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Oliver “Shiny” Blakemore
Oliver “Shiny” Blakemore

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9 hours ago

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Half as clever as it should be. — Foundation and Empire tells the story of what happens when a God complex clashes with severe headaches. A person who amounts in the books a folk hero in the form of Hari Seldon has decided that he knows exactly how to direct the next thousand years in order to shorten…

Books

2 min read

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

4 days ago

Slan by A.E. Van Vogt

Pretty sure it’s racist. — Slan is the story of Übermensch Jommy Cross and his adventure in trying to achieve world peace through the cunning use of demonstrating superior genetics and the precise application of stealing free will through psychic superpowers. It’s cool, though. Jommy only takes free will from people who would have wasted…

Book Review

2 min read

Slan by A.E. Van Vogt
Slan by A.E. Van Vogt

Aug 9

Why You Should Set Reading Goals

What am I reading right now? I will tell you. — Life is too short to read anything except what you want to read. That said, how do you decide what to read? That’s a serious question. How do you decide what to read? We all have different decision-making criteria. I like hearing the preachy, pushy excuses people assign to their…

Books

5 min read

Why You Should Set Reading Goals
Why You Should Set Reading Goals

Apr 14

Marketing (i.e., catnip) for Writers (i.e., dummies)

Marketing makes as much sense as a staircase into a blank wall. Writers are contradictory animals. We’re shy, but we also want our stories to get attention. There’s a psychotic break there somewhere. Not sure exactly how that works, but it does. We want to tell stories to people. The…

Writing

3 min read

Marketing (i.e., catnip) for Writers (i.e., dummies)
Marketing (i.e., catnip) for Writers (i.e., dummies)

Dec 23, 2021

Dead Mentors: Franz Kafka — no explanations needed

The mythical suffering artist and which god your body is a temple to depends on lifestyle — The trouble is that the image of the lonely writer is a little bit of a lie. When we write, none of us write in isolation. Not quite. We’re all joining an active conversation as old as literacy itself. By having an opinion and putting it out there, you join…

Mentor

4 min read

Dead Mentors: Franz Kafka — no explanations needed
Dead Mentors: Franz Kafka — no explanations needed

Dec 13, 2021

The Three Steps to Becoming a Professional Writer

As a career, writing can’t function outside a community. It’s a weird thing: you do it in isolation, because it has to be done in isolation. The work doesn’t happen without a good deal of alone time. At the same time, you SUCCEED at it because of the village rooting…

Writing

5 min read

The Three Steps to Becoming a Professional Writer
The Three Steps to Becoming a Professional Writer

Dec 7, 2021

The Lesson to Learn from Rejection

I lost a bunch of important contests — This past year I decided to invest in myself. I entered my novel into four contests, and several short stories into others. Overall, I entered seven paid contests. Which is not a huge amount, I grant you, but it was six more than the year before and eight more…

Writing

5 min read

The Lesson to Learn from Rejection
The Lesson to Learn from Rejection

Dec 3, 2021

I need your help

It’s about my book — I have a mission for you: tell two people about this. I’ve just finished the first draft of the best book I’ve written to date. I’m vibrating, I’m so excited. It’s ALMOST the kind of story I’d like to tell. I have more practicing to do if I want to…

Shinysyndrome

2 min read

I need your help
I need your help

Nov 12, 2021

I want to be famous for THIS reason alone

Otherwise, fame sounds like literal hell — I have two fantasy universes. One’s the Twiggiverse, and I’m not talking about it. The other’s the Cityverse. (These are working titles.) I’ve been writing a lot in the Cityverse. Thing about the Cityverse is I mainly write modern, urban fantasy in it. And the character I write about in…

Shinysyndrome

4 min read

I want to be famous for THIS reason alone
I want to be famous for THIS reason alone

Nov 4, 2021

Placing Blame and Blaming Places: Setting as Culprit

A Writing Lesson from David Fincher — So…what about David Fincher? Filmmaker, first of all. So only half relevant to a writer of prose. But not irrelevant. Stories is stories is stories, and Mr. Fincher shows great skill at it. He’s on my mind because of a novel I’m reading. My friend wrote it, and I’m reading it to give this…

Writing Tips

8 min read

Placing Blame and Blaming Places: Setting as Culprit
Placing Blame and Blaming Places: Setting as Culprit
Oliver “Shiny” Blakemore

Oliver “Shiny” Blakemore

The best part of being a mime is never having to say I’m sorry.

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