Faux-Life
Any regard for the wellbeing of hypothetical children begins and ends with denying bodily autonomy. Consistently.
Internet Killed the Movie Star
“A movie star is not an artist, he is an art object.” film scholar Richard Schickel Recently people like Quintin Tarantino have bemoaned the death of the "movie star" just as others, some of them actors, agree with the overall sentiment but approach it less mournfully. Many attribute it to…
Truth in Fiction: Cutting Onions
Man, what a weird week. As I said on social media, I'm torn between the editing I need to do, and the writing I want to do about recent events and last year's Last Night in SoHo, which I finally got around to watching late last night. It's a thought-provoking…
Concern Trolls
If a fat person exists but nobody is around to tell them it's a problem, is it still a problem? Virtue signalling is one of those accusations that gets thrown around loosely. It comes from the the presumption that someone is feigning concern to score points on some imaginary scoreboard.…
Ignorance Isn’t Bliss
“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”― Lyndon B. Johnson If the past several years have taught me anything, it's that…
Truth in Fiction: The Sandman
I'm going to do something today I haven't really done in my blog despite it being a passion of mine, and examine an episode of television. In this case it's the disturbing "24/7" episode of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Spoilers and dark subject matter ahead. John is a sorcerer of…
Friends and Lovers
My story collection Silly Little Monsters demonstrated the growing pains as I came into my own as a writer. And yet, "everyone wants to find a place to belong, to connect" served as a mission statement. Reaching out, trying to make connections. That's what it's always been about. me, a…
Sexy Pineapples
"Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be..." Salt 'n Peppa Not my favorite Salt 'n Peppa song (that would be "Push It") but it felt apt. Honestly, the title is probably the spiciest thing in this post so don't get too nervous and/or…
Man, I Feel Like a Piece of Meat
The last post was fun to write. This one is less fun, but I can't get back to work on creative endeavors until I untangle these thoughts. It's part of the process. I planned to delve deeper into another literary controversy, and it's one of the threads woven into a…
Where’s the Beef?
A Better Me came out two weeks ago. At one point, it was in the top 250 for New Adult and College Fantasy. That was cool, but the best part was seeing all the likes and shares from peers and others. The support of the community is so important for…