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Row 3</td>	`Code</code></td>`	1 234</td></tr> </tbody></table> 7. Forms & Inputs</a></h2> Name:</label> Email:</label> </p> Subscribe</label> Option A</label> Option B</label> </p> </textarea><br> <p><button type="submit">Send</button></p> </form> <hr /> <h2 id="8-semantic-interactive">8. Semantic/Interactive<a class="zola-anchor" href="#8-semantic-interactive" aria-label="Anchor link for: 8-semantic-interactive"></a></h2> <details> <summary>Click to expand the <code><details></code> element</summary> <p>This text was hidden!</p> </details> <p><kbd>⌘ S</kbd> to save • <mark>Highlighted text</mark> • <del>Struck‑through</del></p> </article> <article> <h1>Anaxagology for July 2025</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p><em>Originally published July 8, 2025 via email</em></p> <p>A quick Tower update: I was delighted to see my audiobook <em><strong>The Tower</strong></em> get a nice mention in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/06/09/move-over-middle-grade-take-two-by-guest-bloggers-christina-chatel-and-marcia-kochel/"><em>School Library Journal</em></a> this month! They called it “truly creepy” and said middle schoolers would <em>devour</em> it—which is pretty much the dream. They also wished it existed in print so they could stock it at school book fairs (fingers crossed for that someday!). For now, it’s still an audiobook exclusive, narrated by the amazing Christopher Gebauer and <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">available wherever you get your audiobooks</a>. If you give it a listen, I’d love to hear what you think.</p> <p>Also, if you are a professional reviewer or a voting member of the <strong>SFWA</strong>, <strong>HWA,</strong> or other awards body, I have free review copies of <em><strong>The Tower</strong></em> available. You can reply directly to this email if you’re reading in your inbox, or drop me a note at <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxaoras.com</a></p> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link"> Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div><h2 id="i-ll-finally-be-happy-when-i-m-young-and-successful-the-arrival-fallacy-and-the-aging-writer">I’ll finally be happy when I’m young and successful: The arrival fallacy and the aging writer<a class="zola-anchor" href="#i-ll-finally-be-happy-when-i-m-young-and-successful-the-arrival-fallacy-and-the-aging-writer" aria-label="Anchor link for: i-ll-finally-be-happy-when-i-m-young-and-successful-the-arrival-fallacy-and-the-aging-writer"></a></h2> <p><em>You’re older than you’ve ever been</em><br /> <em>And now you’re even older</em><br /> <em>And now you’re even older</em><br /> <em>And now you’re even older.</em><br /> <em>You’re older than you’ve ever been</em><br /> <em>And now you’re even older,</em><br /> <em>And now you’re older still.</em><br /> — <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/TdIRrmNN_CQ">“Older,” They Might Be Giants</a></p> <p>Are you too old to become a writer? Well, I don’t know how old you are, but—no. You’re not too old. It’s writing, not boxing.</p> <p>Maybe you’ve been writing for a while—years, even decades—and you haven’t reached whatever version of “success” you imagined. But here’s a question: How old will you be in ten years if you keep going? The same age you’ll be in ten years if you don’t. So you might as well keep writing.</p> <p>There’s a strong link in our culture between youth and success. That’s the story we’re sold—especially by people with something to promote. It’s great copy: <em>A 22-year-old publishing sensation! A debut novel straight out of undergrad! No MFA, no formal training—just pure talent!</em></p> <p>But those stories are just PR. They sell youth because youth is a product, and you’re the market. If they can convince you that success belongs to the young, they can sell you things that promise to rewind the clock—courses, programs, skincare, hair-growth pills, hustle. Being older? That’s free. Everyone gets there eventually. But if they can make you believe you’re already too late, they can profit off your fear.</p> <p>So what can we do instead?</p> <p><strong>Find counter-examples.</strong> They’re everywhere. I was 44 when I sold my TV pilot to Amazon Studios. Frank Herbert was 45 when <em>Dune</em> was published. Raymond Chandler didn’t start writing fiction until his late 40s. Richard Adams published <em>Watership Down</em> at age 52. Laura Ingalls Wilder began writing at the age of 65. Harriet Doerr didn’t publish her first novel until she was 74, and won the National Book Award. And Martha Wells had been publishing for years, but didn’t become a household name until <em>Murderbot</em> hit shelves in 2017—decades into her career.</p> <p><strong>Try to stay friendly with your writing.</strong> It’s easy, especially when you’re struggling, to turn the whole process into a battleground—every word a fight, every page a referendum on your worth. But writing isn’t your enemy. And neither are you. Be kind to the work, and to yourself. Some days the writing flows; some days it limps. That’s okay. You’re still showing up. You’re still making something out of nothing. That’s magic. Treat it with care.</p> <p><strong>Take a hard look at what we mean by “success.”</strong> Most of us are chasing a moving target. We think if we finally reach that goal—get the book deal, win the award, land the agent—then we’ll <em>feel</em> different. We’ll feel like we made it. We’ll be happy. Forever.</p> <p>That’s the arrival fallacy: the belief that once we finally arrive, we will achieve everlasting happiness. But the truth is, the goalposts move. Climb one hill, there’s another one waiting. Humans are great at adapting—to challenges as well as to success. Your win becomes the new normal. The dopamine hit fades. And then you start wondering why you still feel uncertain, or restless, or behind despite getting what you thought you wanted..</p> <p>Getting to make my own show with Amazon was amazing. It was also temporary. All shows are. That wasn’t an end point. There <em>is</em> no end point. There’s just life, and whatever you’re doing with it now.</p> <p>So what is real success? Doing the work. Staying in the game. Still writing. Still learning. Still having something to say. Still <em>connecting</em> —with readers, with your past selves, with other people walking their own weird, personal path with their art.</p> <p><strong>Celebrate milestones.</strong> Landing an agent, finishing a draft, getting a nice review—those are real wins. Just don’t confuse them for a final destination. They’re waypoints, not end points. Don’t wait to celebrate until you have arrived. You’ll be waiting, literally, forever. Don’t wait until you are published to call yourself a writer. I keep a journal and write down my daily win at the top, so I can look back quickly as see how I’ve progressed, and remember all the tiny wins that have kept me moving forward. It’s easy to forget, so mark the moment. But recognize the journey will continue.</p> <p><strong>Keep a Good Things journal.</strong> If you find yourself chasing a feeling that never quite arrives, try making a habit of gratitude. One practice that’s helped me see myself and my career in a better light is something I picked up from <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://time.com/6140818/how-to-feel-gratitude-kindness-catalog/">a Time article on cultivating gratitude</a> from Yohanca Delgado—a Good Things journal. Keep a log of specific moments when someone showed you care, encouragement, or generosity. A friend who read your sloppy first draft. A stranger who complimented your work. An editor who added a personal note to a rejection form. A buddy who texted you out of the blue just to ask how your day was going. It’s easy to forget all the small kindnesses in your life. We tend to remember the negative—dwell on it, even. Revisiting a list of Good Things can help us remember that we are not alone on our efforts and there are reasons to keep going.</p> <p>Even if we never “arrive,” we can appreciate and make the most of the journey.</p> <h2 id="recent-writing-news">Recent writing news<a class="zola-anchor" href="#recent-writing-news" aria-label="Anchor link for: recent-writing-news"></a></h2> <p><strong>My favorite bit about The Tower.</strong> I wrote a guest post for Mary Robinette Kowal’s <em>My Favorite Bit</em> series all about Kolby, the emotionally honest, quietly defiant heart of <em>The Tower</em>.</p> <blockquote> <p>His refusal to stop questioning, to stop caring, is what defines Kolby’s heroism. And it’s what makes him a threat to the Tower itself. Because the Tower isn’t just a setting—it’s a system, a beautifully designed trap.</p> </blockquote> <p>If your curious about what makes him tick (and why I love writing him), <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-david-anaxagoras-talks-about-the-tower/">check it out here</a>.</p> <p><strong>Live on tape!</strong> I had a blast reading three of my favorite flash fiction stories for <em><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.storyhour2020.com/">Story Hour</a></em>, a weekly livestream of speculative fiction hosted by Daniel Marcus and Laura Blackwell. If you missed the live event on June 18th, no worries—you can still catch the reading on YouTube. It’s short, strange, and (I hope) a little fun. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-GskX8Duw">Watch it on YouTube!</a></p> <p><strong>Coming soon.</strong> I’m thrilled to announce that my sci-fi horror flash fiction story “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of <em>A. Thanatensis</em> ” has been scheduled to appear in the August issue of <em>Lightspeed</em>!</p> <blockquote> <p>“Now firearms literally leave flowers in their wake. The hippies of old could only dream.”</p> </blockquote> <p><em>In a war-scarred future, a field scientist investigates a body-erasing bioweapon designed to leave nothing behind. But memory has roots, and what grows back doesn’t forget.</em></p> <p>This is a story about horror, memory, and grief that refuses to stay buried. I hope you’ll check it out when it drops in August.</p> <p><strong>Out now.</strong> Here’s a little curiosity for you. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-discover-new-color-thats-impossible-to-see-without-lasering-your/">A recent Scientific American article</a> detailed the discovery of a new “impossible” color beyond our normal vision which you can see only if you zap yourself in the eye with a laser. (<strong>Do not, as they say, try this at home!</strong>).</p> <p>The article reminded me of a drabble I had written a few years ago. What’s a drabble? It’s a short story of exactly 100 words, excluding the title. It originated as a writing exercise in which I wrote one notebook page every morning, nonstop, to a prompt. The prompt in this case was “Write about a color.” It was a short hop from journal entry to finished drabble, but I never bothered to publish it. In honor of the new color, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com/post/3ln4uudqth227">I posted it to Bluesky</a>. You can read it below.