The Power of Silence

If we treated the outputs of our minds with the same thought and deliberation as the inputs of our bodies, the world would be a far quieter pla...

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And How Was Your Day?

Today I woke up and forgot how to smile, And lost my right arm to my pet crocodile. My left I retained with a honk and a frown, Not from me, though, you see, but my friend, sad-faced clown. His mood, oh so bleak, strikes a chord with my own, A guise bright and bold on a corpse of bleached bone. Though he saved me from breaking the fast of Sir Croc, We both know 'twas fruitless; Death ticks on my clock. ...

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To emulate, or not to emulate: that is the question.

As developments in artificial intelligence advance, and we step closer to an age where interaction with automatons will be a mundane facet of daily life, the question arises: do we really want robots that are indistinguishable from people? Certainly, staring at a stocky metal frame coiled with hydraulic tubes and copper wires might not be the most aesthetically pleasing of pastimes, but the immediate existential indicator serves a purpose. If you know you're conversing with a robot, a machine designed to follow an unbreakable set of rules and...

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For those in trouble:

In times of conflict, a good book offers greater refuge than any iron fortress or fallout shelt...

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Conundrum

If a watched clock never ticks, who's to say stopped clocks aren't simply haunted by the spirits of weary office workers desperately awaiting the freedom of five ...

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Roses are claret...

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but handing out bouquets of blood-buds just isn't going to make you as many friends.  ...

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Fact, or Fiction?

A confidently constructed fiction is indistinguishable from fact. --- The truth is simply the story that has thus far succeeded in fighting off its contenders. --- Life is a first draft with no room for revisi...

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How do you think?

Someone once asked me: 'What on Earth were you thinking?' To which I replied truthfully: 'Why nothing, my good sir. My brain was taking a stroll on the moon at the time, while my body was busy balancing orbits.' When my fellow conversant inquired as to the stability of my mind, I assured him: 'My head is as hale as a hare and my hair is as hard as a hat. My noggin's as nimble as noodles, my cranium lithe as a cat.' I fear my friend failed to find the facetiousness in my frenzy. Perhaps it was folly of me to fly so free with my frankness....

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Zoom! A new review for Guerrilla Internet is in!

Tet over at Number the Stars has put together a great little review of Guerrilla Internet. Zoom on over here and give it a re...

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The Snake's Curse

Every time I die, I realise it was just a dream, And this curse that we call life persists in tearing at my seams, Bereft of beauty, shorn of lustre, Eden rots with my decay, And pretty soon these walls will crumble; we live to die another d...

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Well Worth Reading: Musings on WWI

My good friend James has posted some astute and eloquent observations on the travesty of WWI here on his blog. James summarises convincingly the utter pointlessness of the Great War, and the many negative consequences that sprouted from its devastating ruins. Willful ignorance is far too pervasive these days; do yourself a favour and remember, lest we forg...

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OnlineBookClub swings in with a great review for Isis!

Head over to OnlineBookClub to read a great little review of my latest story, Isis. 3/4 stars, and it's free. Honestly, what's stopping you from giving it a go? (You can grab Isis itself here. Go on. Do i...

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Sick of losing money to the confusion of international IRS tax treaties?

Well, for all you non-US resident authors out there who have undoubtedly come sword-to-sword with the warriors of IRS tax forms and Moebius bureaucracy, a wonderful fellow writer friend of mine, Sandra Fitzgerald, has posted a bit of helpful advice to get you sorted, returning to you the sizable percentages that get stolen away from us international storytellers online. Give it a read if you want to plug the cracks of leaking profits. Check out the post on her blog he...

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A grand review of Guerrilla Internet over at FictionZeal!

Diane Coto over at FictionZeal has posted a lovely review of Guerrilla Internet over at her blog. Check it out he...

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What is creation? What is life?

A book can take a year to write, yet be read in mere days. An artistic masterpiece can take similarly long, yet be consumed in seconds, absorbed in minutes, interpreted in hours. Human beings are conceived in seconds, fermented in months, raised for years, yet live for decades. Most are capable of reproduction, and engage in the act often and eagerly. Creators, though, are few and far between, and their artistic children rare and frequently short-lived. What does this say of the value of human life? Is progeny something to be proud of, or merely...

