The Story of a Writer

If totalitarian takeovers, climate disaster and mass migration is indeed the future of human – not just American – civilization, I am reminded of another favorite poem: I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold…

Even if Harris/Walz wins, I have begun to reckon with the idea that my country as I’ve known her is dying, if not dead already. That America cannot overcome its original sin. That the center cannot hold. READ: Parts I, II, III & IV There’s a saying people like to whip out because it makes them sound smart. “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men,…

With Trump/Vance now at the head of the venomous snake that is the white supremacist project, who is in opposition? I wish it could say it is the Democratic Party but to believe that the American system is founded on the basic inequalities outlined previously necessitates a different conversation than left vs. right. Today, the defenders of the American experiment – a multi-racial democracy…

Let’s unravel this racist/property bullshit, starting with the word “Aryan.” READ Part I and Part II. Now associated solely with the white supremacist project (i.e. the Aryan Brotherhood), the Proto-Indo-Iranian word was at its root an ethnic self-designation used by various peoples in Iran and India thousands of years ago, when humanity spread through Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley…

“Property” is not a naturally-occurring phenomenon. Some human had to invent the notion. More importantly, others had to agree to it. Countless other civilizations got along fine with entirely different relationships to the material world . It is not an inevitable feature of reality but a construct, same as all human ideas, in this case a binary frame: “mine and thine.” Which brings us to Roman…

Some 250 years since it began, the American experiment lives or dies in the next two weeks. This is not hyperbole. Much like satire, hyperbole is dead in a ditch on the side on the road. One of the most insidious part of the last 10-15 years has been to watch humor and comedy be hijacked as vehicles for malevolent thought and action. Look at how many writers, comedians, and influencers have…

That rattling at the door is not in your head, it’s the sound of Sam Flynn’s Cabinet of Curiosities, my new quarterly newsletter with all the book news, publishing insights, writing tips, and mini-reviews you could want. It will go out the first Friday of every third month, starting this week June 7 followed by the second issue on September 6 to hype up the impending publication of my debut…

Christmas came early this year. After a year in the query trenches, my grimdark cosmic horror fantasy The Mystery of the Pale King has found a home at Timber Ghost Press, to be released fall 2024! More details here.

Christmas came early this year. After a year in the query trenches, my grimdark cosmic horror fantasy The Mystery of the Pale King has found a home at Timber Ghost Press, to be released fall 2024! Thank you Cody Langille for believing in my story (and the sick description I linked to above). I’m still processing the fact that I am, by decree of Stephen King, “talented” and can actually claim the…

Emerging from my writing cave to take an info dump all over the Slog. Be like Ellie Sattler with dino doo and dig into the answers within.

2022 may have a few gasps of breath left before the year shuffles loose this mortal coil, but personally I’m already looking ahead to 2023, more for personal reasons than anything. Before I dive in, a shout-out to the awesome Allison K Williams, a multi-hyphenate in the world of writing and publishing whose Seven Drafts method helped me beyond measure, both before and after it was a book of its…

2022 is off to a great start writing wise, thanks to @futurescapes. I've learned a ton already with so much more to come.

Ah, 2022 (aka 2020, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone), the year of low expectations. Humility does wonders for enjoyment of the little things, the overlooked details that keep us going, the common treasures often left unexamined and the world over is nothing if not humbled by the seemingly-endless pandemic years. The benefit of low expectations? You can exceed them without realizing it. For…

I sat down to work on my novel a few days ago, so naturally a few days later I have thousands of words for you about how The Matrix sequels are awesome and underappreciated.

Why is choice the single most important part of stories? Because choice reveals character. Static characters make the same choices and react the same way. That’s fine if you’re a procedural network show or sitcom (think Law & Order or Seinfeld, where the maxim of “no hugging, no learning” was enforced all the way until Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer ended up in prison). Everything else requires…

A Year in the Editing Weeds and Other News

You know, it’s amazing. I can write literally hundreds of thousands of words but the moment I sit down for a blog post, I’m on Twitter, or YouTube, or Netflix, or staring off into space, drooling like some deranged mental patient (apologies to all my mental patient readers, checking in from your asylums. Get better, I believe in you). Writing this will take substantially less time than the 3+…

Sometimes, you look back with a wince and say "Yeah, I could have handled that better." This is one of those times.

What began as a simple Slog update has unsurprisingly morphed into another long-winded reflection. I’m (overly) introspective by nature. I reflect (too) often. Before I can fully move forward (clears throat) in LOST parlance . . . https://i.gifer.com/89It.mp4 Reason being, I am addressing some writings floating on the Internet where I pretty much show my full ass. There is no better example of…

I guess this is what they call confidence and motivation. To that end, I have three projects lined up to follow on the heels of completion of THE DARKEST FATE (for which editing is ongoing).

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In summer 2017, I was lost. Depressed and self-pitying. What was I good at? Was there anything I could do to find out? I searched within for repressed instinct, memories of how to alleviate my ennui. Then I picked up the novel I wrote in high school and thought, "Here's something . . ." In November 2018, I completed the first chapter. Now, on…

"Here at last is proof I have not been sitting on my ass while remaining Slog silent. OK yes, I did in fact sit on my ass to write all those words (and am presently sitting on my ass, writing this post. Christ, life is circular) but that's not the point.

On the last episode of Sam Writes a Novel, our hero sat atop a pile of words – almost 190,000 – at the halfway mark of 2019. For context, he entered the year with around 120,000 words written, a compilation of outlines, notes, and scattered scenes. The first half of 2019 brought 1/3 of the hero’s novel to completion.

At the dawn of 2020, he’s more than halfway.

It only ends once.…

This was supposed to be a short piece on some useful advice I employ when working on my fantasy novel. Turns out, I have a lot to say on the subject of fantasy, writing, and writing fantasy. Go figure.

“For darkness restores what the light cannot repair.” – Joseph Brodksy, “On Love”

I grew up on epic fantasy, superheroes, and blockbusters. Loved them as a kid, spoke up for them when they were derided, even used the “turn your brain off” excuse from time to time. Years weathered my innocence on this count and I was honestly confused. What changed? Why did some books, movies, and shows stick…

What's going on at the Slog now that Game of Thrones is over? Here's your answer:

2019 has been a busy year for me, inasmuch as “busy” applies to a person who sits in one place to do his work and aspires to such an existence pretty much indefinitely.

The sheer fact that I am Slogging at all is an achievement, a startling contrast to my precisely (checks archives) zero posts from August 2017 to December 2018. I covered much of that journey already when I returned here.