Category: articles
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Is Murakami a one trick pony? A dialog on writers. As ponies. Turning Tricks.
I texted Kendall a note circulating on Substack by Alex and Vincenzo Barney quoting a professor who accused Murakami of being a one trick pony. I texted him for two reasons: one, Kendall loves Murakami and I haven’t read a single paragraph of the author; two, to troll Kendall into his first post here. It’s a dialog and it’s…
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Elizabeth Bear Interview
Elizabeth Bear — The Hugo Award winning author of Ancestral Night and other books — sat down for a wide ranging interview about Rockapella, DOOM mods, RPGs, and death or glory stands to defend this run. Elizabeth won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Tideline“,…
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Mocha Blocked — Cold Brewed 006
Haven’t you heard that it’s the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print? That Mark 9 and I are re-releasing the digital version? Look, outside of scrolling, it never quite formatted well for e-readers. The iBooks version was like 5 gigabytes, so here we are, back with the scroller! How do you support the team? Either…
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Murder Face — Cold Brewed 005
The header photo from today’s episode is the one that made Mark 9 a finalist in the oldest photo competition in the world, Photo Spiva. It was judged that year by a curator from the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Photography. It’s the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print, so Mark 9 and I are re-releasing…
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Milker — Cold Brewed 004
We — Mark 9 and I — wanted to share the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print, so we’re re-releasing the digital version (outside of scrolling, it doesn’t format well for e-readers). Feel free to support the team as the episodes release. One way to support is to order a print copy directly from your preferred…
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Cold Brewed 003 — Spent Grounds
We — Mark 9 and I — wanted to share the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print, so we’re re-releasing the digital version (outside of scrolling, it doesn’t format well for e-readers). Feel free to support the team as the episodes release. One way to support is to order a print copy directly from your preferred…
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Cold Brewed 002 — Dosing
Mark 9 and I thought the best way to share the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print was to re-release the digital version online, since it doesn’t format well for e-readers outside of scrolling. You can support it as the episodes release in two ways. One is to order a print copy directly from…
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Cold Brewed 001 — Hard Water
As Mark 9 and I thought through the best way to share the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print, we realized the tiniest fraction of this audience saw it live online when we released it in our early twenties. We decided to re-release it serially online, since it doesn’t format well for e-readers outside of…
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Daddy Issues are Overrated
When my dad hooked back up with the babysitter he’d originally cheated on mom with, my siblings and I didn’t hear from him for a month. I was eating at a Texas barbecue joint a block from Times Square when that carpenter and millwright finally returned all of my ignored calls. I paced in the…
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Why They Rejected You
Three case studies on pieces of mine that were rejected often prior to publication as well as a list of typical reasons for rejection, intended as a metaphor for life. They answer to “Why they rejected you” is simpler than it seems: I find it a shock at this stage in life that I have…
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Open Letter to JB Pritzker for My Brother’s and Southern Illinois’s Tragic Flood
Dear JB Pritzker — Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this (and for all of you who shared it widely enough to reach his desk). I write to you today on behalf of a subject nearest and dearest to my heart: Little Egypt, Southern Illinois during historic floods. If you’re reading this and not JB,…
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The Secret Joplin Tunnels
A decade ago, Mark Neuenschwander (photographer of these photos) and I delved the secret tunnels beneath Joplin, Missouri’s downtown district. We delved the Joplin tunnels with the knowledge of a couple members of City Hall. We had prior experience: do not delve these tunnels. Do not risk your life. They are extremely dangerous when there is any hint…