Almost a year ago I posted about the typical alien invasion scenario one sees in sci-fi books and films, and how those scenarios were unlikely versus possible non-coercive interactions. In a Stefan Molyneux speech I was listening to the other day I was surprised to hear him mention it, though it was only as an … More on Alien Invasions, Moron Alien Invasions
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
2011 was a mostly-arbitrary division of time just like any other, but things happened within that duration in my life that are worth noting. My son got borned in August and I got canned from Noisecreep in the Great AOL/HuffPurge. On the literary side I released Bored in the Breakroom as a free e-book (rave … Annual “Click All My Amazon Affiliate Links” Post, 2011 Version
Like someone else in a similar position recently posted, I’ve decided to suspend A Season Underneath indefinitely. The reasons are legion, but the biggest is that I am on my fourth rewrite and it doesn’t seem to be getting a whole lot better. The chapters are just sort of there, with no real story to … I Used To Write Her
Writers love to hi-five each other with permalinks instead of dollar bills in our hands, then we return to our dens and badmouth others’ sentence structures and word choice into half-empty coffee mugs. This post is different because I’m referencing a comment that I made and liked, posted on someone else’s site. Mike Duran’s blog … A Post Where I Feature a Comment I Made About Car Accidents
I posted about the problem of evil about a month ago, and I had some further ideas related to it. God created at least one physical universe with moral agency (axiomatic). God created the angels with moral agency (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6). God would be omniscient enough to know when his preference for moral … Further Thoughts on God and Trans-World Moral Agency
An interesting image of dubious accuracy that has popped up many times in my facebook feed the last week. The origin might be here, but a website with a domain name like that might not be the best source for statistics. Some may cluck their tongues at America’s unfettered capitalism but it’s really a result … Something To Get Mad About For A Few Minutes
I posted before about the kinda-sorta-in-a-way superiority of physical books as opposed to e-books. It felt like a conflict of interest as I’ve released an e-book of my own, but since a physical book(let) of a short story has been actualized (more on that later) I won’t feel the cognitive dissonance as harshly. The emergence … Another Case for Physical Books
After reveling in spirits the night before, come to Discovery in Cranberry Township/Pittsburgh this Sunday. We begin the new series, God the Artist, featuring a story I wrote plus some other fun writey type of things. You’ll be able to buy a book designed by Kevin Rupert and notecards designed by Alanna James. The money … Drag Your Hangover to My Church This Sunday Morning
»Seth W recently released a little zine of sketches of broken robots, called Broken Robots. You can get it for free if he has any more of them. It makes a nice addition to the decor for any of my fellow cubicle jockeys’ working quarters (see photo, where it is nicely coupled with a full … Broken Robots and Memoirs
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
I will get to the falling anvils later. But first, here’s the problem of evil set in deductive logic form. My church’s small group dealt with this idea a few weeks ago, and I think it’s the best argument against the Christian God there is. God is omnibenevolent. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. Evil … The Problem of Anvils
Tobias Buckell posted on and about his blog a few days ago, with a interesting chart on his blog’s traffic. He turned off comments some time ago but his traffic increased. This is counterintuitive to a lot of chatty blog marketeers, who overstress the community aspect. If your blog doesn’t have comments, then it’s just … On Blogging Too Much About Writing and Armadillos
I had the thought to reboot Jesus’ message of the Good Samaritan into more modern terms after last Sunday’s sermon. Doubtlessly this has been done before, but the point of this was to use people I would expect to be good or bad neighbors in a role reversal, which I think is part of the … The Good Godless Humanist
» My church is doing a series on art and Christianity and they asked me to be a part of it, which I am honored to be doing*. I’ll have a short story (not flash fiction) to be included in a nicely-designed short story book for sale in the near future. I don’t know the subject … A Blog Post of Small Bits of Information of Possible Interest
I saw this video over a month ago via Bill’s site. Movie cliches are more noticeable because of their easy access and immediacy. Literary cliches, not so much, but they definitely exist and they can be just as horrid. Consider the meta-cliche, “It was a dark and stormy night.” A night was dark, you say? … Avoid This Post Like the Plague
To add to my image of long-suffering but borderline dorkdom, I had the thought to add the text of incantations I’ve seen in Bleach episodes somewheres online (probably Facebook), not because I think fictional magic is cool, as I have no strong affections either way for it, but because those particular ones are nicely written. … Necromancer? I Barely Know Her!
