Tom Doyle's Blog
April 25, 2025
At Ravencon April 25-27
Here’s my Ravencon Schedule!
Friday at 8:00 PM � Summers in Oz: L. Frank Baum and Macatawa, MI. (Madison Building � Spotsylvania)
Saturday at 9:00 AM � Why Won’t the Alien Intervention Theory Go Away? (Jefferson Building � King George)
Saturday at Noon � Reading (Jefferson Building � Fairfax Library)
Saturday at 1:00 PM � Fantasy = History? (Jefferson Building � Dinwiddie)
Saturday at 3:00 PM � Apocalyptic and Anti-Apocalyptic Fiction: Left Behind or Laughing? (Jefferson Building � Albemarle)
Saturday at 4:00 PM � Changing the Past (Jefferson Building � Dinwiddie)
Sunday at 11:00 AM � Story Structures Other Than the Hero’s Journey (Jefferson Building � King William) � moderator
Sunday at 1:00 PM � Sympathy for the Devil (Jefferson Building � Henry)
November 11, 2024
Free Download of Agent of Exiles 1 today!
Today only, free downloads of my supernatural spy adventure in the ancient world, Agent of Exiles 1: The League of Set! Promo code: AGENT24
September 22, 2024
My Capclave Schedule!
My schedule (Rockville, MD Sept 27-29)
My presentation on Apocalyptic and Anti-Apocalyptic Fiction: Left Behind or Laughing? Fri .5pm
Relationships and Sex in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fri. 9pm
Music as Muse Sat. 11am
Audiobooks Sat. 12pm
My Reading: Sat. 6pm
Authors Mass Signing: Sat. 7pm.
May 21, 2024
Balticon Schedule
I’ll be at (the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention) this Memorial Day weekend. Here’s my schedule:
Friday:
Reading (with ) 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
April 26, 2024
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.
�,� Strange Horizons, 8 April 2002. (Also in print in Strange Horizons: Best of Year Two, 2003)
�,� Strange Horizons, 27 May 2002. (Also in print in Strange Horizons: Best of Year Two, 2003)
�,� Journal of Millennial Studies (Winter 2001).
�,� 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.
June 24, 2023
My List of Favorite Alternate/Secret Histories Up on Shepherd.com
Hey, Shepherd.com has posted my list of the “Best alternate/secret histories that completely blew my mind� with commentary–check it out!
And here’s an interesting Shepherd list from Compton Crook Award-winner Alex Jennings:
Enjoy!
September 23, 2022
My Capclave Convention schedule is up! (Sept. 30-Oct. 2)
Friday 5:30 pm: Religion, Secularism, and Atheism in SFF
Saturday 10:00 am: The Dark Ages in SFF
Saturday 11:30 am: Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?
Saturday 4:00 pm: Reading
Sunday 10:00 am: Responding to the Moment: Writing for Today’s World
May 25, 2022
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
March 6, 2022
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
February 2, 2022
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:
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 .
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
