I received this review of Pale Blue Scratch via email (beware…partial spoilers ahoy): So far enjoying this mysterious, exotic journey and love the relationship between the two main characters. REALLY appreciate the fact that you chose to make the main protagonist a strong, smart, independent woman… the equivalent of an undercover female ninja warrior/secret agent, … A Partial Review of Pale Blue Scratch
Ed talks about where here is in relation to the supernatural domain: With rare exception, all of the Christians I’ve ever met ascribe to some version “Heaven” as somewhere different from here and now. But it seems most of the time a mere idea. It’s not part of their calculus of life. They act as … Natural and Supernatural Co-Location
TED Talks are the pinnacle of bourgeois cheesepuff and self-back-pattery—a ‘roided up NPR with visuals. As a prole, I’m supposed to be floored by the priesthood coming out from behind the Veil of the Holy of Holies to radiate their revelations to me. Their videos are mildly interesting at best, but this one I couldn’t … Teach Your Kids Not to be Dicks
From Neil Gaiman’s American Gods: A sad cockroach lay on its back in the middle of the tiled floor. Shadow took a towel and cleaned off the inside of the tub with it, then ran the water. Besides being in the same paragraph, there’s nothing syntactically linking the cockroach to the “it” in the second … Bug Cleaning
There was a survey-type of form at work I was filling out, and one of the questions was if I “needed” resource X. The few questions preceding this one had to do with resource X, and it was something I already had. Depending on how I regarded the question, it could require two different answers. … The Meaning of “Need”
RIP, Eco. I haven’t read The Name of the Rose, his most well-known book, but it’s currently in the “to read” stack. I did see the movie version, with Sean Connery and Christian Slater, but I was too young to really appreciate it. I’ve only read Foucault’s Pendulum (free PDF here). I liked it so … Umberto Eco Just Died
One of the best songs, lyrically, on dealing with a tragedy. Most popular music lyrics that tackle depressing a subject focus on three certain kinds: unrequited love, death, or whatever the mental pathology du jour is popular. I don’t think I’ve heard a song deal with vocational or occupational tragedy before. Contrast this with the … Lyrics: Rush’s Losing It
I just finished playing Dishonored. Good game! It was my first stealth FPS, so I had adjustment issues after gorging on Halo installments for so long. Dishonored has high art direction value, taking a lot of aesthetics from Industrial age British fashion. That, and the dystopian decay plot point lends itself well to the alternative … Dishonored Completed
The quote below is from Children of the Mind (free pdf here), the last book in the The Ender Quartet series, Chapter 7, page 101. This is part of a chapter of the book that stuck with me, since it describes a material and technological phenomenon in mythical language. “Myth” has been transformed into a … Orson Scott Card’s Myth-Language
Nothing fancy-pants this time around–just another email with some quote images. I don’t even have a quote under the email title! But there is some actual news to share: there will soon be a first-draft chapter of Pale Blue Scratch available online soon. It’s called “The Flights at Bridge Zero,” and yes, the chapters have … Images. And Words. Part 2 – Pale Blue Scratch Email Newsletter #5
When there’s as decent amount of accumulation of snow or ice, especially on the street, and it rains, parts of the snow or ice on the ground melt and some doesn’t. It depends on the thickness of the snow/ice, how dirty it is, the grade of the hill it’s on, the type of ground it’s … A Possible Metaphor
The Ghost Box is Mike Duran’s third full novel, about Reagan Moon, a journalist of the paranormal who gets caught up, to put it mildly, in some otherwordly happenings in SoCal. I don’t dabble too much in modern science fiction or paranormal (see below), so I can only really competently comment on Moon’s first person … Book Review: The Ghost Box
Here’s the official back cover copy for Pale Blue Scratch, which got sent out to those of you on the email list last Monday morn. It’s no Amish Vampires In Space, but what is? “I would disassemble this body and cast it onto the coronal burn of the sun if it means I get answers.” … Pale Blue Scratch Email #1 – Back Cover Copy
There’s a sticky post at the top of the site (or go here) where you can sign up for the email list for my new book, Pale Blue Scratch. It’s currently being drafted but will soon be advancing to the later, less unattractive stages. Most of what I send out on the list will be … Feign Interest in My Writing and Sign Up For My New Book’s Email List
A few months ago I read an excerpt of Wright’s Awake in the Nightland and it delivered the creep factor of Kubrick’s 2001 with a hint of Lovecraft’s pantheon in its first pages. I don’t know much about Wright but as an ex-atheist, current Christian, he expresses irritation with spiritually didactic literature in a Castalia … John C. Wright Doesn’t Like Preachy Novels
