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Category Archives: Field of Words
Alaska Love Poem
In 1984, during my troubled early twenties, I fell in love with a friend of mine. This poem was written to her. But it’s especially a poem about how I came to love myself, & to give up my former self-hatred. Continue reading
Posted in depression, Poems
Tagged aha, giving up self-hate, Lori, love, Night of the Butcher Knife, poem, Sharon, the pit, writing
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Building Consensus
How editing Wikipedia & a fictional Martian constitutional convention influenced the Consensus government in my novel(s)-to-be. Yep, & consensus would be a better way to run our own world too, yep.
Posted in About writing, Cold
Tagged Battle of Washita River, civility, Cold notes, collaborative decisionmaking, collective intelligence, consensus, Consensus (Cold), Dena'ina, good government bad government, Harming none do as you will, integrity, Kim Stanley Robinson, Margaret Turnbull, Mars, Mars Trilogy, NaNoWriMo 2007, Pavonis Mons, Peter Kalifornsky, science fiction, selfhood, sociocracy, storymind, terraforming, Turnbull (Cold), Ursula K. Leguin, Wikipedia, worldbuilding, writing
2 Comments
Good for my worldbuilding, bad for my world
One tool for inventing an imaginary story universe in science fiction is extrapolating from the present into the future. Granting corporations lots of extra power as the Supreme Court did recently is very good for my worldbuilding. But is very bad for the world I actually live in.
Posted in Cold, Long Dark, Polis
Tagged Anchorage Baptist Temple, Anchorage Daily News, C.J. Cherryh, Chris, Citizens United v. FEC, Cold notes, collective intelligence, consensus, Consensus (Cold), corporations, corporations as persons, Cyteen, Dave, democracy, good government bad government, J.R.R. Tolkien, Juneau Empire, Kim Stanley Robinson, Long Dark notes, Lord of the Rings, Mars, Middle Earth, political corruption, science fiction, sociocracy, terraforming, Tom Anderson, VECO, worldbuilding, writing
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Crossed Genres anthology released — complete w/ my story "Cold"
My story “Cold,” from my novel-in-progress of the same title, is appearing again — this time in Crossed Genres‘ Year One anthology, which collects stories from each of the magazine’s first twelve issues.
Posted in Cold
Tagged Crossed Genres, lgbtq, Melz published work, science fiction, writing
2 Comments
Shark (a story for Haiti)
“Shark” is an excerpt from the novel-in-progress Cold, posted online for free as part of Crossed Genres’ Post a Story for Haiti project. Please donate to Haiti earthquake relief.
Job 42.13
A poem based upon a verse in the Book of Job, with an account by a Kansas farmer who saw the inside of a tornado in 1928.
Posted in No Way Way, Poems
Tagged Bible, Book of Job, natural disasters, poem, theodicy, Voice from the Whirlwind, writing
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Buddha in the coffee shop
My Side Street Saturday included an encounter with a handcarved Vietnamese Buddha of white-grey marble, which its owner hopes to sell as a fundraiser for Veterans for Peace. A little about Job, integrity, cold, & low atmospheric pressure, too.
Posted in Cold, Journal, No Way Way
Tagged Bible, Book of Job, Buddha, Cold notes, integrity, Side Street Espresso, theodicy, Voice from the Whirlwind, winter, writing
3 Comments
My story of 2009
Not quite ALL about my 2009, because that would take a year to write. This only took several hours.
Posted in About writing, Alaska justice system, Alaska politics, Cold, depression, Journal, Long Dark, NaNoWriMo, Ordinance, True Diversity Dinner
Tagged Alaska Commons, Alaska Judicial Council, Alaska Legislature, Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage ordinance 2009-64, Anchorage Press, Arliss Sturgulewski, Bent Alaska, cave, Celtic Diva, Columbia Sussex, couch, Crossed Genres, Dad, Dan Sullivan, Dave, death, Eddie Burke, Floridana Alaskiana v2.5, Grandpa Claude, Green family, Green-Lieght family, grey, Grrlzlist, Heather Aronno, Hilton Anchorage, hotel workers, Identity Inc., Identity Reports, James Bopp Jr., Jane Angvik, Janson Jones, Jesse, John Aronno, Julius, lgbtq, LGBTQ allies, lima beans, Linda Kellen Biegel, Mark, Mark Begich, Melz published work, Mer, Miller v. Carpeneti, Mom, my apartment, NaNoWriMo 2009, Nicholas Hughes, One in 10, Palin ethics complaints, PrideFest, Progressive Alaska (blog), Ptery, Sarah Palin, Sean Cockerham, SOSAnchorage.net, Stef Gingrich, Summer of Hate, sunflowers, True Diversity Dinner 2009, Väi the cat, veto, Vic Fischer, violence against women, Wayne Anthony Ross (WAR), writing
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