News
I have a new Stories page which features two stories I have not yet shared; Zeds and The Ancient One. Both of these are old shorts I’ve written and have yet to share (on this site anyway). I’m going to spend some time when I have writers block and start rewriting and updating them.
Zeds was my first Zombie story, and I wrote it as an experiment in First Person Present Tense writing. It was a decent hit amongst those who read it, but I stopped writing it when I lost a friend. In more recent years (like, when I started this website) I started writing new stories in the same universe and really expanded upon the world I started building. I never got around to exploring the background of Zeds, like I have been with Tales of the Wasteland and my Six Sentence Stories. Since starting Tales of the Wasteland I have been exploring other aspects of the world and expanding upon it.
So, fun fact; most of my stories take place in the same universe, and many of them take place side by side. Zeds, MAZE, Freaks, and Tales of the Wasteland are all in the same world and timeline. Even The Ancient One is in the same timeline but at a significantly distant time in the future. Zeds was originally going to be an excuse to just write a bunch of different stories that all connect in the end which is why it’s mainly about a writer who collects people’s background stories as he tries to piece together what happened while he was in isolation.
Anyway… what I meant to say before I started rambling was; I have some stuff to post when I don’t feel like writing new stuff for a bit, and I’ve also started sharing my TTRPG (Table Top Role Playing Game) stuff here as well instead of to the Roleplaying subpage. I am doing this because I continually forget that the Roleplaying subpage exists and I have to sign in to it separately, so I just never update it. You’ll see the first of these posts right below in the New Posts cateogry.
New Posts
Books
I keep forgetting to update my Goodreads. I went to check on it today and it was 2 books behind! Shame on me! I’m still working my way through the Sandman Slim series. Once I finish this book I’ll be halfway through the 12 book series. I might have to take a break from it and go read the 9th book of He Who Fights With Monsters before I forget what’s going on in it.
Speaking of, I’ve been noticing a lot of similarities between Sandman Slim and He Who Fights With Monsters; for example there are people called Sin Eaters in both who can remove Sin and Inflict Sin upon others. The main characters can both travel through shadows, and both of them have used this ability inside a car to escape and confused police by dipping into the shadows under the dashboard after pulling over. They have both been seen wearing Hawaiian shirts with straw hats, and both have a complete disregard for rules and politeness when facing authoritative figures.
I don’t know if there is any relation, just seems like a lot of odd similarities to be coincidence in my mind. Big coincidence, though, that I’m reading these two series back to back.
Six Sentence Stories
A weekly Writing Prompt hosted by: GirlieOnTheEdge
Consequences
“Ohhh, my fucking god, this is better than an orgasm,” Sam took a deep breath over her coffee mug, breathing in the enticing scent, “consequences be damned, if you didn’t have this here I was definitely going into that lobby; it would have been worth dying for.”
“I don’t know why you like it,” Shay sat on one of the stainless steel stools by the stainless steel bar, his feet dangling freely and swinging from front to back as he waited for something more interesting to happen, “it smells worse than burning sticks and tastes like barf.”
“Coffee is a gift from God,” Sam had to take a deep breath before speaking to avoid losing her temper at the child’s blasphemy, “what burning sticks?”
“The little white and yellow ones my mom and some of the other adults used to use when,” Shay raised his hands and made finger quotations, “‘felt anxious,’ which I guess was pretty much all the time.”
Rio and Sam shared a long glance before looking back to Shay; “You have coffee, and cigarettes?”
“Congratulations,” Rio spread his arms wide and plastered on a huge smile, “you’re adopted!”
Fantasy Indies
Fantasy Indies Prompts: Fantasy Indies on Twitter
22. Digging through the rubble of the old building I find a wine bottle.
“Oh shit, guys!” Excited, I raise it so the others can see. “I found wine!”
The group cheers excitedly. It’s been a very sober week for most of them. Unfortunately, I catch a glimpse of the label as I’m displaying it and my heart sinks.
“Oh, never mind, it’s expired.” My shoulders slump. “It’s from 1701, it’s like, 300 years old.”
With an apologetic shrug and a sympathetic grimace I toss the bottle over my shoulder and hear the satisfying sound of it shattering. I resume searching for a few seconds but realize everyone is staring at me, their eyes wide and jaws low enough to play hide the sausage.
“What?”
23. “It’s a good idea to always double check what you’re stabbing. Vampires and Mortals look hella similar.”
24. None, yet.
25. When I hit writers block I usually… rewrite stuff. I go back, edit, make the changes I wanted to make, then reread what I’ve written. It doesn’t always fix the block, but it’s at least progressive.
26. Y’all can get your selfie fill on my Twitter
27. I guessed the identity of The Praying Mantis on The Masked Singer! I was super excited for it, too.
28. I rambled on enough in this post with the Books and News updates. I’ll let those fill in for this one here.
I like Shay’s description of coffee: it “tastes like barf”. But I also agree with Sam as I’m drinking a morning cup of it.
Lol I can’t stand coffee. It smells great but tastes terrible.
If you don’t give me my morning brew, which i consider to be ambrosia, you had best stay out of my way, although i’ll pass on the cancer sticks. I’ve lost too many to the things.
This story underscores what i keep trying to tell a family member who thinks gold is the key to surviving when all goes downhill. People don’t want gold in that situation, they want what i’ve always called “the f’s,” food and potable water, fuel, (f)pharmaceuticals (prescription and recreational), firearms, fireweed (cigarettes) and fire water (alcohol).
Heck yes! You get it!
Money holds no power when the world falls apart. We revert back to bartering. The wealthy are the ones with basic and recreational needs. Farmers become heroes and brewers are gods