</p> <p>Careful. It comes with a curse.</p> <blockquote> <p>A Handwritten Message Hastily Scribbled by the Dead Traveler on Your Doorstep</p> <p>David Anaxagoras</p> <p>Not everyone can see the color fluum. It is the color of quantum foam before the big bang and has the power to undo creation itself. Humankind was never meant to see it and can scarcely comprehend it. Fluum is the color of a fallen angel’s regret. If you are one of the cursed who can see the color fluum, it falls upon you to defend all of existence from its madness. If you can read this message, know it is scratched in ink made from the ash of my burning bones. Know it is written in the color fluum.</p> </blockquote> <p>If you read and enjoy my stories, please share them on social media, drop me a note on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or send me an <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">email</a>. Members of the <strong>SFWA</strong>, you can add to or upvote these stories on the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/">Nebula Reading List</a>.</p> <h2 id="things-i-love">Things I love<a class="zola-anchor" href="#things-i-love" aria-label="Anchor link for: things-i-love"></a></h2> <p>I’ve been on a real cyberpunk kick lately and one of the things I love is artist Josan Gonzalez. Josan is a Spanish illustrator with a highly distinct cyberpunk edge. His art has a gritty, hand-drawn look, is often packed with detail, and frequently features a bright pastel color pallet. Influences like Moebius and Katsuhiro Otomo are plain to see. His art book <em>The Future is Now</em> is a wordless graphic novel that serves up a future dystopia of VR headsets, weary robots, human augmentation, biker gangs, brutal police squads, grimy apartments, and noodles. Here’s a few of of my favorite pieces:</p> <p>View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1dbae5f1-6686-4fb6-97de-cd0dd5b7167c/Neon_Rising_V2_35.png?t=1749666912">Neon Rising V2 p35</a></p> <p>View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7ceed413-9bf7-4ed6-8a31-e877e7792b49/Neon_Rising_V2_51.png?t=1749666953">Neon Rising V2 p51</a></p> <p>View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/29ab30e2-1c85-4fe0-b4bc-15d0821625d1/Neon_Rising_V2_86.png?t=1749668345">Neon Rising V2 p86</a></p> <p>View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b7add641-aef8-42b5-96ca-40c3b118b5a9/Neon_Rising_V2_80.png?t=1749667238">Neon Rising V2 p80</a></p> <p>View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/79371966-304b-44a5-8717-32df9bd63541/Neon_Rising_V2_123.png?t=1749667125">Neon Rising V2 p123</a></p> <p>You can pick up a beautiful hard copy of Josan’s <em>The Future is Now</em> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://citadel9.com/collections/all/products/the-future-is-now_neon-rising">at his online shop</a>.</p> <h2 id="reading-log">Reading log<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-log" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-log"></a></h2> <p><strong>“The Gernsback Continuum”</strong> (1981) by William Gibson in <em>Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology</em>. A photojournalist begins hallucinating a 1930s-style utopian retro-future—gleaming chrome cities, streamlined flying cars, and perfect Aryan people. A cultural theorist suggests he’s tapping into a collective pop-culture unconscious—the ghost of a future that never happened. This is a cultural critique essay masquerading as a short story, and as such it has some interesting concepts (and nice prose), but little in the way of plot, character arc, or emotional impact. Also, it features my least favorite SF character—the “Explainer Guy”—who comes on stage to explain the science (or psychology, or whatever) to the characters—but really, to the audience. And here, he’s Gibson’s mouthpiece. As an anti-nostalgia essay that savagely critiques retro-futurism as aesthetic fantasies grounded in fascism, authoritarianism, and white supremacy, it’s an interesting concept, though it doesn’t go far enough to connect the dots and show us the real horror of such a world. However, as the opening salvo in the <em>Mirrorshades</em> anthology, it’s an effective declaration of war that clearly draws a line in the sand. We’re leaving dreams of Utopia behind and embracing an unflinching, grittier, more complex, but more grounded and authentic future. <strong>Bonus:</strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/xh5QHtGmXn4">You can watch the 1993 BBC short film adaptation called Tomorrow Calling on YouTube</a>.</p> <p><strong>“The People of Sand and Slag”</strong> (2004) by Paolo Bacigalupi in <em>Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse</em> [also <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://windupstories.com/books/pump-six-and-other-stories/people-of-sand-and-slag/">available free on the author’s website</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.drabblecast.org/2012/10/30/drabblecast-261-the-people-of-sand-and-slag/">listen to audio at Drabblecast</a>. A trio of genetically augmented guards providing security at a mining operation in far-future Montana happen upon an nearly impossible rarity—a wild dog living in the industrial wastelands. As they struggle to care for it their post-human emptiness is revealed. A haunting, emotionally punishing story set in a future where humanity has modified itself almost beyond recognition in order to survive in a ruined world—but at the cost of its empathy. This story was vivid, disturbing, and beautifully written. As an animal lover, I found this difficult but powerful. Bacigalupi draws effective contrasts between brutality and softness. It left me sad not only for the dog, but for humanity’s willingness to trade away its heart. This is a story I’ll be thinking about for a long time.</p> <p><strong>“Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince”</strong> (2013) by Jake Kerr in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/biographical-fragments-of-the-life-of-julian-prince/"><em>Lightspeed,</em> Issue 34</a>. A life told in clippings and excerpts from Wikipedia articles, speeches, novels, and interviews, of a journalist and novelist who lived though a devastating near world-ending impact. This story cracked open a deep canyon of profound sorrow in me. I’m marveling at the technical craft required to pull off a story that’s so effective emotionally but told in coldly objective clippings. Of course, a lot of it probably has to do with the state of the world right now, but that’s part of the magic of the story. It easily embeds itself in our current context despite being written a decade ago. I could vividly imagine myself in this world…and that was terrifying!</p> <p><strong>“Second Variety”</strong> (1953) by Philip K. Dick in <em>Space Science Fiction,</em> May 1953. [Also <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32032">available free at Project Gutenberg</a>] In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where the U.S. has lost to the Soviets, a weary commander ventures into enemy territory to negotiate peace—only to discover that autonomous killer machines called “claws” have evolved into human-like replicants, blurring the line between enemy and ally. A pulpy, action-driven tale that still delivers a chilling and prescient central idea: autonomous, self-replicating war machines evolving beyond human control. A transitional story for PKD that has one foot firmly planted in pulp but touches on deeper themes of identity, runaway systems, and paranoia. Having recently rewatched <em>Screamers</em>, the film adaptation dulled some surprises, but I appreciated how vulnerable the protagonist, Hendricks, is portrayed, physically at least—a contrast to the usual pulp hero. This being PDK, I saw the twist coming, but it was effectively executed, and I liked that the story didn’t just end there. Instead, it leaned into a bleak irony: the machines are now mercilessly fighting and killing each other. A haunting commentary on the inevitable violence of life and war—though I would have welcomed deeper exploration on that point.</p> <h2 id="writing-reptile-books-from-the-ebay-store">Writing Reptile Books - from the eBay store<a class="zola-anchor" href="#writing-reptile-books-from-the-ebay-store" aria-label="Anchor link for: writing-reptile-books-from-the-ebay-store"></a></h2> <p>I have an eBay store and sell comic books and rare and beautiful editions of science fiction, fantasy, and fairy tales. In the store this month: A beautiful Folio Society edition of Andrew Lang’s <em>Green Fairy Book</em>. <strong>Special offer for Anaxagology readers</strong>: Grab <em>The Green Fairy Book</em> for 15% off. Click “Make an Offer,” deduct 15%, and mention <em>Anaxagology</em>. Your offer will be accepted! <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.ebay.com/usr/writingreptile">Browse the shop for more great books and comics</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/226672177333">Like New — The Folio Society edition of The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.</a> This edition is rare and out of print. The Folio Society Fairy Books are a must-have for any collector of fairy tales and fantasy. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to own this beautiful book.</p> </blockquote> <h2 id="featured-author-newsletter-catherine-tavares">Featured author newsletter - Catherine Tavares<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-author-newsletter-catherine-tavares" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-author-newsletter-catherine-tavares"></a></h2> <p>Catherine Tavares is a speculative fiction author and member of both SFWA and Codex. Her work has appeared on the Nebula Recommended Reading List and been featured or is forthcoming in magazines such as <em>Apex, Phano, Nature Futures, Flash Point SF,</em> and more. Her monthly newsletter includes updates about her work, sneak peaks at future projects, behind the scenes insights, and recommendations for all things SFFH. Subscribe for free and receive an exclusive sci-fi flash story as a thank you here: <strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://catherinetavares.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Catherine Tavares’ Newsletter</a></strong></p> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="icymi">ICYMI<a class="zola-anchor" href="#icymi" aria-label="Anchor link for: icymi"></a></h2> <p><em>If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work.</em></p> <p>My sf-horror flash fiction piece, <strong>“Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of <em>A. Thanatensis</em></strong>” is forthcoming in <em>Lightspeed’s</em> August 2025 issue.