Quick Post

So, a few things.

First, Street Fighter is 25. What the hell. Thanks, Wil Wheaton.

I’m out of rant for today about big things and important things other than asking what you, my readers, are doing to make your world a better place. A shout out to Nerdfighteria, who are working diligently to lower world suck every day. Unfortunately I cannot fully call myself a nerdfighter as I hold myself to some pretty ridiculous philosophical and ethical positions and many of those in the Nerdfighter ranks would find me disturbed for it. But that should be obvious as it would be really difficult for me to find anything redeeming about someone who claims to be anti-feminist and I know there’s a couple  nerdfighters out there that to. Mostly thanks to the Men’s Rights Movement.

Speaking of the Men’s Rights Movement, fuck you. I’m personally sick and tired of the bullshit on Reddit, I’m sick and tired of the bullshit around FreeThought Blogs and Skepchick, I’m tired of the bullshit of these people trying to speak for me.

I am a man. I’m a cisman. I’m a cisgendered white man. I am a pansexual, omnisexual, bisexual cisgendered white man. Everyone from DJ Groethe to the director of CFI Canada to A Voice For Men are full of shit and using authority borrowed from their professional station (or from whimsy and fantasy, AVFM) to speak about things they both have no education in and no authority in. They do not represent me. They do not speak for me. They do not even speak rationally. All of the things in this discussion that we’re fighting over, from harassment policies to rape culture to women? A lot of these cultural elements have been proven in sociological studies. If they’d bother to check.

So yeah, Men’s Rights Movement? Fuck your face with a hedge-trimmer.

An update on those things that are important to me, as a philosophical stance. I am an atheist, I am an antitheist, I am a feminist, I am a liberal. All of these stances come from observation, data, and science. I’m willing to discuss any of these positions with anyone so long as you are not a bad actor. So far I haven’t had to even think of a comment policy yet (cue cut to comment section with two comments and a tumbleweed) but you can rest assured that if you come in and start arguing in bad faith, you start trolling, or you start using this as a platform for something then I’m going to delete your comments. I’m unemployed and disabled. I have the time to do this.

Speaking of being unemployed and disabled, I’m also homeless! However, the place I was living in was sapping me of everything involved in the will to live, so I’m happier right now. However, if anyone in Southern California knows of a furnished room on the cheap I can rent for a few months, I’d love to know. I’m trying to get my family to help me with a motel room until I can find a permanent place to live but they’re being…unreliable. I’ve got a friend who might have a place for me in a few months but until then I’m sleeping on a couch and it’s hell on my back. And all my other joints. Plus, privacy? What’s that? So yeah, my crowd of two, please help me find a place to crash for a bit.

Uh, what else. Working on two new short stories right now but it’s hard coming from the place I was in. Currently theorizing a story about a Steampunk China if the Opium Wars had never ended. Enjoy history? China? The Victorian period? Imperialism? Anything related to this? Send me snippets of information, data, what have you and I’ll boil them down into a few story ideas. I’m thinking of watching Ip Man and Ip Man 2 again for some inspiration. And because they’re fantastic martial arts movies.

Now I’m going to go back to missing my partner like a love struck fool, relaxing my back, and trying to come up with ideas.

Happy Esther day.

Stay classy.

Chapter Seven of Notes From the Abyss!

Hah! Haven’t seen this one in a while, have you? Well, here it is. I didn’t do a whole chapter of exposition. Yet. That’ll be the next chapter. It was fun to go back into Jarvis’ shoes, though, especially since I’ve been working in a lot of different things lately. I’m also cooking up a few ideas for a new urban fantasy story called A Worn Cloak and it will be the new (modern, Orange County based) story for Roland Argyle. I’ll let you guys wonder what the gimmick is for my urban fantasy idea this time around.

Also, today is my 26th birthday! Yay me!

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwwrbJfM_14]

Without further ado…

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I don’t know. Don’t ask me to explain.

Please, if you can, consider throwing a few coins in my hat through the donate button on the right.

For now I’m going to shower and make sense of what the hell I just wrote.

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Travel Through the Abyss

So, this is a little bit shorter than normal but I’m running into a bit of a wall with Notes right now. I’m not sure where to take it. If you like this, though, please let me know.

Anyway, updates! I went to the Oakquinox event at Stone Brewery yesterday with my girlfriend (it was her birthday) and a few of our mutual friends. It was awesome, great beers all around.  It was a huge celebration of barrel-aged beers and they all really delivered. I’m hoping the next event I go to is Stone’s Sourfest, in July. If you’re going, let me know and I’ll be happy to hang out and share a bit of conversation!

