The Long Lent

The Long Lent

It's hard to believe that Lent is here, mostly because the past year felt like one long Lent. During this time of preparation for Easter, Christians are encouraged to renew and deepen our vigilance in prayer, fasting, and penance. Before His glorious Resurrection, Our Lord first had to pass through…
February 24, 20213 Comments
Find Your Sword

Find Your Sword

A famous game mechanic in certain adventure games of the eight and sixteen-bit eras involved starting the main character off sans the main tool he needed to win. The Legend of Zelda set this trend by throwing the main protagonist Link into the wilds of Hyrule completely unarmed. The story goes…
February 22, 2021
Not Visual Media

Not Visual Media

There's an old saying in comics that writers can't draw, and artists can't write. That's an overgeneralization. Sometimes you do get a John Byrne or a Frank Miller, but there is a kernel of truth to the cliche. Because an artist is trained to think in terms of visuals, he…
February 15, 20219 Comments
Dissident Cinema

Dissident Cinema

One windfall of the Star Wars sequel trilogy fiasco is that it clued millions of ordinary people in to what folks in the counterculture have known for years: Hollywood isn't in the business of producing entertainment for a profit. Instead, the movie industry has become a propaganda factory for the…
February 5, 202114 Comments
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

"Where do you get your ideas?" Writers get this question often. It doesn't lend itself to a simple yes/no answer, so I'm gonna go in-depth with this one. Where ideas come from: Some are lifted from books, movies, TV, etc. and I file the serial numbers off and recombine them.…
January 26, 20213 Comments
Aspirational Marketing

Aspirational Marketing

Most folks in newpub unconsciously stumble out of the gate by calling themselves "indie authors". I know I did. But newpub means more than writing. If you go indie, you accept all the responsibilities of an author AND a publisher. As a result of indies' author-centric focus, a lot of…
January 18, 20214 Comments
Writing Romance

Writing Romance

One seldom-discussed perk of being a writer is the joy of seeing your back catalog finding new readers. Lately I've heard tell that folks are discovering my second Soul Cycle book, Souldancer. While Nethereal had some romantic elements, romance is much more central to the second book's plot. In preparation for writing it I…
January 12, 202110 Comments
Hiding Wealth

Hiding Wealth

*Disclaimer: The following is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, investment advice.*Perhaps the greatest disservice done to inmates of the American educational system, besides teaching them to hate themselves, is keeping them ignorant of wealth.This ignorance isn't limited to the means of wealth creation. Most people…
December 21, 202018 Comments
Newpub Marketing Manual

Newpub Marketing Manual

Embarrassing admission time: I have a chronic case of Boomer tech when it comes to social media. Longtime readers know I relentlessly advocate for elevating publishing out of the oldpub tar pits and into the newpub promised land. I'm the first to ditch obsolete publishing bromides and embrace newly emergent…
December 18, 20202 Comments
Witch Hunter

Witch Hunter

It's been two days, and to no one's surprise, former Con Inc. shill turned Leftist YouTuber Hunter Avallone has failed the Witch Test. Dux Bellorum did a bang-up job administering the test. There's just one vital finishing touch he missed. As soon as the subject has either a) replied to…
December 11, 20207 Comments