</p> <p>I was a guest on <strong>Story Hour</strong> and read three of my favorite flash fiction stories. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-GskX8Duw">You can watch the video on the Story Hour YouTube Channel</a>.</p> <p>I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/"><em><strong>The Tower</strong></em> (Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-david-anaxagoras-talks-about-the-tower/">guest post about <em>The Tower</em></a> was recently featured on <em>My Favorite Bit.</em></p> <p>My most recent fiction, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139"><em><strong>“The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”</strong></em></a>,” is available in the April 2025 (Version One) issue of <em>World of Possibilities</em>. Other recent fiction includes, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://factorfourmag.com/the-everlasting-wound-of-polyphemus-by-david-anaxagoras/"><em><strong>“The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus”</strong></em></a>, and <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/"><em><strong>“Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell from the Sky”</strong></em></a>. Visit my <strong><a href="/works">Bibliography</a></strong> for a full list of fiction and other works.</p> <p>I wrote for <a href="/works/glitch-techs/"><em><strong>Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</strong></em></a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, <a href="/works/gortimer/"><em><strong>Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</strong></em></a>, about three kids whose life is anything but normal.</p> <h2 id="about">About<a class="zola-anchor" href="#about" aria-label="Anchor link for: about"></a></h2> <p><em>Anaxagology</em> is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Subscribe now!</a> You can learn more about Dave at his <a href="/">website</a>, or follow him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com/theanaxagoras/">Instagram</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Media Kit</h1> <p>Unknown — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="featured-release-the-tower-audiobook-a-2026-andre-norton-nebula-award-finalist">Featured Release: <em>The Tower</em> (Audiobook) - A 2026 Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist!<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-release-the-tower-audiobook-a-2026-andre-norton-nebula-award-finalist" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-release-the-tower-audiobook-a-2026-andre-norton-nebula-award-finalist"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>When 12-year-old Kolby finds himself captive in the penthouse of a 75-story skyscraper with no memory of who he is or how he got there, he must work together with other young captives to unravel the mysteries of the tower before its ultimate, terrifying purpose can be fulfilled.</p> </blockquote> <ul> <li><strong>Title</strong>: The Tower</li> <li><strong>Format</strong>: Audiobook</li> <li><strong>Publisher</strong>: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">Recorded Books</a></li> <li><strong>Release Date</strong>: March 4, 2025</li> <li><strong>Genre</strong>: Middle-grade horror</li> <li><strong>Length</strong>: 7h23m</li> <li><strong>Narrated by</strong>: Christopher Gebauer</li> <li><strong>Link to listen or purchase</strong>: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">Publisher page</a></li> <li><strong>Cover image</strong>: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/p/davidanaxagoras/845013101170977037">The Tower - HiRes Cover</a></li> </ul> <h3 id="praise-for-the-tower">Praise for <em>The Tower</em><a class="zola-anchor" href="#praise-for-the-tower" aria-label="Anchor link for: praise-for-the-tower"></a></h3> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ An enthralling work of middle grade horror…A challenge to put down. I read the whole thing within a day. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8497679758">Beth Cato, Author/Goodreads</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ It’s spooky, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s creepy, it’s thrilling, it’s scary, and it’s so much fun! <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1D86N2KWTI4B5/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0D5JVWWJY">Amazon Reviewer</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ Great characters and characterization, a deep and disturbing mystery, and good narration make this a winner. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7378254239">M.E. Garber, Author/Goodreads</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ The book is full of suspense and adventure that will keep you enthralled until the ending that you won’t see coming. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7376133900">Leah Orr, Author/Goodreads</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <h2 id="author-bio">Author Bio<a class="zola-anchor" href="#author-bio" aria-label="Anchor link for: author-bio"></a></h2> <h3 id="short-50-words">Short (50 words)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#short-50-words" aria-label="Anchor link for: short-50-words"></a></h3> <p>David Anaxagoras is the Nebula Award nominated author of <em>The Tower</em>, a middle-grade horror audiobook from Recorded Books. He writes speculative fiction about outsiders — usually kids — trying to make sense of a weird world.</p> <h3 id="medium-100-150-words">Medium (100–150 words)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#medium-100-150-words" aria-label="Anchor link for: medium-100-150-words"></a></h3> <p>David Anaxagoras is the Nebula Award nominated author of <em>The Tower</em> (Recorded Books), a middle-grade horror audiobook about kids who wake in a mysterious penthouse with no memories, no adults, and no way out. His short fiction has appeared in <em>Lightspeed</em>, <em>Worlds of Possibility</em>, <em>Factor Four</em>, and elsewhere. He created and co-executive produced <em>Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</em>, Amazon Prime Video’s award-winning coming-of-age series, for which he received a WGA award nomination. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and currently resides in Texas (but not on purpose), where he writes full time, powered by cold brew coffee, 80s vinyl, and a healthy disregard for the impossible.</p> <h3 id="long-200-300-words">Long (200–300 words)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#long-200-300-words" aria-label="Anchor link for: long-200-300-words"></a></h3> <p>David Anaxagoras is a Nebula Award nominated writer of strange, heartfelt stories about friendship, wonder, and survival. He is the author of <em>The Tower</em>, an original middle-grade mystery audiobook published by Recorded Books, and a growing body of short fiction in speculative outlets including <em>Lightspeed</em>, <em>Factor Four</em>, and <em>Worlds of Possibility</em>. His fiction often examines connection, care, and the resilience of outsiders in fantastical or broken worlds.</p> <p>David is the creator and co-executive producer of <em>Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</em>, Amazon Studios’ first original live-action series for kids and families. The critically acclaimed show ran for three seasons and was praised by The New York Times as “smart and charming” and by Variety as “genuinely clever.” In 2016, David was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for his episode “Gortimer vs. the Relentless Rainbow of Joy,” and the series went on to receive multiple honors from the WGA, Humanitas, and the Parents’ Choice Foundation.</p> <p>After <em>Gortimer</em>, David joined the writing staff of <em>Glitch Techs</em>, the animated sci-fi adventure series from Nickelodeon and Netflix, which earned him recognition from the Muslim Public Affairs Council for advancing inclusive storytelling.</p> <p>Originally trained in child development, David worked for years as a preschool teacher before earning his MFA in screenwriting from UCLA. That background continues to inform his work, especially his belief that stories for young readers deserve literary quality, emotional honesty, and room to be weird. He has taught screenwriting at The Loft Literary Center and served multiple years on the judging committee for the Humanitas Prize in Children’s Television.</p> <p>In recent years, David has expanded into fiction publishing, with a focus on speculative short stories and a new series of post-apocalyptic novelettes about a boy who fixes robots in a crumbling world—stories born from a love of care, repair, and the stubborn persistence of hope. These themes echo his growing personal philosophy: that in a world shaped by systems of extraction and decay, care is resistance.</p> <p>David lives in Texas but will always be a Southern Californian at heart. He builds his website by hand in plain text and publishes it without ads, trackers, or cookies. His favorite font is still the green phosphor of a CRT terminal, and his favorite stories are the ones that sneak up on you with unexpected heart.</p> <h2 id="author-photos">Author Photos<a class="zola-anchor" href="#author-photos" aria-label="Anchor link for: author-photos"></a></h2> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/c/843988511648973573">Author Photo Gallery</a></p> <h2 id="downloadable-press-kit">Downloadable Press Kit<a class="zola-anchor" href="#downloadable-press-kit" aria-label="Anchor link for: downloadable-press-kit"></a></h2> <p>You can download a full ZIP file of media assets here:</p> <p><a href="/downloads/media-kit.zip">Download Media Kit (.zip)</a></p> <p>Includes:</p> <ul> <li>Author bio (MD + DOCX)</li> <li>Author headshots (JPG)</li> <li><em>The Tower</em> cover (JPG)</li> <li><em>The Tower</em> info sheet (MD + DOCX)</li> </ul> <h2 id="contact">Contact<a class="zola-anchor" href="#contact" aria-label="Anchor link for: contact"></a></h2> <ul> <li><strong>Email</strong>: <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxagoras.com</a></li> <li><strong>Newsletter</strong>: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe</a></li> <li><strong>Bluesky</strong>: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">@davidanaxagoras.com</a></li> <li><strong>Website</strong>: <a href="/">https://davidanaxagoras.com</a></li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Visitor's Bureau</h1> <p>Unknown — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>You’ve stumbled into the cybercave <a href="/about">David Anaxagoras</a>, writer of TV and speculative fiction. If this is your first time here, the Visitor’s Bureau is your guide to what I do, where to start reading, and how to stay in touch.