STRANGER THINGS MEGA SPOILERS AHEAD So I finally got to see the finale of Stranger Things. You know me, I like to come late to the game. The trick is avoiding spoilers. But there seems to be some disquiet about its conclusion, and I don’t know why. Something called “conformity gate“. I don’t think this refers to a gate to the Upside Down, but the traditional suffix for controversy (like “Watergate”). This meme refers to the disappointment some viewers had that, in the epilogue, all the main characters went on to lives that matched their goals or character arcs. They “conformed” to the roles expected of them. It was perfect.…
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Thomas F. Wilson Needs More Credit
No one gives Thomas F. Wilson his due. The guy played one of the greatest villains in cinema history and no one let him do anything else. He’s like the J.D. Salinger of acting. Not only that, but he played totally different versions of that villain. The only equivalent I can think of is Kelsey Grammer playing the same character, Frasier Crane, for forty years. I mean, let’s think about it. How many different roles did he play over the trilogy? YEAR ROLE PIC 1985 George McFly’s boss Biff 1955 teenage bully Biff 1985 subservient Biff 2015 elder Biff 2015 hophead Griff 1985 Donald Trump Biff 1955 teenage bully Biff,…
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I’m Not Even Sure I Want to Be an Author Anymore
These days I don’t even know how much I want to keep going. And by “keep going” I mean continue the dream of becoming a published author. And it’s probably because I came across this… I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that. And all that’s WITH the publisher doing its fair share. $30,000 out of your own account? Money is supposed to flow toward the writer, not out. 90% chance he did not make money from this book. And yes, this is an established author, but it’s also not part of a series, so I’ve got to believe it’s close to what a debut author would have…
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Why Am I So Bad at Strategy Games?
Why am I so bad at strategy games? Actually, a lot of games I’m bad at, but in particular, anything involving strategy, tactics, movement, or placement. That means Stratego, Memoir ’44, Castles of Burgundy, 7 Wonders Duel, Patchwork, Hive. I can’t win one. I once stumbled onto the Fool’s Mate playing the computer in Chess. Any game that forces you to think one, two, three, any number of steps ahead, not going to happen. I can barely think about what I’m going to do on my turn, let alone someone else’s turn, and then the forked paths after that. I’m not good at the computer games either–Command & Conquer, Warcraft,…
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Writing Status
I haven’t really talked about where I am with writing (I haven’t really talked about anything for a while because I’ve been obsessed with Board Game Arena), but as the end of the year is coming, I’m pondering what I’ve accomplished this year. I only get 60-80. Well, unfortunately, nothing became ready for publishing this year (at least I’m not expecting it to). Most of January was spent wrapping up the short stories. I worked on Millia/Naga Story for a long time. More than half the year. And that was because I got feedback from a professional editor. Well, at least I think she was professional. I paid her. That…
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The Books I Read: September – October 2025
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) After reading some crappy boring books, this is a breath of fresh air. Just a guy and his cat having adventures in a dungeon. I wish I could write like this. I mean, yeah, the profound deep heavily written stuff is what has staying power, but above all I just want to be entertaining. People don’t remember what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel. It’s all just fun. Just a guy playing D&D with himself, and he gets a following. He’s got board games and graphic novels coming out. I’m not saying I’m jealous–the guy…
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Board Game Arena
You might have noticed posts are scant around here nowadays. There’s a reason for that. I have discovered Board Game Arena. Board Game Arena is a site where you can play board games for free with people around the world. You can play board games for free. There are 1,000 to choose from. They’re free. This should not exist. Humanity doesn’t deserve this. And the site is good. Matchmaking is quick and simple. Good community is encouraged. There are tutorials that teach you how to play, plus notes and strategy tips. The notes and strategy tips you can edit yourself, like a wiki. New games are added nearly every week.…
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How to Ask for Money
I heard a podcast recently that was themed around “How to Ask for Money”. I don’t think there’s any podcast that doesn’t ask for money or promote a Patreon or live ads or whatever. But as I listened, I thought these are crossover skills with author promotion. If you’re an author doing a book signing or during a release, you have to do a lot of marketing by yourself. You have to be a salesman, at least that’s what I’ve observed. And I hate being a salesman. Selling is convincing people to do something they didn’t want to do in the first place. And that often involves, if not outright…
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The Books I Read: July – August 2025
Vendetta by Peter David(re-read) This is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve since fallen out of love with Star Trek, so I was anxious as to how I would respond as a forty-four-year-old. Nope, it’s still good. The great thing about Peter David is he was never afraid to go crazy, to do the awesome things the actual show couldn’t because of budget or it wasn’t mild enough. But here, we got a Ferengi borg, the Doomsday Machine from TOS, we got actual repercussions of Wolf 359, we got going to Warp 10, we got guest stars from previous episodes, we got a female Borg WAY before…
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New Short Story – “Joanie Appleseed”
Daikaijuzine has been gracious enough to publish Joanie Appleseed in their most current issue. Give it a read! This particular publication instance is special for two reasons. One, when I was submitting short stories the first time, around 2010-2014, Daikaijuzine was one of those “blue ribbon” magazines for me. A goal, like Uncanny Magazine is now. Second, I wrote “Joanie Appleseed” around the time I gave up on short stories. I thought it was a good story, wholesome and quirky. But submitting all these stories and getting rejected was getting frustrated. I was dumping more money on my short story tracker than I was getting with publications. So I trunked…
