In which the author speaks of childhood castles. Fortresses we shall raise... Let Us Speak of Building Blocks I built castles when I was younger. And so I dreamt of becoming an architect – for that was the profession that was allowed to “play with blocks” when you grow up. At first, I largely raised the same castle – over and over again – as I did not have a great variety of blocks to work with. And endless repetition to children is not the terrible burden that adults feel. Later on, when I...
almost 2 years ago • 4 min read
In which the author addresses a particular jumping fox. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," by Lauren Alane Design. Let us Speak of the Quick Brown Fox “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” There are four things that interest me about the preceding sentence. First, I like foxes jumping over dogs, and so am pleased by the substance of the sentence. Second, the sentence is a pangram, meaning it contains all the letters of the English alphabet. I am interested in that...
about 2 years ago • 4 min read
In which the author reflects on two impactful quotes from childhood films. "One shall stand. One shall fall." An Author’s Notebook Welcome, Dear Reader, to An Author’s Notebook, where I share various notes from my week in reading and writing. Today I take a cursory journey down the well of memory. Our subject arises out of two quotes from Hasbro movies: “One shall stand. One shall fall.” - Optimus Prime. “I was once a man.” - Cobra Commander. Both of these lines are the most poignant and...
about 2 years ago • 4 min read
In which the author shares musings on episodic stories and metanarrative. An Author’s Notebook "A shining beacon in space...all alone in the night." Welcome, Dear Reader, to An Author’s Notebook, where I share various notes from my week in reading and writing. This week some thinking out loud on some favorites in the realm of episodic storytelling. A Brief and Episodic History I think it was Babylon 5 where I first encountered a show that combined episodic storytelling with a governing...
about 2 years ago • 6 min read
In which the author shares reflections on the watery wilderness in Master and Commander. An Author’s Notebook Welcome, Dear Reader, to An Author’s Notebook, where I share notes from my week in reading and writing. Today, thinking in writing as I work on the Wilderness Essay. The Wilderness of the Waves “And though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home.” - Captain Jack Aubrey I recently rewatched the Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of...
about 2 years ago • 3 min read
In which the author shares various notes from his regular reading and writing. Notebooks of the Author conspiring An Author’s Notebook Welcome, Dear Reader, to this first edition of An Author’s Notebook. In the last letter, I experimented with the microblog format. This week I'm trying out a collection of curiosities using materials drawn from my notebooks. I hope you find them interesting. In the Wilderness I made a start (500+ words) on the Wilderness essay I’m working on. Along the way I...
about 2 years ago • 5 min read
In which the author shares a fragment of magic from the Forgotten Realms. A Glimpse into Magical and Forgotten Realms I’m still recovering from the the neck injury, Dear Reader, so I’ll just be sharing a fragment this week – let’s call it a bit of an experiment in microblogging. Now for something light. I have heard it said that in the Forgotten Realms you can find a demigod in every town. And while the jest is not entirely accurate of Ed Greenwood’s creation, it is illustrative of the feel...
about 2 years ago • 2 min read
In which the author waxes reflective about trains and writing and starting from stopped. Starting From A Dead Stop I don’t know much about trains. More specifically, I don’t know much about steam locomotives. There’s a train in Murder on the Orient Express and one in Back to the Future Part III and I’m sure there’s some western/cowboy heist movie where a train plays an important role – like say The Great Train Robbery (see the 1903 silent film or Crichton’s book into movie). And there’s...
about 2 years ago • 3 min read
An Injury Update Regarding the Recent Silence Dear Reader, The last you heard from me via the email was on July 8th when “How to Become The Author as Omnivore” went live on bryanerye.com. It was around then, some 9 weeks ago, that I sustained a neck injury that severely curtailed the amount of reading, writing, and computer work that I was capable of doing. I could do next to none. Sadly, the neck injury was sustained in the process of exercising to heal my back (which I mentioned in the...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read