Life stuff – still don’t know what I’m going to do for income when my current unemployment line is out. I don’t have a cover artist or any viable cover images which is why you haven’t seen either my short stories or Notes part one up for the Kindle and Nook yet. I haven’t gotten a hold of any potential investors yet but I’ve got some hopeful leads. Today is the first day, and hopefully last day, in a while that I won’t be able to eat while I’m out. (This is hopefully changing sooner rather than later, too – trying to get out of the place I’m living since it game with a lot of hidden costs).

Anyway, on to the story!

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Out of the Frying Pan

Today’s update is for Out of Thyme, that steampunky novel I’m trying to write. Today, our hero arrives at The Vega. I like it a lot, and it’s growing in my mind still as to what it is. Well, other than a bit of Vegas turned up to 11.

More will come in time. I’m still trying to get my writing legs back and my weekend was pretty awful for it. That’s why today’s post is, well, really late.

Hope you do enjoy it, though. It’s a little awkward writing right now but I did my best. I’m still trying to get a replacement monitor for my normal laptop so I had to transfer everything to Google Docs. Though it does give me more flexibility on where to work on it, the speed I have to type at is getting kind of annoying.

Anyway, on to the story!

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More Unedited Writing!

A lot of this will turn into conversations, I think, since a lot of this is framing and I’m forcing a lot of the story out right now.

When I wrote Part One, it gained 5,000 words during editing. So I’m not too worried about how disappointed I am with this part so far.

Anyway, without further ado, Chapter Four of Notes From the Abyss Part II

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The Beginning of Something Great

This is the first part of my history of Royan, and it is the killing of the gods.

Royan is a specifically atheistic world where the gods and their religions are snuffed out because of their danger to the world around them. It is a classical fantasy world where the magic is separated into scientific Schools and the wizards are accorded positions of power as trusted instructors and engineers of the threads of reality.

The first part of the story of the death of the gods centers on the Dwarves, the oldest of the many races.

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So it’s been a little while…

Last Thursday my laptop fell off the counter at Starubucks and my LCD screen ruptured. Since then, a friend has gotten me a temporary monitor so that I can keep using my computer and my roommate has loaned me an ultraportable so I can keep working when sitting at Starbucks (my only continual source of internet access). So I need to raise some cash to get a replacement LCD monitor for my laptop (~$80 it looks like, plus shipping, handling, etc) and I need to get it installed (which I should be able to do myself).

Here is the next chapter, though, of Out of Thyme. Again, this has no editing done to it so a lot of it is more conceptual than anything and is far from polished. I hope you enjoy it, though, and I hope you tell your friends and fellow readers about it.

Now to work on another post for today, to make up for the post I’m still missing for Monday. This time, I think, I’ll try to revisit Royan.

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An Introduction to the Blackfang, Hunter Zaubershwert’s Temple-Ship

Ah, another post! Today is Notes From the Abyss Part II, chapter 3!

Feeling really good today, might have some leads for the Workshop too (which will affect my writing should that work out, but I’ll do my best to keep up with this no matter what happens!).

Just a few things to ask of youz guiz.

First! Please share my blog with someone soon. My readership fell last month and this makes me a sad panda.

Second! Please comment on something you like! I adore hearing from you, my readers, and what you like influences what I write.

Third! If you can spare a dime, please donate with through the button on the right here. Right now I’m trying to put together the money to get cover images for my short story collections and for the first entry in Notes From the Abyss. Then they’ll need test reading and formatting then they’ll be available on the cheap through the Amazon Kindle market and as ePubs through Barnes and Noble.

Fourth! Like my page on Facebook! Again, button’s on the right.

Fifth! If you want to chat, find me on Google! I’m Daniel A. Samuelson and my face is clockwork.

Now, onto the story!

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A continuation of Out of Thyme – Today, an Agent is Equipped!

This is mostly just a gearing up chapter, introducing you to what will, I think, be Donovan’s standard load out in the stories I write about him. The science I’m using in this universe is very loose and is predicated on the unique metal Victorinium which has unique properties based on harmonics that affects the state of various other materials. My only reason for doing so is that the laws of physics are a little different in this alternate universe. Also, Victorinium has a purple sheen to it. This is an artistic decision.

Anyway, the primary differences are that Victorinium can “remember” shapes when attached to certain harmonic frequencies in the right conditions and when it is vibrated it can do a few interesting things to other materials; it can boil water, it can change the color and shape of certain crystaline matrices (such as causing Mercury to persist in its liquid state but develop random angles instead of being perfectly smooth as it tries to harden, or turning iron a deep blue color and making it cold due to how photons interact with the harmonized steel). It is my Applied Phlebotinum. Or Unobtainium. Depending on your trope preference.

Anyway. Here’s Chapter Three of Out of Thyme!

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