Cathy posted the interview she did with me about flash fiction right here. There’s a flash fiction autobiography of me and a six word story I agonized over for a few days. You can even write your own six-worder in the comments. Not that you couldn’t do that anyways but writing a six word story … My First Interview Will Make You Question the Internet, Life
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
It’s been recently pointed out to me by the astute Ms. Apokedak that one of my RSS feeds is the old, pre-Feedburner one. If you stick https://jaydinitto.com into Google Reader’s “Add a Subscription” function you will get this old one, as opposed to the new one linked on the right column there or right here. … An Update on My RSS Feed That I Don’t Want to Publish
I got some great responses on my post wondering how pastors write and/or deliver sermons. Bill LaMorey from Calvary Fellowship West Hartford provided links to his personal site on how he does it, and linked to a Mark Driscoll interview where he reveals his method. How pastors do this interested me because it involves writing … On Getting Schooled by Church Leaders
In lieu of an orthodox blog post I wanted to document my thought trail and sequence of events for considering the grand question at the end (time-constrained readers can skip to #8 with #6 as a bonus if it’s doable). This may be of use to someone in the future. On the way to the … I Overthought Something and Now I Have a Question for Pastors
Martha Carr has a post at Novel Publicity for fake writers (me) seeking to make a career by writing (emphasis not mine): …[T]here’s still one powerful rule that remains, and it can mean the difference between making a comfortable living as an author or just barely getting by despite the great reviews. Think of it … You Will Not Make a Living by Writing
Hit the triangle, then continue reading. I have three stories in the works that are not quite short story-length but they are longer than standard flash fiction fare. One of them involves murdering a monarchal retainer, the other talks about murdering a monarchal retainer, and the last involves an orbiting driving range in space. All … Read This Post While Listening to Wagner’s Valkyrie Joint
Silence was written by Shusako Endo, who is described by the book’s notes as being Japan’s foremost novelist. This fact brings the total number of Japanese novelists that I’ve read or ever known of to a whopping one. What’s notable about his eminence—an eminence which may still hold true since his death in 1992—is that … Book Review: Silence
There’s a two things you learn when you stay overnight for a few consecutive days at a hospital, waiting for test results for a loved one. One is that the passage of time is entirely subjective, a phenomenon noted when the circadian rhythm of one’s daily routine is smashed to bits. The other is that … Happy Birthday, Here’s A Meal Ticket for the Hospital Cafeteria
I’m not going to write much here or post a cute picture as I’m working off caffeine fumes and a broken sleep pattern from the night before. Bored in the Breakroom is now available—press here. Note: the Diesel bookstore link is being saucy, but the others are fine so far.
There are two notable births of late, one of which involves my new son, Nickolas Manni DiNitto, while the other involves my e-book, Bored in the Breakroom. The latter of these I will post about tomorrow, the former of which I will post a photo (look to the side). For reasons unknown the e-self-publisher I … Babies Are Me
Becky Garrison’s book isn’t really necessary, and I mean that in the nicest-spirited way possible. The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith (deep breath) is Garrison’s jab back at the new atheist polemicists and their proposition—if I understand it correctly—that religion is no good because it produces … Book Review: The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail
Every so often one comes across the blog run by someone competent enough in writing that a mere Twitter mention seems inadequate, like throwing a brick to fill a sinkhole. Not a small sinkhole, but the one that just devoured your shack of a house and your rich, overbearing neighbor’s fleet of Hummers and his … I’m Not Tweeting About Jesse Pearson’s Blog
There’s only a handful of things that separate good storytelling from the sea of decent but forgettable reads, and it’s creating a sense of mystery and explaining away only part of it. It properly engages the reader’s imagination, which, I’m starting to believe, causes a physiological reaction not unlike the reaction one might receive from … Stop Telling Me Everything About Everything
There’s not much you can do for an e-book of short stories except things like this. I’m not extroverted or good-looking enough to do a Youtube video or talented enough to make a trailer, so this is the biggest gun in my arsenal, and the bullet is a stock photo I bought for $9. The … The Unnecessary E-book Cover Teaser Post
Continuing my unofficial tour of all the books you read in high school and never entertained a thought about again, I come to All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque’s archaic, turn-of-the-century German prose, weirded out teenage reading levels America-wide and was rivaled only by Hemingway’s casual, complacent-shrug narration about life-changing events. All … Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front
Warning: cryptic content below. I’m going to attempt a little real-world experiment with anonymous fiction writing. I’ll explain more in the next post if the experiment ever advances. Please notice the emphasis on “if” in that last sentence. When you’re depending on people that you haven’t met and don’t know that they’re being depended upon … Anonymous Fiction, Part 1
