and wants to send friends a copy — Hi. It’s Roy. I hijacked my wife’s Medium account to say hi which I already did and also to let you know I shoved some of my old posts into a computer document and called it a book. It seemed like an easy thing to do, but this has been…

…an All-Powerful Corporation in time to Avert Eco-Armageddon? — EARTHRISE by Gus Gresham This article is posted in response to Sarah Lofgren’s generous offer to Medium writers who have written books. EARTHRISE is a speculative pre-dystopian novel set in a very near future. Steeped in dark fantasy, sci-fi and social drama, the novel examines — through a young adult perspective — the real-life…

I Wrote A Novel! —

And that’s not a good thing! — On June 20th, 2021, everything was in place and I was holding my breath while my young publisher uploaded the paperback version of my first book on Amazon.in. The paperback version is available only in India. I was just short of bursting with excitement. We started the process by 11…

Waking up to this reality is hard — “Love doesn’t die a natural death. Love has to be killed, either by neglect or narcissism.” — Frank Salvato It is an astonishing revelation when you first realise you have been duped by the ‘ love of your life.’ It is even more astonishing to realise you have been caught…

Noble Secrets From an Orthodox Buddhist ex-Monk (the guide series — part 1) This is the first in a series of articles. In today’s Psychedelic Renaissance, there’s no fully enlightening information. This series fills that void. Be completely prepared, and you’ll have the best adventure. Next article: How to Create…

It started as a simple meme. Let’s make it a movement. — Will you accept the Seven Day Anger Free Challenge? Imagine what it would be like to go seven days without getting angry. Imagine a week without storming at your family, snapping at a store clerk, or snarling at your co-workers. It’s not only possible, it’s life-changing — and has the…

Make the investment to put your best foot forward. — So much goes into a book I hadn’t taken into account before, but the cover must draw your readers in and feel compelled to open the book. After a little help from my friends on a title, I started thinking about what the cover should look like. The above. …

Two people — two complete strangers — begin to approach each other from two very different points of view. Through their secret e-mail exchange, the reader gets glimpses of an intensely emotional everyday drama in which the characters reveal parts of their innermost dreams and feelings. — Imagine that you start receiving messages in your inbox from an unknown person. The sender is a woman, and in the first message she writes that

A plug and a preview of my short story collection — Grief, guilt, paranoia, and shame fuel the terrors of SHADES OF RED: a collection of stories that range from the eerie to the horrific, the private to the global, the mundane to the apocalyptic. Here, horror comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and shades. I recently published a collection of…

The results of my experiment — Serializing my novel on Medium before publishing it was an experiment. Since I planned to self-publish my novel, I didn’t see any downside to serializing it first on Medium. And I discovered several upsides. The Strategy Some writers post parts of their novels (or WIPs) on Medium sporadically, with weeks or even…

A Hopeful Philosophy for a Disillusioned Age — In 2011 my wife and I found out we were having twin boys. I was excited to become a father, but there was one thing that troubled me. My relationship with my own parents had been strained by my rejection of their Catholic faith. Whenever I attempted to raise questions…

I dimly remember that moment. It was the first instance I was conscious of that inner alarm — which was to then occupy me, scare me and be a part of me for a long long time. Thoughts of incompetency and inability had entered into me and shocked me like…

LYSSA STRATA drops on May 1, 2021. It’s about a sex strike. Gasp! — I wrote the vast majority of my debut novel, LYSSA STRATA, in a fit of rage. Or a fit of crying. Or a fit of my butt dying because I could not stand up and let go of the internet shitstorm that was 2017. The deep, harrowing misogyny of 2016…

The Story of Ghost Law | Chapter I — The house was just as I remembered it. Weather-worn shutters. Tapioca-colored siding. A disgruntled roofer hanging onto the gutters, screaming for his life. Yes, everything seemed to be exactly where I’d left it­ — including the cold shiver running down my spine. It seemed not even two decades and countless…

Prologue: I Give You Fair Warning Chapter 1: The Faeries Chapter 2: The Bear Chapter 3: Randy Rabbit and the Discussion of Metaphysics Chapter 4: The Pigs Chapter 4: The Pigs (continued) Chapter 5: The Screaming of the Ants Chapter 6: The Dinner Conversation Chapter 7: Peggy Sigma Zedd Chapter 8: The Dwarf Chapter 9: Crossing the Lawn Chapter 10: The Ornithologist Chapter 11: Questions Chapter 12: Badger’s Den

In my five year plan, the first step was to face my fears and publish something. I didn’t care what it was, but just putting something out there for the world to see. At the time, Kindle Vella did not exist. For those of you who don’t know, Kindle Vella…