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Cover reveal for Alterra, a novel by Zachary Bonelli

I am proud to reveal the cover art for Zachary Bonelli's latest book, Alterra. Young people on Alterra must choose. After they complete secondary school, they enroll either in University—a life of science and mathematical pursuits—or Monastery—a life of literature, history and spiritual depth. Initiate Le is in his final year of school. All his life, he has prepared himself for University, but something feels wrong. Neither University nor Monastery...

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An Epitaph for Humanity

They didn't understand what they were doing.I'm afraid that will be on the tombstone of the human race.- Michael Crichton, PreyI could not have put it better myself. His own memorial deserves a message of He may not have known what he was doing, but he did it better than mo...

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Find out more about me!

Over at FreeEbooksDaily, they're holding an author spotlight on me, revealing some fun facts and curios regarding me and my writing process. Go have a re...

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Licorice Quips

Ninja thought-bombs ahoy: Ignore my ignorance; it's merely my kind's chief export. Thy is lacking in wit, Of that, I adm...

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There IS such thing as a free launch!

And we have launch! Isis is now available on Amazon, with other retailers coming very soon. Amazon has a peculiar policy with not allowing books priced free (they only drop them as price-matches), so if the 99cent price-tag is too much to afford, you can pick up a free copy over at Smashwords. At that price, how can you say n...

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Cover Reveal!

The cover for my soon-to-be-released short story, Isis, is here for your hungry eyeballs to consume!  A hug-warm bed every night. A freshly-brewed coffee every dawn. That's the promise being touted by revolutionary tech giant iSYS and their new smart-home system. For Grayl, a self-confessed couch-potato, the chance to be a part of history in the making for the first time in his life was just too enticing to pass up. Promises,...

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What is Time?

For those who see time not as a linear sequence of events, but rather a topographical tapestry of interwoven experiences, every birth is death, every crypt a womb, every moment a mere fleck of paint on a canvas soaked in scarlet. What will our ascendants remember us for? Not our art, not our ingenuity, but our predilection for the pugilation of war. We kill ourselves every day in a futile effort to forget the inevitability of our demise. Were we one, would we still be mort...

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Always On, Always Watching...

My new short story, entitled Isis, is set to be released very soon. A tale of the perils inherent in over-trusting technology, it impels you to question just how far we can go before computers truly do rule our lives.  Read on for the blurb: A hug-warm bed every night. A freshly-brewed coffee every dawn. That's the promise being touted by revolutionary tech giant iSYS and their new smart-home system. For Grayl, a self-confessed couch-potato, the chance to be a part of history in the making for the first time in his life...

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An incredible review of Guerrilla Internet over at Portable Pieces of Thoughts

Bridget from Portable Pieces of Thoughts has written an absolutely wonderful review of Guerrilla Internet on her blog. Check it out he...

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The Only Thing That Keeps Me Breathing

These words like flakes of glittering gold embroidered into snow-white silk. There is no jewel, no star, no light, that outshines my loquacious ilk. Words: my friends, my swords, my shield. With them at hand, I shall never yie...

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OnlineBookClub reviews Guerrilla Internet!

Check out a marvelous review of Guerrilla Internet from OnlineBookClub.org her...

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Aliens

Aliens watch. They see us talk with war and celebrate with poison, Fashioning our only home into a mausoleum. Aliens pause. They see us praise cowards and conmen, While our greatest minds wither unlauded. Aliens lea...

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Space! Stories!

I've got a new short story up on Scriggler, a site for sharing stories with an emphasis on community commenting, and I would love for you to take a few minutes to check it out. Won't take you ten minutes, and I'm certain you won't feel them wasted! Blurb: Sebastian Graves long ago abandoned his one dream, his one fervent ambition, for the security of a mundane job and the normalcy of adult life. But when he's offered a chance to trade-in his safe and stolid existence for another shot at the impossible, how could he possibly say no? Read it h...

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Brain Worms

Ideas are like brain worms that won't leave until you lay down a bed of lush word foliage for them to feast up...

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P-P-P-P-Price Drop!

Guerrilla Internet is on sale for 99 cents! That's chump change; a third the cost of a decent coffee. So skip the barista-stirred brew this morning and dive instead into a world of controversial conspiracies and nebulous motivations. For 99 cents, how can you say no? :)  - M...