I just read two very-related articles on sites of disparate focus that will not be linked in this post. One post was concerning the Google science fair and how the top three entrants were girls, a story that ends up undermining, if we’re being honest with ourselves, against both boys and girls. The other article … I Did an Autopsy on Harry Potter and He’s a Woman
Florida to Maine by Bike and Train is Seth W’s third e-book and end result of a traveling stint he recently completed. After the cover, which has Seth channeling Leonidas on his bike, the pages are filled with photos, stories about the places he visited, and some good advice if there’s been something you’ve always … Book Review: Florida to Maine by Bike and Train
Via Gallycat, the Oxford people across the pond have dropped support for their comma in their official style guide. If you didn’t know — and I didn’t know it had an official name — the Oxford comma is that last comma in a list of things. Like this: He’s allergic to bananas, kiwi, strawberries, and … The Oxford People Snoot It Up Towards Final Commas
WorldNetDaily is a huge, festering neocon sore on the Internet’s bum-bum so this is probably a bit of selective reasoning on their part, but they’re reporting that Arianna Huffington wants dudes to touch themselves. The article, written by Huffington for everydayhealth.com, ended up on AOL.com’s front page. Shocking!: The health site’s subtitle read, “Ever wonder … Huffington Post Wants Men to Walk the Dog More Often
This is a photo of me, looking a little awkward, and my bicycle, Functional, a 25 year old steel frame Trek 520. I bought it off of someone on ebay over a year ago, and it came with a sticker that just said “Functional” on it, hence its name. If you click for the larger … A Very Functional Photograph of Me
The other night on PBS there was a documentary on post-Soviet Russian families. A father, speaking to someone offscreen, said that his children don’t read much because there’s no interest in books any more. I didn’t see what happened after that but I inferred that when the father was younger, when the hammer and sickle … Time to Bring Back Book Banning
On my way back from the optometrist this morning I walked up 4th avenue, which was one of the first streets on which I remember driving in Pittsburgh. It was some years ago after a job interview. 4th avenue starts (or ends) at PPG Place, a curious agglomeration of crystalline spires and shimmering glass. There … An Extremely Subtle Reminder of My Pending E-book, Bored in the Breakroom
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
I first heard about Philadelphia-based artist Michael Bukowski when I came across his Yog-Blogsoth site, where he is doing his own visual interpretations of all the H.P. Lovecraft alien-gods. He also has a normal site (if you can call it normal) at lastchanceillustraion.com, that addresses his other artistic explorations. In this here little interview you’ll … Interview: Michael Bukowski
I just spent about a week of vacation in an area of the nation where people have begun to worship a group of people named after a kind of bear. I brought back about 100 minahs of processed wood and right now my eyes have been overlayed with a sheen of lead. There were four … Back From the Flexed-Arm State
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
In one of my high school classes there was a concept we discussed called the “nausea of indecision”, a phrase taken from James Joyce’s Eveline, whereby a literary figure is brought to a crucial point in the plot characterized by intense adversity. Usually at some point in the struggle there is a difficult decision to … This Post is About Vomiting and Protagonists
See my other smoking writers posts here and here. I decided to incorporate color shots; I predict that a scarcity of black and white ones would eventually show itself. There are some repeats, like Alan Moore but in a more candid setting. Other ones, like Moore, just have a wonderful visual character about them that … More Photos of Smoking Writers, and Not Just Black and White Ones
The Art of Manliness had a post recently on doing some writing physically instead of digitally, although one still uses the fingers with a pencil (is this mic on? anyone?). It’s obvious that it’s a post to chat-up some sponsors’ products — we all do it — but the Manliness’ penchant for the traditional and … Punch Your Laptop in the Neck
If you’re new here, I posted near the end of 2010 that I was reading through the entire Bible in 90 days so that I could do a book review on it. Since it’s a large book (actually a compilation of books), the review will have some meat to it, but it will also have … The Problem of Tyre
Journalism union The Newspaper Guild doesn’t like the fact that non-journalist rubes have have exercised their right of free association and contract when agreeing to write for HuffPo, for free. Guild organizer Lauri Lebo said this: “People write for free with the idea that they can get this mass exposure,” she said. “As for The … HuffPo May Get a Few Scabs in Need of a Good Picketing
More than a month ago I posted about a friends’ band reuniting. Since they don’t have traditional label support they’ve started a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to cover the costs of producing their new album. It kicked off only a few days and already they’ve collected about $8,712 of their $12,500 goal (the donations grow as … Not About Writing: Life in Your Way Fundraises
If you’re managing your writing or publishing blog correctly — and the jury is still out on whether I am doing it right — you’re pretty much prostituting yourself to get those uniques and Adsense hits. Like any real-life professional sex worker you’ve probably had a contest by now, either for a new book you’ve … How to Run a Blog Contest Like a Classy Hooker