Not that I am particularly prolific on here, but I’m going to be taking a shortish break from posting while I finish up the first few drafts of Retardo Montalbán. There will be more drafts while Jill does her editing thing but that writing won’t be as rigorous or demanding…unless the bean bang completely misses … Taking A Short Break
I received an email asking to promote the results of a poll, as seen in this post from the Daily Beast. Even though I’m actually doing what was requested by linking to it in this post, I responded to the email and declined because I’m not into charities I’m not personally involved with, and because … A Stupid Poll About Writing
I am currently on the first draft stage of Retardo Montalbán, and I have onboarded Jill Domschot as the semi-formal editor of the project. We have a verbal agreement for services and payment, where I will remite payment at the end of her editing duties. So this public post carries with it the accountability factor—mostly … An Update on the Works In Progress
From My Inventions (free pdf here): I was about twelve years old when I first succeeded in banishing an image from my vision by willful effort, but I never had any control over the flashes of light to which I have referred. They were, perhaps, my strangest experience and inexplicable. They usually occurred when I … Nikola Tesla Was A Weird Guy
I was tagged by Jill Domschot, who wrote Anna and the Dragon (read my review here), to write a post on what I’m working on. I barely talk about current book stuff so I badgered asked her to tag me when she was soliciting to be badgered asked for participants on Facebook. 1. What am … What I Am Working On
If Seth activated comments on his blog, I might write something like this on a recent post of his. Instead: I think it’s helpful to recognize and factor in for scale. Some software dev firms are too small to really have a “human touch” to be of value (I personally don’t think any company would … Words Mean Things
I have a story idea that’s been germinating for some time*. The element of the two main protagonists I want to share is a rather common one: one of them has the “special powers” and the other acts as the “guide” and liaison for interactions with the normal world. As it is now, the “powered” … Invert Your Characters
The final few episodes of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series concerned the framing of Ashoka Tano in the bombing of the Jedi temple, and subsequent related crimes. It was one of the better story arcs of the series but the writers left didn’t include a crucial piece of logic that would make the … Ahsoka Tano: A Near Perfect Tragic Story
Anna and the Dragon is Jill Domschot‘s debut speculative fiction novel, an impressive dive into the “soft” supernatural realm. The titular Anna is a computer engineer with mild character quirks who falls for an errant academic with a heart condition and a fixation on dragonry. Though the title and book cover suggest something of a … Book Review: Anna and the Dragon
Well, not really Mickey Mouse or Disney, but Lucasfilms: As of now, the official Star Wars canon consists of the six existing movies and the recent Clone Wars TV series. “These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align,” explained the announcement on … Mickey Mouse Has Force-Choked the Star Wars Expanded Universe
I’m posting this video because I’ve just finished a playthrough of this game. I had played it on the original SNES system twenty years ago and could “sense” how good of a game it was. Since it was pre-Internet days I was pretty much he only person I knew who really got into RPGs. It … Final Fantasy 6 Final Battle and Ending
Well, from what I can cobble together from scattered information online (here’s a good post on it), the word for “to be” or “am” in Japanese is “desu.” Sometimes it is shortened as “des” or “dess.” There is no “th” sound in Japanese, so an “s” sound is used as a substitute when porting loan … The Japanese Word for To Be/Death is Awesone
Theatrical wordplay rides the sweep of socialized assumptions but it eventually crashes. I disagree with you not because what you propose is unfashionable (it’s actually very fashionable) or not an ideal (it’s very idyllic), but because it’s a certain non-possibility—not in the theoretical realm, not through a “given set of circumstances,” but literally, existentially, by … Give and Take
Saw the Lego Movie. Was good, etc. There was a character set up between two of the main protags that I’ve been seeing elsewhere, though I didn’t seem to find it on the TV Tropes site. It’s similar to the Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy trope—or rather, it’s a very specific version of it in bildingsroman … A Trope in The Lego Movie
Ceteris paribus, the greater the supply the cheaper the cost, which can sometimes translate to a lesser value. Blog posts are easy to produce, and can thus be of less value. Facebook status updates and Twitter posts even more so; how many of those do you remember reading from yesterday? Or the last hour? I … Blog Posts and Print Books Come and Go, But Content Lasts Forever