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Inside The Slaughterhouse (AKA A Peek Inside My Mushy Headspace)

Everyone loves a sneak peek, right? A glimpse behind the curtain, a snatch-glance over the fence, a gander in the dressing room? Hmm, maybe that last one's a little much... But steering back on point, here follows a steaming pile of surgically-extracted goodness (subject to opinion) from my brain directly to yours. Enjoy! The mahogany-panelled boardroom smelled of whisky and corruption. Even the air tasted rich with the iron tang of blood and money--though which held sway, Abbey couldn't tell. What was as clear as the lingering musk...

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The Dirty Truth of Writing

A writer's veins pulse with percolated coffee. Without it we falter, fall, and fail. Caffeine is the drug of the go...

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The Storyteller

Our lives are stories; our stories are our lives. If you wish a taste of immortality, look to the storyteller and write. Only narratives defy the entropy of a...

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Review of Insomnium

At one time or another, we are all dissatisfied with our lot in life. No money, few friends, poor past decisions coming back to haunt us. We dream of escape, of fleeing to a place where no one knows who we are, where our old lives can be forgotten, a place like Nowhere. Nel, a civil engineer working in a Seattle suffering apocalyptic-level climate change and war-time rationing, is about to realise this fantasy. An impossible place existing outside of time, where the problems of his old life are but echoes of a distant dream... Too bad Nowhere's...

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Review of Isaac the Fortunate #2 The Spring

Spring has sprung and change has come, but the shadows of Winter linger still in the mind of Eostre. Young and fallow, she has much to learn before fate brings her and Isaac together as husband and wife. Her world dances between two corporeal states: in one, death abounds at the hands of the Delirium plague; in the other, life blooms by virtue of a mysterious farmer and his miracle cure. But which world is truth? Light or dark, sun or shadow? A young boy built of golden light, or an old woman cloaked with obsidian ravens; who is Eostre to...

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A wonderful review of Guerrilla Internet from D A Bale

D A Bale reviews Guerrilla Internet: Delve into the Code Realm with "Guerrilla Intern...

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Review of The Winter (Isaac the Fortunate #1)

Beltran the farmer, the only one left breathing in a town, a country, a world ravaged by the Delirium plague. Winter waxes, and he awaits the end with an empty bottle and a hangman's noose. Some hero. He cares not even for himself; what chance has he to save an entire peoples?  Count not the odds. The Chaste One will prevail.   Save the world. Save your friends. Save your wife. The Traveller and her Golden Bridle, a means to correct the past, to rescue himself and millions more. But how much control does he really have? Can he truly...

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Guerrilla Internet available on iBooks

For all you Apple geeks out there, my book, Guerrilla Internet, is now available on the iTunes store: https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/guerrilla-internet/id819641142?mt=11 And now for a passage to whet your appetite...A damp wind whipped down the gloomy street and stung Charlie’s bare cheek. The midday sky wore a thick grey overcoat, stripping the world below of its vibrancy so all appeared bleak and forlorn. The air hinted at rain, sporadic flecks of moisture tickling naked skin just often enough to raise alarm.Charlie brushed an errant drop...

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Guerrilla Internet lives!

Get it here! 'How careful are you with what you say in a phone call? In a text message? Are you strict enough to never reveal personal information in an email, or on Facebook? Most people aren't.' Charlie, a soon-to-be unemployed software tester struggling through remission from depression and anxiety, is about to discover just how lethal a weapon information can be in the wrong hands. When one of his colleagues is murdered for the sake of stealing his company's innocuous in-development phone app, his life is upended and shaken like one...

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Review of Insomnium #11 Failed Vision

Every ward, every governor, every citizen of Nowhere must join forces if Drogl is to be defeated. Can Nel, Rev, and Gin convince their former enemies to unite under the banner of sovereign survival? Failed Vision takes an informative stroll down memory lane, exposing the consequences of Nel and co's previous adventures. The pressure builds to the rollicking conclusion, itself an explosive setup for the finale to the Insomnium saga. Price: $0.97 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #10 Projections from the Abyss