Having been through media criticism courses in college, this comes as an interesting development. Seaton writes, concerning Canton and Cox’s Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Free markets, like languages, thus exemplify not anarchy but “spontaneous order.” Well-written poems, plays, and novels, on the other hand, are typically the result of a single individual who … I’ll Trade You Your Whitman For My Ten Copies of This Cummings Anthology
The Mises website ran a piece today on libertarian science fiction, by pipe-lover Jeff Riggenbach. He mentions four sci-fi authors who weren’t libertarian but came across as friendly to the ideas in some way or another: Anthony Burgess, Philip K. Dick, G. William Domhoff, and Carroll Quigley (I was half-hoping to see a mention of … Fear God, Honor the King, Then Show Him Your Plasma Rifle
The “blogosphere” (aka: the blogs in my subscription queue) has been “buzzing” about the state of e-publishing, about self-publishers who have struck it rich with their e-book, and these stories are complementary goods to the insistent posts forewarning everyone that the old guard publishing industry is really, really e-worried about this and should really, really … Dear Children: I’m Dead, Here’s A Bunch of Computer Files
Lew Rockwell had a post or two on Google’s newish ngram app, which can search and graph the frequency of words from books (those things that are like websites on paper) that Google has scanned — because, you know, the information Google has amassed already isn’t frightening enough. I did a multiple search on these … Another Use for Books Besides Table Levelling
In my current work in progress the protagonist is an early-twenties female, and more than a few times I had to stop myself and ask, “Would someone of her cultural makeup actually do/say that?”, and the fact that it’s in first person makes this issue much more crucial. And it brings up the entire issue … Dude, You Write Like a Girl
If you haven’t been here in a few days, you’ll now notice that jd.com looks different, and a little more significant than the, “Hey, did you get a haircut?” sort of looking different. There are a few reasons for this, the biggest of which was that the other blank theme I used had no ongoing … New Look, Same Mediocre Content
My friend Seth emailed this to me about my last post, about writers not having the outlets for promoting themselves that musicians have: The equivalent for writers playing shows I think is capturing an audience and building a fanbase online even before an author has a book written. That way when you have a book … Music and Writing, Part Two
The other day, and album from the band Evelyn Hope (yes, a band, not a person) came up on our iPod. They were a band started by a former associate of mine, Chris, who owned a recording studio in New Jersey. One of my old bands recorded our demo there, so I got to know … Another Post Mentioning Music and Writing
Moviefone made note last year of the coming invasion of films about coming invasion of aliens. I’ve noticed it, too, and I don’t need to actively watch TV to pick up on the trailers — all I need to hear in the background as I maniacally type away is scary music, military lingo bandied about, … E.T. Is Phoning Home and Ordering a Tactical Nuke Strike on Your School
Today marks the halfway point of my “read the entire Bible” marathon. I’m actually a few days over because I don’t plan on taking the two grace days that act as a break from reading. Why in the world someone would need a day off from something as non-strenuous as reading is beyond me. People … A Most Holy Update
I usually don’t post things like this on here, but my pals in Life In Your Way have reunited. Most of you reading this probably have not heard of them; they are a melodic metalcore band and have been good friends of mine for a while, not to mention they’ve written some of the my … Not About Writing: Life in Your Way Reunites
Via Lew Rockwell’s blog today, Wired ran a great piece on craigslist founder, Craig Newmark. About craigslist’s stripped-down functionality, Gary Wolf writes: Each of these sites, of course, is merely one of the many sections of craigslist, which dominates the market in facilitating face-to-face transactions, whether people are connecting to buy and sell, give something … Throwing Spaghetti at Craigslist
I’ve gotten a few positive emails about the post I did of some favorite writers of mine sucking on the sweet brown lettuce, so I’ve decided to do another bakers’ dozen. This time around it’s not necessarily some personal favorites (though there a few in here), but they are sufficiently qualified in all the other … Another Compendium of Black & White Photos of Smoking Writers
My friend Seth W alerted his twitter followers a little while ago, directing them to this wonderful piece on wired.com written by Patton Oswalt, who played Kevin James’ buddy in King of Queens. I normally don’t like the strain of comedy in sitcoms that don’t go beyond penis jokes and battle of the sexes one-ups, … General Oswalt Patton Just Ran A Tank Over Your Forced Pop Culture References
“If it’s bad art, it’s bad religion, no matter how pious the subject.” -Madeleine L’Engle A few months ago I read an interview with an agent working within the CBA industry. For those not in the know — and I was one of those until very recently — CBA is the “Christian” Booksellers Association*, the … Bad Religion vs. Bad Art vs. Sanitized Art
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 three whiners (heh) of the Matthew Alexander contest have been picked and summarily emailed to death. Actually, they have only been emailed once but I’ve been told that my emails are pretty awful as to induce immediate termination of the reader’s life. Congratulations and enjoy Withur We.