She doesn’t mince words, nor waste them. Economy of language is her greatest strength. She actually wanted me to edit these—I did, but not too much since I didn’t want to destroy her voice for the sake of making perfect “adult” sense. Nor did I want to mar the “sheen” of the stories. What it’s … My Daughter’s Stories Are the Essence of Quick Escalation
The dialogue in my current work in progress uses three languages: English (most of it), German (here and there), and Franco-Arabic (it is what you probably think it is). I was under the impression from previous reading that some or many foreign words that were actual foreign language words and not common loanwords (i.e., “taco”) … Italicizing Foreign Words in Fiction
It was the day of all days. I planned on finally exerting some of my blossoming masculinity on the two callow lads that were a year my minor. I was picturing how awesome I looked in my “confidence headband” when I slipped on that damned log and fell. They ran away, but I found a … A Short Excerpt of the Internal Dialogue of a Young Video Game Hero
She chattered on with the appropriate disposition of a teenager displaced onto another world. This time she had to convince him that people on her planet dressed up like he does, just for fun, and got together in conspicuous groups to ogle one another. He ignored her as best he could when trying to vibe … Story: Luck Intensification Program
More here. Schrödinger’s cat found him sleeping, buried under the covers, and she wondered if her species’ curiosity could work in the other direction. — Jay (@Jaybreak) March 13, 2013 He was the Pol Pot to her Eva Braun. — Jay (@Jaybreak) March 8, 2013 Their host spoke little but his voice set Amanda’s teeth … A Bunch of Story Tweets from the Last Few Months
One way struggling artists assuage a stunted career is to summon da Vinci Leonardo’s “art isn’t completed but abandoned” quote. Its dogged overuse has erased its profundity and replaced it with irritation as it’s thrown in with other quotes on facebook profiles to justify unwanted, and sometimes unacceptable, behavior. But I’d like to take it … A Dead Italian Philosopher Says You Can’t Finish a Novel
I mentioned a few weeks ago about a story I was writing for an upcoming message series at Discovery. Below is an excerpt. “I have something to tell you.” That’s all you’re getting! The story, “A Native’s Story”, is going to be printed along with a few other writings from other people (I think) and … I’m Pretty Tired So Here’s an Audio File of Someone Reading
Cathy at Windows and Paper Walls interviewed me. It’s my first interview ever as a sort-of writer so it’s exciting for me. It will be posted Thursday but I rest assured I will annoy you all with another post about it. I just started reading Bradbury’s short story collection. The way he made you care … A Roundup of Random Things
My daughter, Elena, reads a lot, so it’s natural that eventually she would start writing — which she has done. Well, she wrote in the sense that she comes up with stories, but to actually commit them to paper would strain the limits of time and legibility. So I dutifully wrote down her epic stories … Fan Fiction by a Five Year Old: The Hello Kitty Chronicles
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
I had Lead Petersen’s blog in my RSS reader but kind of glossed over the #5MinuteFiction contest, until the other day when I decided to participate. I ended up tying first place with writer Jenn Baker. It was good times and extremely difficult to write a coherent, complete story in 5 (really, 15) minutes. Thanks … 5MinuteFiction Finality
The excerpt below is from a book I never published, titled How the Gods Shook or A Season Underneath. “What’s the story?” I asked. “Morning glory!” he said. “My battery is getting worse and worse. We should move to a quieter place. What’s with the cap?” “I’m not allowed to wear one?” Pedaling slowly, he … How the Gods Shook, Excerpt Two
The excerpt below is from a book I never published, titled How the Gods Shook or A Season Underneath. “Afternoon, Bite Size,” she breathed in her smooth contralto. “What’s up with you and Cecil?” I asked, pointing my chin towards 5th. “We were talking.” “I could see that.” “Then why’d you ask?” Her blue eyes … How the Gods Shook, Excerpt One
Matt’s been my friends for more than a decade now, and we were in a band together so I got to witness the words firsthand. At the time I wasn’t too much attune to good writing that much, but in the last few years I’ve been recollecting and piecing together lyrics and things I’ve read … Other People Write: Matt Clifford
I issued a challenge earlier in the week for writers to write a poem or short story about or set in the summertime, without using a list of certain words. That was kind of a big risk because I have almost no readership and having no responses would make me look sillier than I already … Your Writing Is Terrible: Summer Poetry Finished
With the summer months upon the northern hemisphere, some fiction writers and bloggers will attend to the most favored of all seasons (except if you’re already somewhere hot…then it’s just annoying). Unfortunately, because of the common vocabulary bank tied to the summer experience, after a few dozen stories the flow and bounce of words will … Your Writing Is Terrible: Summer Poetry