I first heard of H.P. Lovecraft in the winter of my freshman year of high school, when I listened to Metallica’s Ride the Lightning nonstop. The closing track, an instrumental, was titled “Call of Cthulhu”, and I found out it was a literary reference to a creepshow universe of alien gods and people going insane. … Book Review: Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
Last year, Seth W (AKA, The Bike Nerd) got rid of most of his stuff and decided to travel outside his New York City comfort zone and into the wilderness of the rest of America — mostly by bicycle! He’s written e-books about cycling and travel and is getting ready for his “14 Cities in … Interview: The Bike Nerd
Nascence is a compilation e-book of short stories by Tobias Buckell, who is perhaps best known for his installment in the Halo universe series of books. But this is not just any compilation – they are all unpublished stories that were rejected for publication. What also sets the e-book apart is Buckell’s autobiographical notes and … Book Review: Nascence
There was a band that broke up not too long ago called Cry of the Afflicted. They came out with an album right when their style of music was starting to get overplayed, but I liked some of their material regardless and the lyrics to one of their songs I found interesting. I’m a fan … Sort of About Writing: Cry of the Afflicted
I’ve finally submitted my manuscript for the short story book (the title’s acronym is BitB — best guesses might get you a free copy) for Matt’s deliberation. While I have a spare moment to breathe and annoy my WordPress install I thought I would let everyone reading this know that I’m going to singlehandedly stop … Slashing Technology’s Tires
Things will go dim for a little bit on this here site while I finish up my acceptable e-book for suitable consumption and destruction by Mr. Of Good Speech. Speaking of e-books, Mike Duran has a recent post (about a recent post) which touched upon the growing hordes of free or low-cost e-books invading amazon. … Hitting the Lights But Lighting a Candle
I first heard about Nicholas Wolterstorff from reading Platinga’s Warranted Christian Belief (reviewed here), and I bought Lament for a Son because I didn’t want to delve into another philosophy book quite so soon. Wolterstorff is best known for his work with Plantinga, William Alston, and others, in constructing reformed epistemology and the Faith and … Book Review: Lament for a Son
Read Part 1 here. The New Testament books make up for a smaller section of canon yet they read much more densely because of the theological implications of the words and actions of a Jewish preacher named Yeshua bar Yoseph, which is the original Aramaic name for Jesus Christ. Instead of the religious regulations, historical … Book Review: The Bible, Part 2
An illustrator I’ve worked with in the past, Dave Quiggle, recently designed a shirt for Miles To Go Clothing. The shirt is based off of Plath’s The Bell Jar, as is a lot of the shirt designs from Miles. I, for one, am dashed — combining references to classic literature and clothing design? This manner … So You Can Wear Books Now, Too
If you’re involved with publishing at all, you know that the young adult market (YA, but I like words and not alphabet soup, remember) is jumping right now, most of it attributed to the successes of the Twilight and Harry Potter series. So publishers have been scrambling, I suppose in the last few years, to … Young Adult Fiction: The Kids are Alright and They’re Not Stupid
So it appears the customizations I made to the default WordPress them were overridden when I installed the update — which is why you see what you see now. Hold on a sec while I fix this. EDIT: Well, looks like most everything is back in order, but I’ll be bughunting for the next few … No, You’re at the Right Place
My friend Bill tipped me off to AOL/HuffPo searching for a whole buttload of writers to blog for free for Huffington Post’s new local local local blog network, Patch: “Anyone may apply,” Greenfield Patch editor David Cotey wrote in a post on Wednesday. “Parents, grandparents, favorite aunties, crafters, shopkeepers, baristas, hobbyists, nonprofit organizers, and government … HuffPo Begs for Change, Passers-by Scoff
If you haven’t read any of my previous posts about this, a friend of mine last year mentioned that I should do a book review of the Bible on here. Even though he was meant it as a joke I thought it was a pretty good idea, if not a little daunting. The only problem … Book Review: The Bible, Part 1
One of the good things about Ayn Rand is that she wrote a lot, and one of the bad things about Ayn Rand is that she wrote a lot. What she also did was wrote a lot about her characters and the story behind them that didn’t make the published version. After I first read … Ram a Titanic Into Your Story’s Iceberg
Since I have a little more free time I’ve been filling it up proper with writing other things. I’ve mapped a not ambitious writing schedule in my Google calendar but it’s taking me some time to adjust to it; my circadian rhythm-wheel has a dent in its rim and my tire formed a slow leak. … It’s Not a Race, It’s a Marathon
It appears that I’ve decided to release an e-book of all of my mostly really short stories that I’ve written over the years, plus some new ones. The mighty, once-bearded Matt DeBenedictis will be slashing it to ribbons editing it so you know it will be good decent better than it is now. I think … I’m Releasing an E-book and It Will be Acceptable
Read the first part here. If you’re on Facebook, chances are you’ve listed quotes that reflect your philosophy or outlook on life. They are quotes with which we agree from people we admire, but there’s never a real opportunity to showcase the ones we don’t like — unless you have your own blog and can … The Appropriation of Nonsense, Part 2
My friend Seth W just posted on his blog on failing at an endeavor out of our league. There’s some good advice for novice fiction writers, like me. It’s axiomatically unavoidable: you’re going to start out writing complete garbage, but that’s the only way you’re going to learn how to really write a good story. … You Are a Failure
If you’re on Facebook, chances are you’ve listed quotes that reflect your philosophy or outlook on life. They are quotes with which we agree from people we admire, but there’s never a real opportunity to showcase the ones we don’t like — unless you have your own blog and can write whatever you’d like on … The Appropriation of Nonsense, Part 1
As none of you probably know, AOL/HuffPo let go a bunch of freelance writers (no, not all of them) in the wee hours of this morning today, and yours truly was among the victims. It was pretty inevitable from the merger and the fact that, if any site among all the sites AOL/HuffPo owns is … My Amp Goes Up to 11 But the Power Just Went Out