</p> <h2 id="what-i-write">What I Write<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-write" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-write"></a></h2> <p>I’m a novelist, television writer, and short story author. I wrote mostly about outsiders, usually <a href="/works/tower">kids</a>, just trying to deal with the weird <a href="/works/birds">world</a>. Some of my stories are set in <a href="/works/gortimer">suburbia</a>. Some in a <a href="/works/ladd">rusted future</a>.</p> <p>My short stories often appear in magazines like <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/authors/david-anaxagoras/">Lightspeed</a> and most are free to read.</p> <p>I also have a side-gig and sell rare and collectible science fiction and fantasy books through my small eBay shop, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.ebay.com/usr/writingreptile">Writing Reptile Books</a>.</p> <h2 id="explore-my-work">Explore My Work<a class="zola-anchor" href="#explore-my-work" aria-label="Anchor link for: explore-my-work"></a></h2> <p>Here are some good places to start:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/yearbook">Download my free 2025 Story Yearbook</a> — for a retrospective of a year in writing, with complete stories and commentary</li> <li><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/">Read this story</a> — if you’d like to read one story that best represents my work</li> <li><a href="/works">Visit my Bibliography</a> — to sample more of my fiction and tv writing</li> <li><a href="/works/tower">Learn About <em>The Tower</em></a> — my Andre Norton Nebula Award finalist middle-grade horror audiobook</li> <li><a href="/about">Find out more About Me</a> — more of the usual bio stuff</li> </ul> <h2 id="want-to-keep-in-touch">Want to Keep in Touch?<a class="zola-anchor" href="#want-to-keep-in-touch" aria-label="Anchor link for: want-to-keep-in-touch"></a></h2> <p>I send out free a monthly author newsletter with:</p> <ul> <li>A feature essay</li> <li>News and updates on new stories and projects</li> <li>Thoughts on the writing craft</li> <li>“Behind the scenes” notes on my fiction</li> <li>A reading log of current and vintage science-fiction and fantasy short stories</li> </ul> <p>You can <a href="/newsletter">browse pervious newsletters</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">go here to sign up</a>.</p> <p>Thanks for stopping by. If you like, you can return <a href="/">home</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Privacy Policy</h1> <p>Unknown — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>This website doesn’t collect your data.</p> <p>It doesn’t want your data.</p> <p>It wouldn’t know what to <em>do</em> with your data if it had it.</p> <h2 id="what-i-don-t-do">What I don’t do:<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-don-t-do" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-don-t-do"></a></h2> <ul> <li>No cookies</li> <li>No trackers</li> <li>No paywalls</li> <li>No advertisements</li> <li>No external fonts</li> <li>No surveillance</li> <li>No bullshit</li> </ul> <h2 id="what-i-do-know">What I do know:<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-do-know" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-do-know"></a></h2> <p>Almost nothing.</p> <p>This is a static site with no backend. I don’t log visitors’ personal info. I don’t want to. If you email me, I’ll read it. That’s about it.</p> <h2 id="what-i-do-use">What I do use:<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-do-use" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-do-use"></a></h2> <p>A single script from <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goatcounter.com/">GoatCounter</a>, an open-source, privacy-first analytics tool. It tracks page visits anonymously — no cookies, no user profiles, no personal info. I use it to get a rough idea of what pages people visit. That’s it.</p> <h2 id="external-links">External Links<a class="zola-anchor" href="#external-links" aria-label="Anchor link for: external-links"></a></h2> <p>Links to other sites (like Beehiiv, where I host my newsletter) may load scripts, collect analytics, or serve cookies. That’s out of my hands. Browse accordingly.</p> <h2 id="tl-dr">TL;DR<a class="zola-anchor" href="#tl-dr" aria-label="Anchor link for: tl-dr"></a></h2> <p>This site is a conversation between you and me, not you, me and some evil mega-corporation. You are not the product here.</p> </article> <article> <h1>In Praise of Plain Text</h1> <p>Unknown — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>I’m an old man [<em>waits for screams of horror to die down</em>] and I was there when the first PCs made their way into the home. There was no Internet but you could dial in [<em>fax machine noise</em>] to a <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system">BBS</a> and download some <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware">shareware</a> if you wanted. My first computer game was <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure"><em>Colossal Cave Adventure</em></a>, an all-text adventure. I still dream in green <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor">phosphor</a>. My first word processor was <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordStar">WordStar</a>, and it was gorgeous: just a screen full of text. Even with all the command shortcuts listed on screen it was never the UI nightmare that is MS Word.</p> <p>In those early days, the plain text days, we were just hobbyists sharing stuff with each other. Then the Internet came, and for a while, it was good. And then it wasn’t.</p> <p>Billionaires and their mega-corporations learned to feed on us. Happy people don’t have an urgent need to buy things to feel better — so billionaires and their mega-corporations do everything in their power, through the online spaces they own and the policies they influence, to cultivate misery, hatred, and anxiety. Then they turn around and sell us a solution to the very problem they created — and they do it using targeted ads crafted by tracking our every like, share, follow, view, and purchase.</p> <p>I’d rather not.</p> <p>I’m a writer, and even if I’m not online getting surveilled on the Internet, I’m writing. For many, that means using tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. And then we’re right back to getting pummeled with forced sign-ins, questionable privacy practices, and overbearing “AI” features you can’t dodge.</p> <p>So here’s the thing about <strong>plain text</strong>. It lasts. It’s eternal. A <code>.txt</code> file from twenty years is as readable now as it was then — by machine or human. Ever try to open an old document only to find the program that made it no longer exists? Try exporting notes from a proprietary app sometime. Proprietary formats are where ideas go to die.</p> <p>Plain text doesn’t lock you in. No subscriptions. No upgrades required. It belongs to you. Forever. If the app that crated it disappears it doesn’t matter. You can still read a plain text file with your own eyes. It’s text, not binary garbage.</p> <p>I keep my notes in plain text files and manage them with <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://obsidian.md/">Obsidian</a>. If Obsidian disappears tomorrow, all my files still work — portable, human-readable, and untouched. I write fiction, notes, and even this blog post using <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/">Markdown</a>, a simple, intuitive plain-text formatting language you can read with your eyes. Any editor can open it. Even Word.</p> <p>This website is an extension of that plain text philosophy. I rebuilt it from scratch using <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.getzola.org/">Zola</a>, a static site generator, for fast, clean, surveillance-free publishing. It’s just HTML and CSS. No ads. No trackers. No cookies. No JavaScript. No bullshit.</p> <p>Just text.</p> <p>Like the Internet was supposed to be.</p> </article> <article> <h1>About Me</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>David Anaxagoras is a Nebula Award finalist and author of <em><a href="/works/tower">The Tower</a></em> (Recorded Books), a middle-grade horror audiobook. His <a href="/works">short fiction</a> has appeared in <em>Lightspeed</em>, <em>Translunar Travelers Lounge</em>, <em>Worlds of Possibility</em>, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and created and co-executive produced <a href="/works/gortimer"><em>Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</em></a>, Amazon Prime Video’s award-winning coming-of-age series for which he received a WGA award nomination. He currently resides in Texas (but not on purpose), where he writes full time, powered by cold brew coffee, 80s vinyl, and a healthy disregard for the impossible.</p> <p>Subscribe to his <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">newsletter</a>, visit him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a>, or <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">drop him an email</a>.</p> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/p/davidanaxagoras/843991643726891147">Author Photo</a></p> <p><a href="/colophon">About this site</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Colophon</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a></p> <h2 id="copyright">Copyright<a class="zola-anchor" href="#copyright" aria-label="Anchor link for: copyright"></a></h2> <p>This website and content copyright © David Anaxagoras 2025, 2026. All rights reserved.</p> <p>Use of this site’s content for training AI models, large language models, or automated data-mining systems is expressly forbidden without prior written permission. This prohibition includes but is not limited to scraping, reproducing, or incorporating text into machine learning datasets.</p> <h2 id="plain-text-internet">Plain Text Internet<a class="zola-anchor" href="#plain-text-internet" aria-label="Anchor link for: plain-text-internet"></a></h2> <p>This site is created with plain text. It loads fast, works offline, and should still make sense a decade from now. I’ve moved away from bloated, engagement-optimized web — the one full of dark patterns, autoplay videos, and SEO sludge. I’m tired of being a product. Maybe you are too.</p> <h2 id="gear">Gear<a class="zola-anchor" href="#gear" aria-label="Anchor link for: gear"></a></h2> <p>This is a list of the tools I use to create and maintain this website, write fiction, stay organized, and manage my creative business. I try to keep things lightweight, privacy-conscious, and distraction-free. I lean toward open-source, portability, affordability, and sustainability.</p> <h3 id="online-presence-privacy">Online Presence & Privacy<a class="zola-anchor" href="#online-presence-privacy" aria-label="Anchor link for: online-presence-privacy"></a></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Firefox Web Browser</strong> Because nuts to Chrome specifically and Google in general, that’s why.</li> <li><strong>Private Internet Access</strong> An affordable VPN that provides privacy and security.