“Be Mysterious: Writers in Masks” features Aaron Polson

  I’m the tall kid, second from the left, with the lousy interpretation of Maximillian, the killer robot from The Black Hole on my head.  The date: March, 1981–my sixth birthday party.    Seven months before the picture was taken, a helicopter took my father to a hospital to have part of his brain irradiated because of a malignant tumor.  … Read More

Adding A Happy Chapter

I took a week off of the Williams project because I needed to.  I needed to dance around and fill my mind with butterflies and glitter again instead of hypodermic needles and the smell of antiseptic.  But we just spent two days testing with some of the leading authorities of Williams Syndrome, and my son exceeded all of our expectations.  … Read More

“Be Mysterious: Writers In Masks” Features Kaolin Fire

Kaolin Fire wears many masks, day in, day out. Few of them are physical, but many are real–and some that aren’t particularly tangible are far the more powerful for that. Hopefully this mask is one of the further-removed from reality, but it’s one of his favorites. He finds it’s very imposing in-person. Outside of his primary occupation of software development … Read More

Coolest. T-shirt. Ever.

  Is there anything more delicious than this?  No, not really. I won another week of the #NovelChallenge against Simon.  This man makes losing look fantastic. This is the third time that he’s lost to me.  But this week I lost to him for the very first time.  What will my consequence be, do you think? Anyway, awesome pic, Simon.  You’re stellar.

Death, Destruction, and a Beautiful Boy

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about death and destruction lately.  I grew up in a town that was rife with it, all of it.  People died in fires and mine shafts.  Car accidents and drownings.  Suicides and accidental shootings. There was a boy.  I knew him since before I could remember.  One day his best friend was killed in … Read More

“Be Mysterious: Writers In Masks” Features Steven Pirie

Steven Pirie lives in a post box in Liverpool, England. He gets a lot of mail, but pushes it back out when no one’s looking.   His first love is writing humorous fantasy—his novel Digging up Donald, published by Immanion Press in hardback in 2004, and again by Immanion in paperback in 2007, was critically acclaimed. This has encouraged Steven … Read More

Why Do You Write?

You, personally.  Yeah, you.  Stop looking around, pal. You. Is it because you have a story to tell?  Are you the dippy kid who is always staring at the stars?  Are you angry at the world and this is your manifesto?  Did something so amazing happen and you have to share it with the world?  Are you too shy to … Read More

“Be Mysterious: Writers In Masks” Features Kurt Newton

Masks by Kurt Newton When Mercedes first came up with her mad cross-promotional scheme to showcase writers and artists wearing masks, I admit I thought it was a bit silly, a variation on the child’s game of dress-up. But as the weeks unfolded, and Mercedes’ blog presented people in gas masks, clown masks, masquerade masks, even a World War II … Read More

WIP Wednesday: Today I Rock

It’s still officially Wednesday for another hour, so this still counts. This has been THE WORST WEEK EVER.  I swear, Murphy’s Law has been in full effect!  Every dumb little annoying thing that can happen HAS happened.  Mix-ups on appointments, faulty communication, shutting tiny toes in the car door, knocking over a bottle of soda that blew up on the carpet.  The … Read More