Words, not Word. I mentioned Jer’s Novel Writer before but I thought it deserved its own post. Previously, maybe like a lot of other wannabe writers, I used Microsoft Word to write my book, which is not unlike swatting a fly with the broad side of a barn and only scraping its wing. Word was … Typing Is Believing — Jer’s Novel Writer
The story is simple: I first heard about Matthew Alexander’s libertarian sci-fi debut, Withur We, while lurking and sort of participating in the forums at mises.org. I read the first two chapters of the free online version and checked the perfect reviews on Amazon — and, after consulting some tea leaves (drinking coffee) and tickling … Book Giveaway and Interview: Matthew Alexander
In this post I’m taking a break from being gaseous about writing or my thoughts one of the dozens (literally…dozens) of books that have been published throughout history to post about your big gut and fat butt. Because honestly, dude and miss, you’re pretty fat and you need to lose weight. Now it’s fine if … How to Not Be Fat
This is more for my own reference than anyone else’s reading this. I tend to get snagged when I’m hitting that sweet typing spot and there’s a simple grammar issue of which I’m unsure of a rule governing it, and I have to stop and think of technicalities instead of letting the words flow. Usually … Grammar Be Difficult
Congratulations go out to Matt Uhrich, a fellow Pennsylvanian and writer, for winning the Mike Duran contest and receiving a copy of The Resurrection. Happy reading, Matt — be sure to stretch and fluid up before the first page.
Josh Dies, vocalist for the band Showbread, has invited people to the band’s paid forum (for free) for a reading and discussion of the book Jesus For President, by Shane Claiborne. It’s not a new book, but it has caused some waves because of its somewhat controversial politics and visual design (I don’t know how … Jesus For President, Moses for Speaker of the House
I was listening to one of my favorite Rush albums, Counterparts, the other day, and a line jumped out at me. From “Cold Fire”: She said, “Just don’t disappoint me You know how complex women are” It seemed like the second line could be taken two different ways, and it’s best to describe the difference … Only Neil Knows How Women Are
If you’ve already entered, direct thine oculars to the note at the bottom of the interview to make sure you are truly, truly, entered — then go whack a badly-rendered effigy of me, pinata-style (I am filled with Hot Tamales…they’re my favorite.).
EDIT: See the bottom of the post… Mike Duran is the author of The Resurrection, due out this February 1. He also has written a zillion blog posts about religious belief, speculative fiction, and getting published — and he can probably bench press you. I’ve won two contests that he’s held, so it only makes … Book Giveaway and Interview: Mike Duran
It’s already a few days into the new year and I haven’t broken my non-resolution to read the whole Bible to do a legitimate review of it. In fact, I’m ahead of the 90 days schedule. No furtive glances or fidgety fingers for me — I’m pounding this into submission. Since it’s the era of … Resolutions Were Made To Be Broken
A while back, an online friend joked to me that I should do a book review of the Bible. I thought it was a good idea at the time but I wanted to read the entire thing through first before reviewing it, even though the material is too vast and varied to really do a … Thy Word Is A Bright Cellphone Screen Unto My Vans