</li> <li><strong>DuckDuckGo</strong> My default search engine. Prioritizes privacy and doesn’t track my searches or create a filter bubble. Gives me relevant results without compromising personal data, making it an essential alternative to big tech search engines.</li> <li><strong>Privacy Badger</strong> is a browser extension that automatically blocks invisible trackers and third-party cookies and keeps my browsing private without complicated setup. You can fine-tune settings for individual websites to make sure everything is working like you want it to. You are are in control.</li> <li><strong>Dreamhost</strong> Website hosting and email. It’s been reliable but as I no longer use WordPress it’s overkill for my purposes and too expensive. I’m switching as soon as I find a cheaper alternative I’m happy with.</li> <li><strong>Zola</strong> Static website generator for my personal website. You’re looking at it. Web pages are written in Markdown, and Zola translates that to <code>HTML</code>. Fast, minimalist, and plain-text friendly. No trackers, ads, cookies, or other crap. You know, the Internet as it was supposed to be.</li> <li><strong>Apollo</strong> Theme for this website, lightly customized. readable, responsive, and quiet. Fonts are loaded locally. JavaScript is minimal. You won’t get cookie popups because my site doesn’t need to know anything about you.</li> <li><strong>GoatCounter</strong> Open source web analytics platform. Tells me about web traffic on my site but <em>does not</em> track personal data.</li> <li><strong>Beehiiv</strong> My current author newsletter platform. Free for up to 2,500 subscribers.</li> <li><strong>Bluesky</strong> is my social platform of choice. It’s built on an open standard with strong moderation tools, and fosters a culture I value: <em>block trolls, report bad actors, and move on</em>. No algorithmic outrage, just conversation on your terms.</li> </ul> <h3 id="writing">Writing<a class="zola-anchor" href="#writing" aria-label="Anchor link for: writing"></a></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Obsidian</strong> I use it for outlining, research, worldbuilding, and managing long-term writing projects as well for research, general notes and building a knowledge base. Obsidian lets you link quickly between notes with <code>[[wiki-style links]]</code>. With Obsidian, all your notes live as plain-text files on your computer. They are completely human-readable, unlike note apps that store everything in a proprietary database. Your notes belong to you. Obsidian respects that.</li> <li><strong>Zotero + Obsidian Zotero Plugin</strong> For collecting and organizing research sources, especially for fiction projects with a historical or scientific foundation.</li> <li><strong>Markdown</strong> A markup language for formatting text with a plain-text editor. This website is written in Markdown. I keep notes and draft stories in Markdown. It’s clean, human-readable, and plain text so it’s future-proof and portable.</li> <li><strong>Typora</strong> A clean, distraction-free Markdown editor I use when quickly drafting smaller pieces. Buy it once and you own it—no subscription.</li> <li><strong>The Submissions Grinder</strong> No, not that site. The other one. The Submissions Grinder is essential for short story submissions and tracking. Not pretty to look at but gets the job done.</li> </ul> <h3 id="productivity-admin">Productivity & Admin<a class="zola-anchor" href="#productivity-admin" aria-label="Anchor link for: productivity-admin"></a></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Wave</strong> Free accounting software I use to manage bookkeeping and taxes for my loan-out corporation and side-gig.</li> <li><strong>Obsidian Tasks Plugin</strong> For more project-oriented tracking inside my vault.</li> </ul> <h3 id="hardware-gear">Hardware & Gear<a class="zola-anchor" href="#hardware-gear" aria-label="Anchor link for: hardware-gear"></a></h3> <ul> <li><strong>MacBook Pro (Intel), 16-inch, 2019</strong> My main writing machine. Heck, my main everything machine. It’s old but still has plenty of fight left in it. I don’t believe in the constant upgrade cycle and filling landfills with perfectly usable electronics. I buy used when possible. This machine replaced my MacBook Pro Retina 2013 after 13 years of use.</li> <li><strong>Western Digital 4TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive</strong> A solid reliable performer for my regular backups.</li> <li><strong>Logitech MX Master 3S for Mac Mouse</strong> Crap. Expensive crap. But it’s one of the few mice that fits comfortably in my large-sized hand.</li> <li><strong>Logitech H390 Wired Headset</strong> For video calls and online readings. Not thrilled with the reedy mic quality but the price was right. Searching for affordable upgrade. Still looking.</li> <li><strong>Samsung A35 mobile phone</strong> Cheap and solid. Not happy about Android’s deep Gemini AI integration so this phone is going bye-bye as soon as I can afford a new one.</li> <li><strong>AUKEY 20,000mAh Portable USB-C Power Bank</strong> Slim and slides easily into a laptop bag. Fairly generic but works great. Charges my devices a couple times over if needed. Handy for extended sojourns away from power outlets or if I forget to charge my phone overnight.</li> <li><strong>Anker 521 Powerhouse 256Wh Portable Power Station</strong> My power goes out if the neighbor sneezes. This lugable power station gets me through unexpected outages, especially in the dead of night when I need to keep my CPAP running. It has 2 AC outlets, 2 USB-A, 1 USB-C, and 1 car outlet, plus a built-in light and digital power-level monitor. 5-year warranty.</li> <li><strong>Portable Camping Fan</strong> One of the best investments I’ve ever made. Keeps me cool(ish) during power-outages and lasts a surprisingly long time on a charge. LED light, USB-C charger, super quiet.</li> </ul> <h3 id="media">Media<a class="zola-anchor" href="#media" aria-label="Anchor link for: media"></a></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB Direct-Drive Professional Turntable (USB & Analog), Silver</strong> My first turntable since high school. It’s solid. I wish it had an auto-return function, though</li> <li><strong>SMSL SA-98E 2x160W HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier</strong> Tiny, generic, and cheap little D-class amp but packs all the power I need. Great quality.</li> <li><strong>Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Andrew Jones Home Audio Bookshelf Loudspeakers (2)</strong> Been pumping out great sound for years. Crystal clear and amazing quality, even though the drivers look a bit undersized. A little lacking on the low-end.</li> <li><strong>Blu-ray Discs</strong> Physical media doesn’t disappear like your favorite movie or show on streaming. It also doesn’t come with ads. But it. Keep it.</li> <li><strong>Plex</strong> A media server for your home. Rip your Blu-rays onto a hard drive and you have your own bespoke streaming service.</li> <li><strong>MakeMKV</strong> Creates high-quality, unencrypted digital backups of my personal Blu-rays. It preserves the original video and audio without compression, making it ideal for archiving or watching on my own devices. Simple, reliable, and essential for maintaining access to media I own in a format I control.</li> <li><strong>Samsung SE-506CB/RSWD 6X USB 2.0 Slim Blu-ray Writer External Drive</strong> This external Blu-ray drive is nearly ten years old and still going. I use it to rip my discs onto my media server.</li> <li><strong>Seagate Expansion 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive</strong> I use three of these to serve my media files. It’s not especially fast but seems to be fast enough to stream my movies on Plex and they wre cheap.</li> </ul> <h3 id="reading-input">Reading & Input<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-input" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-input"></a></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Libro.fm</strong> I get my audiobooks through Libro.fm, an employee-owned platform that supports independent bookstores through a revenue-sharing model. Unlike Audible, Libro.fm lets me choose a local bookstore to benefit from every purchase. It’s transparent, ethical, and built to support booksellers and readers — not monopolies.</li> <li><strong>Libby</strong> Library eBooks and audiobooks.</li> <li><strong>Apple Books</strong> My main eBook reader.</li> <li><strong>CLZ Books/CLZ Comics</strong> For cataloging my library and comic book collection.</li> </ul> <h2 id="what-i-do-not-use">What I Do Not Use<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-do-not-use" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-do-not-use"></a></h2> <p>I choose my tools with care, based not only on functionality but also on the values and practices of the companies behind them. Some popular platforms are absent from the above list because I believe they undermine creators, spread misinformation, or otherwise contradict the kind of world I want to support.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Spotify</strong> Pays artists fractions of a cent per stream but has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elevate controversial figures like Joe Rogan, despite repeated concerns about harmful misinformation. I prefer platforms that more directly support artists and take public responsibility seriously.</li> <li><strong>Substack</strong> I’ve chosen not to use Substack because they <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters">financially support and profit from writers known for spreading Nazi idiology, bigotry, harassment, and disinformation</a>—all under the banner of “free speech.” I prefer platforms that don’t subsidize harmful rhetoric or blur the line between neutrality and complicity.</li> <li><strong>ChatGPT, Claude, and other LLMs or “AI”</strong> Large Language Models (LLMs) require vast amounts of energy to train and run, contributing to environmental strain and carbon emissions. Additionally, they are trained on copyrighted works pirated from the Internet without the consent, attribution, or compensation of creators.</li> <li><strong>X (formerly Twitter)</strong> I left the platform after its acquisition by Nazi-saluting Elon Musk, whose leadership has amplified hate speech, disinformation, and harassment while dismantling basic safety and moderation systems—not to mention the damage he’s done to the United States as the transphobic, anti-DEI leader of DOGE. X is no longer a platform I feel comfortable supporting or participating in.</li> <li><strong>Meta (Facebook, Threads, etc.)</strong> Meta has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for user privacy and democratic stability—most notably through the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the company’s role in enabling the spread of disinformation and extremism. Its business model depends on surveillance and algorithmic amplification of outrage, which I prefer not to support.