writer. I have created articles for Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA (before 1 July 2025 the SFWA Blog) as an expert on the craft of SFF writing.

• “Introduction to Game Writing and Playtesting”, Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA (formerly the SFWA Blog), 3 September 2024
  • Overview of various branches of game writing (tabletop, card, board, video) and explanation of playtesting as game writing’s interactive version of editing.

• “How to Make Your Next SFF Work’s Currency”, Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA (formerly the SFWA Blog), 13 February 2024
  • How-to guide for creating believable coins, paper money, and other forms of currency in science fiction and fantasy settings.

Feature Writing About Games

I have written over 150 columns and featured articles about games, primarily Magic: The Gathering.

• “Ghalta and Mavren (and the Money Man Who Made Them”), Hipsters of the Coast, 10 March 2023
  • Analysis of a Magic: The Gathering artwork simulating a coin or medal that was created by Jody Clark, former Royal Mint Engraver and creator of the final coinage portraits for Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom and Australia.
• “Notes on Commander as ‘Camp'”, Hipsters of the Coast, 20 April 2022
  • Interpretation of the Commander format of Magic: The Gathering through the lens and structure of Susan Sontag’s “Notes on ‘Camp'”, documenting how Commander became Magic’s dominant organized format and why that dominance was unsustainable.

Esports Commentary and Analysis

I am a former professional-rank player of GWENT: The Witcher Card Game, Artifact, and Dota Underlords, competing as “lordgort”. Under that name, I wrote commentary on news and longer-form analysis as a member of Team Aretuza.

• “Rapid Reaction: The User Experience Update Overview Video”, Team Aretuza, 30 May 2019
  • Rapid reaction to an update video about GWENT released by the game’s publisher, CD Projekt Red.
• “Extreme Metagames and How to Approach Them”, Team Aretuza, 18 June 2018
  • Explanation of unhealthy metagames (ranges of viable decks) and the ways players can adjust to them, through a GWENT lens.

Numismatics (Collecting Monetary Objects)

Between 2006 and 2014, I was a catalog writer for an auction house, and wrote short articles on numismatics for its blog and magazine.

• “Mormon Gold”, Intelligent Collector, Spring 2013 (p. 89)
  • History of the gold coins made at Great Salt Lake City by the Latter-day Saints during the early years of the California Gold Rush. Recognition: Extraordinary Merit, Non-Numismatic Publications at the 2013 Numismatic Literary Guild Awards. (Note: This article predates the August 2018 statement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the word “Mormon”, and uses that term in ways considered respectful at the time.)
• “The 1804 Dollar—An Introduction to the ‘King of American Coins'”, Heritage Auctions, Catalog for Auction #1188, June or July 2013 (pp. 8-9)
  • Historical overview of the 1804 silver dollar as a collectible, in the context of an auction lot description for the “Mickley-Hawn-Queller” Class I Original example, which realized $3,877,500 in August 2013. The text later became a citation on Wikipedia.

First-Person

My life as my material.

• “How Science Fiction and Fantasy Expanded This Autistic Reader’s Literary Universe”, Trollbreath Magazine #1, 1 September 2024
  • Unpacking what made SFF a joy to read when other fiction was a chore, and how SFF taught me to appreciate literature that assumed social knowledge I once lacked.

• “Your Hobby, Your Career”, Star City Games, 12 August 2015
  • Advice on turning one’s hobby into one’s career, learned the burnt-out way.

Major Archives

• Star City Games (news and columns, primarily about Magic: The Gathering)
• Team Aretuza (esports commentary and analysis about GWENT: The Witcher Card Game)
• Hipsters of the Coast (feature writing about Magic: The Gathering)