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STANDING IN THE WAY OF CONTROL 003: The Hyperkin Duke or Were Webcomics Right? Are They Ever?

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This is part of an ongoing series that I've been publishing on my substack, but I'm putting them out here on blogger as well.     In the fall of 2001, the world changed forever. And the original Microsoft Xbox was released shortly afterwards. Yes, the people who made predatory spreedsheet software were getting into the home console market, something frightening and new for any company. They had to prove they knew what they were doing: show they were bold and different, but competent and forward-thinking. You need to make a statement with the way your users interact with your DirectXBox: the controller. There’s was the standard, reliable DualShock 2; the wild, yet ergonomic gamecube controller, and for Microsoft, they bet it all on what would alter be known as “the Duke.” In America, anyway, in Japan they started with the controller S, which is the sole reason the console has never caught on in the region (just because I’m making it up doesn’t mean I’m not right). While it didn...

Fortunes, good and bad.

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Update 6/2/25: Unemployed. Again.

 So… I got a job at the post office as a letter carrier. It’s hard to say I was exactly looking forward to it, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite the disaster it turned out to be. I feel like I have to say this now: I have nothing but respect for the post office and I think they need way more funding than they have. The United States Postal Service is the secret backbone of society and they don’t get the respect they deserve. Okay, so let’s talk about allergies. Mine are intense. I take two zyrtec (generic) and one allegra (also generic) every day and that keeps from breaking out in hives. But it turns out driving an aluminum box at 60 mph with the window open is a great way to introduce allergens directly into your face. By the end of the first day on the road my eyes were watering. And they didn’t stop for four more days. It was to the point that I think every other carrier I encountered just assumed that I was in the middle of a nervous breakdown because I looked ...

4/21/25 Update: What's Going on and What's Next

Hey, so it’s been a minute or two, and I want to keep people updated about what’s happening, especially on patreon. I don’t know how much anyone is paying here, but I would feel shitty about ghosting all two of you. In regards to tthhee oddiissee , I’ve sent out a couple of query letters, but it’s going to take at least another two weeks before I hear anything. I opted to try and find a literary agent, as someone who’s entire job is selling a novels to publishers would probably have a better way to pitch my book than I would . I’m not sure any SF houses are keen on someone quoting Sean McTiernan saying “Science fiction is my enemy and I will kill it. I’m not, like, an expert on the publishing industry, but just perusing the more popular books, I don’t see anything that’s like what I’ve written, even when it comes through boutique publishers . Who knows, maybe it’ll stay online only forever. Which is fine, this wasn’t meant to be a commercial product, but a personal one. If I can ...

Revision 3, not just a defunct website anymore!

I have finished all the revisions I can to tthhee oddiissee . It is entirely free of grammatical mistakes (no promises) and is the best version of the story. It's to the point that I want to refer to the free version as an "open beta" but that sounds stupid in a way. Anyway, I've made it available to patrons and will upload it for purchase separately at some point here and on itch. This has been the most intensive re-write, I got through each chapter 3 different times including a marathon session last night where I read and edited the whole thing at once at a magnification so the text would fill my entire laptop screen. This might not be healthy, but I still caught some mistakes, so whatever, it works. I'm still gonna send this to publishers, but I think you all deserve to read it if you want, so that's what I'm doing. I'm tempering my expectations, I'm not expecting a book that features as much gay sex to sell a billion copies or whatever, but I t...

Notes on Revision 2

Heya, it's been a while. I wish I could tell you that I was working diligently on the second revision of tthhee oddiissee , but in reality I came down with a cold/flu/covid/hauntavirus and spent the week laying on an uncomfortable couch watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force  because I couldn't concentrate on anything else.   Revision 2 itself has very few major changes. It's mostly wording, sentence structure, and even more grammatical mistakes. I thought I got 'em all, and buddy, I did not. Writing a novel is fucking hard, dawg. Anyway, I finished it up and it's available now on Patreon for patrons only. It's still a PDF, it's still double spaced, and still very, very long. If you want to read it you can, but there's still another revision to come. The first thing I'm going to do is just read what I have. That's it, maybe write some notes. Then comes the absolute last  revision. Unless it gets picked up by a publisher and then all make all the fucken ...

Notes on Revision 1

It’s been about a week and I’ve completed the first revision of tthhee oddiissee . Why didn’t anyone tell me how many glaring mistakes there were in this thing? Jesus Christ, speak up. Anyway, I should get into the actual content of the Revision itself. This first revision is mostly about fixing some of the things I saw as major problems. I’ve gone over it before, but there’s a good amount of stuff that bothered me, especially in the early chapters. When I first started this, I wrote it, did a quick once over and sent it out. By the end I was much more careful and there was much less text to change. At least so far. The second revision may prove differently. That brings me to my next point. THIS IS NOT THE FINAL DRAFT . It’s much better than it was, but I would like to go over it two more times before I’m comfortable sending it out. I’m uploading a PDF to the Patreon of the first revision. Here’s what I’ll tell you so you can be prepared. I’ve formatted the PDF to be closer to a ma...