</li> <li><strong>Microsoft Products</strong> Microsoft has a long history of monopolistic and anti-competitive business practices that have stifled innovation and harmed competition. More troubling, Microsoft <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/17/ice-microsoft-technology-immigration-crackdown">provides deep digital infrastructure support to DHS and ICE</a>, and the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud">IDF (Israeli Defense Force)</a>, making them complicit in mass unconstitutional domestic surveillance, the brutality of ICE’s arrests and detainment, and genocide.</li> <li><strong>Google Products</strong> Google’s entire business model is built on surveillance capitalism—harvesting user data to build detailed behavioral profiles for targeted advertising and manipulation. Their services are designed to extract maximum user attention and personal information, and I refuse to participate in a system that treats users as products to be monetized.</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Contact</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="say-hello">Say Hello<a class="zola-anchor" href="#say-hello" aria-label="Anchor link for: say-hello"></a></h2> <p>Got a question, a kind word, or just want to connect? I’m always glad to hear from readers and other curious wanderers. You can reach out to me via <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or send me an email at <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxagoras.com</a>. I may be slow to reply, but I do read everything!</p> <p><em>Please note: I’m not able to read or consider story pitches or creative ideas. These will be deleted unread.</em></p> </article> <article> <h1>Now</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>Right now I’m developing a series of <strong>post-apocalypse stories</strong> about a kid scavenger who repairs broken robots and sometimes broken people. <a href="/works/ladd">The first is due to be published in <em>Lightspeed</em> soon</a>. I have written a second story and am in progress on a third. I’m also outlining (and soon will be drafting) <strong>a series of five weird western novellas</strong>. My most recent short story, “<a href="https://davidanaxagoras.com/now/works/gumba">Gumba Cuddles</a>” was published in <em>Hell Itself</em>. I’ve been keeping a <strong>reading log</strong> and have been trying to read more <strong>vintage SF short fiction.</strong> I’m also working on <strong>The Great Stephen King Chronological (Re)Read</strong>, and am currently reading <em>Christine</em>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Anaxagology for June 2025</h1> <p>Unknown — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>Hi! Just wanted to remind everyone that <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/"><em>The Tower</em></a> audiobook is out now, and if you or your young teens are looking for your next listen for a summer road trip or lazy afternoon, I think you’ll have a fun time with this! One of my favorite GoodReads reviews said <em>The Tower</em> “ <strong>is full of suspense and adventure that will keep you enthralled until the ending that you won’t see coming.”</strong> If you’ve already given it a listen— <em>thank you so much</em>! And if you haven’t checked it out yet, I hope you’ll give it a listen.</p> <p>Professional reviewers or voting members of the <strong>SFWA</strong>, <strong>HWA</strong>, or other awards body, please contact me for a <strong>free review copy</strong>!</p> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="party-at-ground-zero-hope-or-at-least-defiance-in-the-apocalypse">Party at ground zero: Hope (or at least defiance) in the apocalypse<a class="zola-anchor" href="#party-at-ground-zero-hope-or-at-least-defiance-in-the-apocalypse" aria-label="Anchor link for: party-at-ground-zero-hope-or-at-least-defiance-in-the-apocalypse"></a></h2> <p>This month, I’m diving back into my Gen-X apocalypse anxiety by way of the music videos that defined my high school years. <a href="/newsletter/may2025">Last month</a>, I talked about post-apocalyptic stories, particularly those set in the wastelands, and their appeal to fantasies of violence and domination. But there’s something unexpected in these music videos—a persistent thread of defiance, and dare I say, hope. Many of these videos portray a world in ruins, but the characters in them are neither warrior nor victim. They dance through the chaos, fight back with fire, or simply choose to go out on their own terms. There’s an undercurrent of resilience that feels more relevant today than ever. Let’s take a look at the videos:</p> <h3 id="all-she-wants-to-do-is-dance-don-henley-1985">All She Wants to Do is Dance, Don Henley (1985)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#all-she-wants-to-do-is-dance-don-henley-1985" aria-label="Anchor link for: all-she-wants-to-do-is-dance-don-henley-1985"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eud5AurOxm0">All She Wants to Do is Dance</a> on YouTube.</p> <p><em>Crazy people walkin’ round with blood in their eyes</em><br /> <em>And all she wants to do is dance, dance, dance</em></p> <p>Crumbled buildings. Random fires. Dirty faces. Hat-stealing urchins. Though ostensibly a critique of US involvement in Central America, the post-apocalyptic vibe of Henley’s music video is undeniable. Flames lick the screen in the foreground while Henley croons in the background. Set in a bombed-out bar, complete with illuminated dance floor, disco lights, and a jeep crashed part-way through the ceiling which dangles threateningly over the proceedings, the dancing here feels like brazen, life-affirming defiance—a celebration of survival in the face of destruction.</p> <p>When the single was released in 1985, SPIN’s John Leland called it a twisted “post-hedonist vision of apocalypse” and a welcomed it as a rousing departure from Henley’s mellow rock days. It’s a thundering, percussive, electric groove-that-makes-you-move thanks in large part to the grinding buzz of the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_DX7?utm_source=anaxagoras.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=anaxagology-for-june-2025">Yamaha DX7</a>, a synthesizer keyboard that would become an 80s standard. Apocalyptic, yes, but fun.</p> <h3 id="just-another-day-oingo-boingo-1985">Just Another Day, Oingo Boingo (1985)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#just-another-day-oingo-boingo-1985" aria-label="Anchor link for: just-another-day-oingo-boingo-1985"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBAL3ZoSFIc">Just Another Day</a> on YouTube.</p> <p><em>I had a dream last night</em><br /> <em>The world was set on fire</em><br /> <em>And everywhere I ran</em><br /> <em>There wasn’t any water</em><br /> <em>The temperature increased</em><br /> <em>The sky was crimson red</em><br /> <em>The clouds turned into smoke</em><br /> <em>And everyone was dead</em></p> <p>“Just Another Day” takes us to an apocalypse of the mind. Maybe. The band plays against a red, cloud-streaked sky on the cracked plinth of an ancient structure. Weed-choked moss-covered columns, broken and askew, threaten collapse. Unlike typical survivors of Armageddon, Danny Elfman and the band are clean and dressed in their 80s best. They seem to have landed like visiting aliens, time travelers, or gods. <em>There’s life underground</em>, Danny Elfman sings, and the crack under his feet glows red and threatens to rupture. Will something emerge? Will the world blow apart? Elfman wolf-howls into the blood-red sky. In the end he is left alone, supine on the plinth. His smile suggests a refusal to be defeated. That, or madness has finally overtaken him. This might be the story of The Last Man on Earth, suffering mental collapse having been left in “ <em>a lonely place / that’s always cold</em>.“</p> <p>“Just Another Day” features a classic Oingo Boingo sound—melodic, layered, and lively. Our 80s friend, the Yamaha DX7, makes another appearance here, starting off the track with a looping arpeggio that gives the song a constant swirling edge. It threatens chaos, as if everything could blow apart at any moment. The tension never leaves us. It’s a synthy witch’s brew bubbling beneath the meaty guitar riffs, nearly subliminal at times, casting a dark spell as it threatens to boil over at any moment.</p> <p>While “Just Another Day” wasn’t a chart shaker, it has shown incredible resilience. The song was featured on soundtracks both back in the day (<em>That Was Then… This is Now</em> (1985)), and in more recent times on Netflix’s <em>Stranger Things</em>. A live clip of “Just Another Day” made the rounds of YouTube <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/uOj1b1ub4DQ">reaction</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/ah3vA44WE8E">videos</a> thanks to Elfman’s gut-wrenching vocals which melt into spine-tingling cries of anguish. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkUOaRwfGUg">It’s well worth a look.</a></p> <h3 id="dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-ultravox-1984">Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Ultravox (1984)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-ultravox-1984" aria-label="Anchor link for: dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-ultravox-1984"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSQWUZ8a2Ho">Dancing with Tears in My Eyes</a> on YouTube</p> <p><em>It’s five and I’m driving home again</em><br /> <em>It’s hard to believe that it’s my last time</em><br /> <em>The man on the wireless cries again</em><br /> <em>It’s over, it’s over</em></p> <p>In late 1983, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/12/09/soviets-halt-strategic-arms-talks/5ec90e4c-8b95-4be0-9265-1e622f706176/">the Soviet Union put a halt to all nuclear disarmament talks</a> after the US deployed Pershing II and cruise missiles in Britain, West Germany, and Italy. The fear of nuclear annihilation reached its most literal music video expression in Ultravox’s “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes,” the story of a man who rushes home to have one last dance with his wife as the blast consumes them.</p> <p>Despite the nuclear target on Britain’s back, the music video depicts an impending explosion from a “reactor core overheat.” We follow a man rushing through traffic, first in his car and then, as the road becomes blocked with panicked citizens, on foot. He stops briefly to check on a woman who fell in her panic, because in the end, kindness matters. He makes it home in time for the titular dance with his wife. One bottle of spilled Champagne later, the couple wraps themselves in a white sheet and lie down on the living room floor. <em>It’s time</em>, Ultravox lead Midge Ure sings, <em>it’s time but I don’t think we really care.</em> The couple braves the end with a defiant act of creation.