Led by the ghost of injustice past, Nel must face the woes of his friends and foe in order to galvanise his own future. The abyss is black with pain and corruption; will he survive its tainted touch? The hardships exposed in Projections from the Abyss are both crushing and haunting, for they cast light on many of the shadows that darken our imperfect world. Relatable and reflective, this tale offers an unadulterated snapshot of the sins of our society. Read it. Now. Price: $1.00 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #9 Piercing the Mundane

'Truth exists independently of any one person'? Great, the Skeptic is completely delusional. Nel and co are going to have to work a miracle if they want to find the Architect, and make it out of this intact... Exceptionally paced and abundant with artifice, Piercing the Mundane teases even more of the greater game at play outside of Nowhere while testing both the characters and the reader with challenges of intellect. Thrilling to the end. Price: $0.99 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #8 The Dreamer

Is Nowhere just the product of someone's unconsciousness? Could Nel, Rev, and Gin be nothing but figments of a dream? Could knowing the truth really jeopardise Nowhere's non-existence? Solipsism: thy name is Nowhere. The stakes are high and the tension taught in this luminous adventure. The Dreamer elevates the conflict at the heart of Insomnium to precipitous heights: is a happy ending even possible now? Must read on to find out...  Price: $0.98 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #7 Long Live the Queen

Regret is a burden only the self can excise. Gin has been told time and time again that her sister's death wasn't her fault, but until she truly believes that, her future will hold naught but vacuous penance. And if the Monarch has her way, Gin might not even have that... Gin's tale of remorse is sincere and affecting, touching on topics of grief, blame, and love with such honesty that it is nigh impossible not to feel her pain. Long Live the Queen is simply the most relatable chapter in the Insomnium series yet. Price: $0.99 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #6 Ego Altered

It's time for Nel, Rev, and Gin to confront the conflict that drove them to Nowhere in the first place. To acknowledge and own their past actions and inactions. To move on to a brighter future. Or should that be 'brighter always'? The passage of time in Nowhere is always so confusing... Spelunking the various Seattles provides intriguing and salient commentary on many political and ethical quandaries we see today. That Ego Altered explores such potentialities without disrupting its gripping narrative pace is testament to Zachary's skill at...

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Review of Insomnium #5 Know Thyself

Ever have that feeling that you forgot something, and no matter how hard you try, you just can't recall it? Nel and Rev... Why does that sound incomplete? And how does Rev have a holographic computer when his Seattle had never invented holographic technology? Something is definitely amiss, and it's starting to literally eat away at Nel and Rev's very existence... You know it's a good story when you start verbally cheering for the protagonists. With a distinctly Matrix-esque vibe, Know Thyself earns such praise for its constantly compelling...

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Review of Insomnium #4 Sugar Over the Devil

What happened to the Voxls? Were they killed? Erased? Or did they escape? And why can no one remember them? The Usurper knows the answer, but he prefers to show rather than tell... Balancing a clever - and hilarious - homage to pop culture with the deepest glimpse yet into Nowhere's dark depths, Sugar under the Devil delivers smiles, scowls, and one heck of an unsettling ending. Price: $3.74 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #3 Trial by Water

Conundrum! How do you beat a legal system run by nigh omniscient jellyfish when you're charged with *feeling* too much? Answer: Find a beer-swigging alligator with a penchant for black eyes and boxing... Presenting legal proceedings in an engaging and intriguing light is no mean feat, but Trial by Water pulls it off effortlessly. Tension and tumult propel this underwater adventure towards another tantalising conclusion. Price: $3.74 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #2 Unnatural Desire

The Wanderer knows of an exit, they say. An exit from Nowhere. But beware! For he feeds on emotion, and his palace of depravity knows nothing of restraint... A blisteringly paced adventure through a den of debauchery, Unnatural Desire provokes and evokes with equal abandon, culminating with a realisation too oft-ignored: normal is what we make it. A beautifully bombastic read. Price: $3.63 Link: Amaz...

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Review of Insomnium #1 Asleep

Ever wished for a fresh start? A clean slate? A new world where the golden paths of all-possibility lay at your feet? Nowhere is not that place. Nel's hometown of Seattle might have been a post-decadent dog pile, but at least it didn't have talking fish, alligator guards, and slendermen sentinels around every corner. And what's this about a metaxia?   A riveting introduction to a realm of fantastical weirdness. Asleep builds fast and fluidly, with a parade of potentialities for future installments to expand upon. Intrigue awaits! Price:...

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