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Publication: The Greek Boy
The Greek Boy was published in Bosie Magazine in 2018. It chronicles the last years of Lord Byron’s life, and his love for his pageboy. While many find Byron repellant, I find him fascinating. To say he was a complex man would be an understatement. He is so much more than just a misogynist, philanderer,…
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Project Outbreak
A few months ago my friend mentioned that a local theater was looking for ten minute audio plays. It was called Project Outbreak, and the idea was to raise money for performing artists and the like who had lost their jobs (ie, waiting tables and theater) due to the COVID-19 shut-down. I decided to give…
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Power and Control
Facebook spits out old posts — “memories” — and sometimes it yields something fascinating or insightful. This morning, I had an old post presented to me, one which is still timely:
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The Texture of Tense
I’ve been working with the present tense a lot lately. I went browsing to see what other authors said about the use of present tense, and I found a lot of writers who were “down” on present tense, saying it was limited in scope, or that it was too alienating for readers, or too self…
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Visiting the Precipice
I just got back from a play in which a mother kills her child and then kills herself. I found the conclusion satisfying. It made sense for the character’s arc. But most of all I found the “perversion” of such acts deeply satisfying. I enjoy the “fucked up shit”. There is a reason I surgically…
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It’s Just the Hours He’s Been Keepin’
It’s hard to pen criticism of a TV series which has had only one episode. Yet that is precisely what I will be doing with Prodigal Son. On the surface it seems like a novel idea: a TV series about the son of a serial killer, who is a gifted yet haunted profiler. The problems are…
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Recipe for a Work of Art
I was going through my old journals and I found this. It was written in June of 2001, by a then seventeen year old me. I took the liberty of editing some of it simply because it was a bit bloated. A Recipe for a Work of Art Ingredients: First and last parts inspiration Enumerable…
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In Want of a Husband?
I just finished watching Becoming Jane, and while I was glad to have done so, I found parts of the story hollow. In some parts they teased us with a Pride and Prejudice Darcy/Bennett like budding romance between Jane Austen (Anne Hatheway) and the dashing Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy). When the characters finally surrender to their affections, the…
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Ssssh (Very Top Secret)
Four years ago, I started and then shelved a manuscript about a folk hero. The primary action of the story was set during the Regency, an era I adore. At the time it was too daunting for me to take on, which is why I put it away. But now I am a stronger, better…
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Interview with A. K. Lee
Recently my friend A. K. Lee, who is a wonderful fantasy novelist, interviewed me. It was quite a thoughtful interview, and you can read it here: Write as You Are.
J. S. Kuiken
wordsmith
J. S. Kuiken 