</p> <h3 id="it-s-a-mistake-men-at-work-1983">It’s a Mistake, Men at Work (1983)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#it-s-a-mistake-men-at-work-1983" aria-label="Anchor link for: it-s-a-mistake-men-at-work-1983"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0AxrOUJ62E">It’s a Mistake</a> on YouTube</p> <p><em>Don’t think that we don’t know</em><br /> <em>Don’t think that we’re not trying</em><br /> <em>Don’t think we move too slow</em><br /> <em>It’s no use after crying</em><br /> <em>Saying</em><br /> <em>It’s a mistake</em></p> <p>Men at Work’s “It’s a Mistake” is in competition with “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” for the most literal video interpretation mentioned here. But it serves its narrative purpose, and the video does feature some neat tricks.</p> <p>We open with stop-motion animated toy soldiers engaged in battle (and driving a toy tank over what is possibly a friendly), and the video quickly connects the dots from there to kids (the band in short pants and propeller beanies) engaging in war play with toy guns before they are beckoned by a sinister officer (real pistol in hand) to join the “party”. Said party consists of a handful of various officers drunk on champagne, stumbling among streamers, confetti, and balloons. It’s a war party, and it’s been going on for quite some time.</p> <p>“It’s a mistake,” the band’s characters protest as they are transformed by camera dissolves from working civilians to wartime soldiers marching through a desolate, burned-out forest, underscoring the way ordinary people—and especially the young—get caught in the undertow of war against their will.</p> <p>The video brings us finally to a missile control room. Speaking to his foreign counterpart, lead Colin Hay as a military commander shouts “it’s a mistake” into the phone receiver as he accidentally stubs out his cigar on the Big Red Button, mistaking it for his ashtray. <em>Whoopsie</em> his expression says, as he covers his mouth and turns to the camera. Well, it’s just one of those things that happens, I guess!</p> <p>In the context of the summer of blockbuster movie <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch">WarGames (1983)</a>, a movie about a child-like computer intelligence that brings the US to the brink of nuclear war, “It’s a Mistake” expresses the pervading fear and feelings of helplessness at being at the mercy of a system beyond control and susceptible to errors, a system where the smallest mistakes can have world-ending consequences. It’s a serious subject and yet the video is full of clowning and hijinks (including a gang of umbrella-wielding grannies who show up to batter the soldiers). The video isn’t having fun in the name of war, though. It’s an absurdity, a satire that expresses exasperation at having reckless children in charge of instruments of doom. <em>If you think this video is ridiculous</em>, the band seems to challenge us, <em>wait until you hear about the arms race</em>.</p> <h3 id="forever-young-alphaville-1984">Forever Young, Alphaville (1984)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#forever-young-alphaville-1984" aria-label="Anchor link for: forever-young-alphaville-1984"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjQXmoxiQ8">Forever Young</a> on YouTube</p> <p><em>Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies</em><br /> <em>Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst</em><br /> <em>Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?</em></p> <p>Lyrically, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” is both a somber lament and desperate wish for safety against an uncertain, threatening future. At first blush it seems a bittersweet farewell to childhood, an airy synth-pop ballad destined for play at momentous occasions like proms, graduations, and possibly weddings. Yet the first verse is unquestionably an expression of nuclear anxiety— <em>watching the skies</em> and wondering if the <em>bomb</em> will drop.</p> <p>The video is one of the simpler concepts, consisting of a single location which appears to be an abandoned cathedral (actually the ornately Victorian interior of former Holloway Sanatorium in Surrey). Here we find a rag-tag group of survivors, huddled together asleep on the floor. They are a disparate clan—young and old and ethnically diverse. Alphaville singer Marian Gold wakes them as he croons, backed by two keyboardists (who get miraculous synth sounds from old upright pianos). They are a New Romantic Kraftwerk. Dressed in their best space-age jumpsuits, they could be a Ziggy Stardust tribute band with Bryan Ferry vocals.</p> <p>The wakened sleepers approach the band. Could this be a wedding party? There’s a man in frayed tux. But also a child in a dressing gown. And someone swathed in rags. They wear post-apocalypse whatever-you-can-find fashion. They look to the band expectantly, children drawn to the Pied Piper.</p> <p>A flash of light signals, not a nuclear blast, but the opening of a diamond portal (<em>Youth’s like diamonds in the sun, / And diamonds are forever</em>). Bright light pours forth as a synth pipes something resembling an electronic version of the piccolo trumpet in The Beatle’s “Penny Lane”. Cheery. Celebratory. Triumphant. The survivors enter the portal, departing for destinations unknown. Perhaps they are escaping to the promise of a better world and eternal youth. Perhaps they didn’t survive Armageddon after all and are now ascending to a higher plane. Either way, “Forever Young” comforts the damned with the promise of a better (after)life. There’s a youthful yearning for the day <em>when this race is won</em>. Gold’s performance is intense and pleading: <em>Oh let it come true</em>.</p> <h3 id="party-at-ground-zero-fishbone-1985">Party at Ground Zero, Fishbone (1985)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#party-at-ground-zero-fishbone-1985" aria-label="Anchor link for: party-at-ground-zero-fishbone-1985"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCaFe1yamg">Party at Ground Zero</a> on YouTube</p> <p><em>Party at ground zero</em><br /> <em>A “B” movie starring you</em><br /> <em>And the world will turn to flowing</em><br /> <em>Pink vapor stew</em></p> <p>The music video for “Party at Ground Zero” transplants Edgar Alan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” to an 80s fallout shelter as nightclub (“Atomic Underground,” buzzes the neon sign), where oversized avant-garde masks hide the faces of glitzy party guests as they arrive under the blare of air-raid sirens.</p> <p>Shark-masked armed guards hustle guests into the bunker six levels below the surface. It may be a concrete box, but it’s festively adorned with balloons and streamers and the bar is open and the band is swinging. And do they <em>swing</em>. Fishbone is bright, brash and boisterous, and they threaten to break right through the TV screen. The song’s brassy notes slip and slide around amid yelps and shouts. The bunker can barely contain the South Central LA band and their concoction of funk-rock-ska mixed with a half-dozen other musical spices.</p> <p>As Fishbone rocks the room, symbols representative of pervasive nuclear anxiety are projected onto the walls—including an animated skeleton and its pet bomb (which grows ever larger as the skeleton feeds it alarming headlines about the nuclear arms race). A judge (mask resembling a man in a powdered wig) presides over all, drinking blood from a champagne glass. It’s not subtle. It’s not meant to be. Fishbone are too rowdy for subtlety.</p> <p>There’s a late arrival—a matador with a brilliant red cape draped over one shoulder. The seconds tick toward midnight and the masks come off. First the judge, then the party-goers one-by-one, revealing themselves to be wearing another kind of mask—translucent compressive masks typically used to treat burn patients. They presage the coming nuclear fire.</p> <p>Finally, the matador’s mask splits open revealing the modern-era Red Death—an atomic explosion. The guests are awash in white light. When we fade back in, only their distorted negative-shadows on the walls remain. But the party cannot be stopped, and the shadows begin to wiggle and dance beneath a <em>flowing pink vapor stew</em>.</p> <p>The video is notably directed by Henry Selick, who would go on to direct stop-motion classics <em>The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)</em> and <em>Coraline (2009)</em>. Selick got the gig after entering a nationwide contest sponsored by 3M, in association with the American Film Institute. Nicholas Cage served on the judging panel, in case you were wondering how many degrees of separation there were between him and Fishbone.</p> <p>The video went on to win Billboard magazine awards for Best Art Direction and Set Decoration. A fair accomplishment considering Selick was awarded a scant $28,000 budget (about $75,000 today). He clearly made the most of it. Any cheapness apparent in the production only adds to the vibe.</p> <h3 id="the-wild-boys-duran-duran-1984">The Wild Boys, Duran Duran (1984)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#the-wild-boys-duran-duran-1984" aria-label="Anchor link for: the-wild-boys-duran-duran-1984"></a></h3> <p>Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43wsiNBwmo">The Wild Boys</a> on YouTube</p> <p><em>The wild boys are calling</em><br /> <em>On their way back from the fire</em><br /> <em>In August moon’s surrender to</em><br /> <em>A dust cloud on the rise</em></p> <p>“The Wild Boys”, both the song and the music video that followed, rose from the nuclear ashes of director Russell Mulcahy’s attempt to adapt the William Burroughs novel of the same name into a feature film. Bassist and Duran Duran founder John Taylor explained in his book <em>In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran</em>, that he and lead singer/lyricist Simon Le Bon “got excited and insisted to Russell that we should be allowed to compose the title song for his movie.” The movie collapsed but the song survived, and Mulcahy had an overabundance of leftover visuals, special effects, characters and designs he could easily recycle for the video. Clearly, he left no idea untouched—the video is <em>stuffed</em>.</p> <p>This post-apocalypse was the <em>most</em> -apocalypse. The video had the largest budget to date, and was filmed on the cavernous 007 sound stage at Pinewood Studios. Visually, it’s richly imagined. The editing is fast paced, creating a kenetic narrative collage that skips and skitters back and forth in time. (If you were hoping <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/msPG2mKWESk">the extended ten-minute video</a> made for a more cohesive narrative…no).