Who Am I?

Hi - my name is Thomas (he/they) - gender is a social construct and all that. Yeah, so I'm a writer and I put my stuff up here and on my Substack. In truth, I've tried to get published, but haven't been totally successful with anything. That pushed me carve my only little corner of the internet to house my stuff. Over the years, I kept getting discouraged because project after project kept being tripping over itself. I had these high ambitions of writing entire series, interconnected worlds, and opuses. In every case, either my talent wasn't there or the scope of the project cannibalized itself. That's why recently I've been experimenting with stories that have defined scope. Yeah, it turns out when you adjust your expectations to be manageable, you get more done AND you resent your work less. What a concept!

But I digress, the above story is an echo of many people's failure. What about me? What makes me tick? What shape are my gears? What inspires me? Well, inscrutable void, I have some of those answers.

Instead of just telling you the broad genres I write in (with which even I struggle to articulate), I decided to split this up via the concepts and to give you some of my inspirations from that aesthetic/genre/idea to give you an idea of the pool I draw from. This page also doubles as a recommendation page for me to gush about my favorite stuff, so away we go!

Speculative Fiction aka Fantasy/Sci-Fi

The genres that I gravitate towards the most is the annoying divorced couple who can't seem to leave the same house: Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I describe them like this because, though we try to seperate them, ultimately they are bound by the hip. They are stories that explore other worlds of being in body, soul, and phenemon. Both of them do it in divergent fashions. Fantasy, in general, looks to the past, plucking trinkets from culture and history and molding into a unique setting. Sci Fi, again - in general, looks to the future, asking us questions on how the present can unravel into beautiful, terrifying, and/or tragic paths. What draws me to Speculative Fiction is the very question of "What if...?" or "If we add this..?" and seeing where the solution flies. With how broad this section is, I'm going to need to do some heavy lifting in with these examples - so here I go!

The Book of the New Sun by: Gene Wolf

This is the first tetrology of books that I read in the space of six months. No other SpecFic work has done that for me. Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series may have reignited my love for long-term genre fiction, but Gene Wolf's seminal work confirmed to me what can be done with this form of literature. Convoluted. Dense, windy prose. All narrated by a mentally unstable and ego-driven torturer. It blurs Fantasy aesthetics within a future eath Sci-Fi setting in a way I haven't seen replicated since. For me, good writing (and art in general) is something that you can dip back into a find something new each time. The Book of the New Sun takes that philosophy and breathes it with every gasp between swings of Termina Est . As with everything I bring up on this page, high recommend!

Hunter: The Parenting by: Ogre Poppenang

wait...this isn't a book?

Who the actual hell said I only read books?! Huh?!

I struggle to explain what Hunter: The Parenting even is. It's a fan fiction web series based on the World of Darkness (think Vampire: the Masquerade) which uses limited animation to tell it's story. Its media doesn't to justice to its message. This holds some of the sharpest character writing and greatest grasp on how to structure a long-term story I've seen in a long time. Big D and his ecletic family come up against chthonic 99p stores, a roving band of vampire fascists, and the horrors of colonization in the Phillipines. Yet, it always grounds itself with the dynamics of the cast and what they want. No matter how gonzo the Situation-of-the-Week is, I never feel the writers ever lose track of where they're going. My only greivance is with how methodical the dropping of new episodes can be. Alas, animation takes time, so I always wait with tempered patience. Bonus recommendation: this team also created an actualplay series called Norfolk Wizard Game using the Mage: the Ascension ruleset. Even improvising, these people can tell a wicked story!

Perdido Street Station by: China Miéville

A dense city sprawling with bug-headed women, malformed wretches warped to suit the whims of Hammurabi-style laws, and mind-leeching moths. Miéville's work is always inventive. City and the City is another such creation of his that I adore, but I chose Perdido specifically because I love the multi-layered heft that this book wields. Is it sometimes excessive? Argueably. But you argue against a dog fight in the sky between parasite duos and mind-leeching moths. You will find your jaw clasped shut. Bas-Lag is a such a fantastic setting and the ensemble of strange characters that populate it. If New Sun is a testement to technical craftsmenship of prose interlocking with worldbuilding, Perdido is this indulgent, wild labyrinths that teems with crazy ideas.

The Sparrow by: Mary Doria Russell

I've shown the fantasy side of my muses, but I think a good ol' Sci-Fi pick is in order as well. The Sparrow is the kind of Science Fiction I really vibe with. At the center of the story is a question of how faith has to contend with not just new advances in technology, but also the grim reality of the universe. It doesn't help that this book spefically wrestles with Catholicism - a constant force in my life (dude my pseudonym is literally my First Name + My Confirmation Name). Additionally, it takes the trope of "First Contact" and really digs into the problems of incompatiable biology and cultural differences. Though bleak, the book has a beating humanist heart that I really value in my fiction. Check the content warnings, see if it's for you, and decide if you want to read. It is worth it.

Mystery

Speculative fiction may be the genre palette I paint with most, but my interests lie elsewhere as well. Mysteries, I think, provide the reader/listener/player with a demand: "You have to engage with the details of the story." Stories that can be experienced a single time with no need to reflect or reconsider are weaker forms of art for me. A mystery provides with clues and motivations and invite you slip into the world as an invisible character. A central mystery (who killed the butler, what is source of all these anomalies around town, what is the grisly face behind the porcelain mask of the regime) is probably the closest to interactivity a book or show can get without providing a controller for their audience. For me, whether your story is a Mystery or holds a mystery in its plot, you need to be willing to think more like a game designer. The best mysteries understand that this experience is the core appeal of this genre and plot device. Speaking of which...

Columbo

Whodunnits are great. Love em'. But almost every mystery you find is based on that central conceit: who among these weirdos actually produced the corpse we're now looking at. Howcatchems like Columbo show you the crime and you watch as the detective unravels the clues. The show does a fantastic job of taking that simple twist of the formula and wringing out the satisfying consequences of that shift. Since you, the eye-thristy audience, knows who the killer is - you get a dynamic between the titular Columbo and them more akin to spectating a poker match than anything else. The intrigue come from the bluffing and psychological pushing of the characters. It also helps that Peter Falks' Columbo is such a simply phenemonal character in his own right. I love this show not only for these aspects, but also what it teaches writers. That being: don't just change a familiar formula. Figure out the consequences such a change would bring. Reap the benefits.

The Name of the Rose by: Umberto Eco

*Under Construction*

Disco Elysium by: Za/Um

*Under Construction*

Western

Golden Kamuy by: Satoru Noda

*Under Construction*

Tom's Crossing by: Mark Z. Danielewski

*Under Construction*

Blood Meridian by: Cormac McCarthy

*Under Construction*

Spooky

Mothership by: Tuesday Knight Games

*Under Construction*

Fear and Hunger: Termina by: Happy Paintings

*Under Construction*

Vampire Fiction by: Various

*Under Construction -> Fevre Dream, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, and The Vampire Tapestry*

Dungeons?

Darkest Dungeon by: Red Hook Studios

*Under Construction*

Lunacid by: Akuma Kira

*Under Construction*

Dungeon Synth Yes, the whole genre of music - dude.

*Under Construction*