Here today on The Z-Axis I have Imran Siddiq, author of the Divided Worlds Trilogy and a new release called Tyler Nitbone. Imran is one of my favorite indie authors, and I find both his works and his presence on Twitter to be a constant inspiration to me to write more and to write better. Imran’s…
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Book Review: Neuromancer
Neuromancer was one of those books that drew me in purely by virtue of the title. Neuromancer, I thought, what’s that? Like, Necromancer? But with the brain? Wow, I’m intrigued already. It was on a friend’s bookshelf and I picked it up almost without thought, without really knowing why. I’d heard the name William Gibson but had no…
Read MoreTwittiquete: How Not To Suck At Twitter
Welcome! This is the second post in my Twittiquete series: How To (Not) Suck At Twitter! If you’ve been following this blog, you know that last time, we learned all about how to offend the hell out of everyone on Twitter and make yourself universally reviled! Did you follow those ten steps? Congratulations! Now it’s…
Read MoreTwittiquette: How To Suck At Twitter
Here are ten quick and easy things you can do to suck really hard at Twitter. Want to create a social network that absolutely loathes your presence? Follow this simple guide and you’ll have alienated your entire fan base in the span of just a few tweets, unfollows, and DMs! 1) Post your follow/unfollow stats…
Read MoreWinter Dreams (Reprise)
I always love going back and re-reading some of my early works, before I ever would have dreamed of calling myself a writer. I wrote the following paragraph in 2008, when I was a sophomore in college. It appeared in an early version of this blog when I was still on Blogger. There is something precariously…
Read MoreOn The Block
No, I’m not talking about heads. Thank goodness. That would be gruesome. No, my subject today is worse, my friends, worse by half. I’m talking about good old fashioned writer’s block, that fearsome dragon whose ugly head rears at the best of times and the worst of times, forcing you to resort to trite cliches…
Read MoreNaNoWriMo: Seven Things To Avoid When Writing A Novel
In honor of NaNoWriMo, here are seven lessons I learned when writing The Sowing about what NOT to do when you’re writing the first draft of a novel. These are rules I’m trying (and sometimes failing) to keep in mind as I write The Reaping as well, so this post is partially to remind myself…
Read MoreWhere I’ve Been
I know, I’m sorry. I disappeared and I didn’t tell any of you where I was going. I left without warning and I haven’t posted anything in far too long. But I have an excuse, I promise. I’ve been off on another adventure, and this was one of the best I’ve had so far. In…
Read MoreA Rebuttal to Jonathan Franzen’s “What’s Wrong With The Modern World”
I’ve recently been challenged to do two new blog posts, one on the theme of friends (not the TV show, but the relationships) and one on the theme of does Twitter make you a better writer? Interestingly enough, both of these fit neatly into my thoughts regarding a recent article that appeared and was propagated throughout the blogosphere.…
Read MoreAdventures in Greece: Helios, Sparta, and The Land Of The Gods
On Saturday of this past week I traveled to Gythio, the port city of Sparta. Gythio is an integral part of the Mani region, a part of larger Lakonia, which in Classical times was famed for the militaristic brutality of the Spartan warriors. “Come home with your shield or on it,” is the famous saying…
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