</p> <p>When the video opens, we seem to be glimpsing the tail end of the Great Collapse here, with Very British Schoolboys in a nearly empty classroom smashing their chairs and desks (and breathing fire) in a final declaration of rebellion, though the authority figures are nowhere to be seen. The world has not only <em>already</em> imploded, but factions have had time to outfit themselves in the lasted post-apocalyptic rags and body paint. Steel pyramids and scaffolds have risen from the detritus of society, and the world is now a wasteland of scrap metal, chains, and random bursts of flame.</p> <p>A lone stranger walks through a blue haze of 80s cinematography, his long, long, <em>long</em> cloak blowing dramatically behind him. A robot head breaths fire (there’s a lot of fire breathing) while a video screen over his shoulder appears to monitor various members of the band. A bare-chested wild boy (there’s a lot of bare-chested wild boys) with “ANIMAL” stenciled on his torso struts through the metallic wasteland. Large swaths of fabric curtains big enough to sail a windjammer fall. Fire explodes. Wild boys blast out of the walls carrying more fire. Wild boys execute punchy dance moves. It’s a lot.</p> <p>The band members are in various states of capture and torment. John Taylor is crucified on a car and forced to watch photos of himself, guitarist Andy Taylor is chained to a ship’s figurehead, and keyboardist Nick Rhodes is caged (but he has some electronic equipment to keep him busy).</p> <p>Finally, we find Le Bon in his wasteland-leather best (light armor adorns his right arm). He’s strapped to the blade of a windmill which periodically dunks his head in a pool of water as it spins. There’s a virtuoso shot of the camera locking in sync with the windmill, rotating with Le Bon so that the world turns around us. Both John Taylor and choreographer Arlene Phillips recall Le Bon nearly drowning on set. Phillips said in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/arlene-phillips-remembers-the-day-simon-223559">an interview in BirminghamLive</a>, “The windmill stopped when he was under the water and he couldn’t breathe. He was stuck there and they had to send divers in to rescue him.” (<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/simon-le-bon-you-ask-the-questions-492027.html">Le Bon denies ever being in danger</a>).</p> <p>Finally our wasteland hero escapes the Le Bon Dipping Machine—in real life as well as the video—braving an angry water chicken with baby T. rex arms. He’ll live to sing another day. And miraculously, the rest of the band survives as well. <em>They tried to break us / Looks like they’ll try again.</em></p> <p>Perhaps the most radical thing about this video is that the band as protagonists are almost completely inactive. They’re trapped and awaiting rescue (with the possible exception of Roger Taylor who appears for a split second in some kind of gondola, perhaps flying some makeshift contraption).</p> <p>There’s an implied optimism here—in surviving the apocalypse, in the ongoing struggle to form a new society and rebuild, and the tenacity to hang in there long enough to be saved. The video ends with our heroes celebrated in a confetti-choked parade.</p> <p><em>Wild boys always shine</em>.</p> <h2 id="how-i-wrote-the-last-time-i-went-on-a-prowl-with-farrell-jenkins">How I wrote “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”<a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-i-wrote-the-last-time-i-went-on-a-prowl-with-farrell-jenkins" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-i-wrote-the-last-time-i-went-on-a-prowl-with-farrell-jenkins"></a></h2> <p>Last month I had two flash fiction pieces published, the second of which was “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins.”</p> <p><em>On the last night before he disappears, enigmatic Farrell Jenkins—a boy possibly raised by cats—takes reluctant Autumn on one final, magical prowl through the strange spaces between growing up and letting go.</em></p> <blockquote> <p>“It’s not a proper prowl unless you leave by the window,” Farrell said. “No good prowl ever started out the front door.”</p> </blockquote> <p>This piece had a couple of origins. Firstly, I’ve had the character of Farrell in one form or other skulking around in my head for quite a while. I’ve always been fascinated with wild or feral kids as characters. I also find hybrids interesting. And, I’m a cat person—I grew up with seven cat siblings. My cat Alex, named after the computer AI in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bionic.fandom.com/wiki/Doomsday_Is_Tomorrow">a Bionic Woman episode</a>, lived to be 23. It seems inevitable I’d write about a cat-boy at some point.</p> <p>I had attempted to introduce a proto-Farrell character in an episode of <em><a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a></em> but at that point, Amazon was pretty much dismissing all of my ideas. (Amazon has a love-hate relationship with creators. They love to hate them, har har.) I also had planned to introduce a Schrödinger’s cat/boy hybrid character in an (as yet unwritten) sequel to my novelette “ <a href="/works/death">Anything Short of Death of Death is Survivable</a>,” about a kid imprisoned by a nebula-spanning supercomputer.</p> <p>But this iteration of Farrell first showed up as the central character in what I thought might be a loosely-connected series of stories pretending to be a middle-grade novel which I called <em>Ten Totally True Tales about Farrell Jenkins, a Boy Raised by Cats Probably (Told by the Kids Who Were There and Maybe Also by a Few Who Weren’t).</em> As an experiment, I wrote a few opening paragraphs but never went much further than that after realizing I had no idea how to make the book work. I moved on to other projects.</p> <p>A few years later, I found myself participating in a flash fiction contest run by my writer’s group, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Writers_Group">Codex</a>. The contest runs for six weeks. Each week, writers are provided a selection of story prompts. Writers choose a prompt and have the weekend to create a maximum 750-word flash fiction story. (You may have heard of this contest as it has produced many published stories).</p> <p>One week I chose this prompt:</p> <p><em>Find a book you stopped reading (or any other book nearby). Open to page 72 and choose a sentence on that page. Use something in that sentence to inspire your story.</em></p> <p>As it happened I had Stephen King’s <em>You Like It Darker</em> lying nearby. I found this sentence:</p> <p>“He’s got a bottle filled with fireflies in Grandpa’s room.”</p> <p>Which reminded me of the firefly in the opening sentences of my abandoned book. But to preserve Farrell’s enigmatic appeal, I needed to see him through another character’s eyes. So there was Autumn, struggling diligently to do her homework while free spirit catboy Farrell crouched in a tree, talking to fireflies and doing his best to distract her. When I realized Autumn had a tube of Grape Crush lipstick rolling around her desk drawer which she didn’t yet have the courage to try, I knew she needed to go on a prowl with Farrell so she could leave childhood with a little bit of Wonder intact—and that was my story.</p> <p>The creative process is messy and rarely ever moves in a straight line. This was a long way to go for 765 words (I expanded a bit after the contest), but it was worth it to finally put Farrell in a story. And I hope it won’t be his last.</p> <p>You can read this story in the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">April 2025 (Version One) issue of Worlds of Possibility</a>.</p> <p>If you read and enjoy this or any of my stories, please shout about them on social media or drop me a note on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a>. Members of the <strong>SFWA</strong> can add to or upvote my stories on the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/">Nebula Reading List</a>.</p> <h2 id="reading-log">Reading Log<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-log" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-log"></a></h2> <p><strong>“400 Boys”</strong> (1983) by Marc Laidlaw in <em>Mirrorshades The Cyberpunk Anthology</em> (1986) [<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.marclaidlaw.com/online-fiction/400-boys/">also available free on the author’s website</a>]. Savage giants (or Gods) lay waste to Fun City and Croak’s gang is forced to unite with their rivals to save all their skins. An electrifying thunderbolt of a story. Cracking, vivid, visceral prose. Wildly imaginative and very voicey. I wasn’t always sure what was happening on the first read, but I was totally along for the ride. A nightmarish vision, but with a flickering candle-flame of hope at its core. Even in the collapse of everything, a fighting spirit remains. Note: this story was adapted for <em>Love, Death & Robots</em> but the episode does <em>not</em> do it justice. Not even close.</p> <p><strong>“Super-toys Last All Summer Long”</strong> (1969) by Brian Aldiss in <em>We, Robots</em>. Quaint in the way it’s dated. Didn’t impact me like it should, perhaps because the twist was obvious (or just well-known). Works as a study of crushing loneliness in a technological world. Questions what is real—the robot child is emotionally sincere while the humans are emotionally stunted. More delicate and nuanced than the eventual movie adaptation (<em>A.I. Artificial Intelligence</em>).</p> <p><strong>“Far As You Can Go”</strong> (2006) by Greg van Eekhout in <em>The Year’s Best Science Fiction - Twenty-fourth Annual Collection.</em> Cool robot/boy buddy story as they embark on a quest to escape their crumbling hellscape and see the ocean. <em>Love</em> the world and the voice. Fast paced with richly drawn characters and world-building. It’s a stand-out story with a great sense of adventure and heart. The last line made me choke up. This story gave me courage to finally write my own post-apocalypse boy/robot story.</p> <p><strong>“The End of the Whole Mess”</strong> (1986) by Stephen King in <em>Wastelands — Stories of the Apocalypse</em> (and <em>Nightmares and Dreamscapes</em>). A blend of “Flowers for Algernon” and “brilliant mind goes too far.” Narrated by a familiar King archetype (first-person writer). The science is implausible (King’s science is always a bit soft and wonky), and the story leans more on tone and concept than depth. It’s mostly a loving character profile of the narrator’s little brother. Nominated for a World Fantasy Award, but didn’t strike me as award-worthy.</p> <p><strong>“10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days”</strong> by Samantha Mills in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/10-visions-of-the-future-or-self-care-for-the-end-of-days/">Uncanny #63</a>, March 4, 2025. A hellgate has opened off the coast of California and that’s just the starting point for many potential horrific futures as viewed via a bargain-basement witch’s ball, on sale from Amazon (free shipping included). Mill’s story is a wrenching, raw, honest and fantastical ride. She has a knack for creating characters and worlds that are instantly recognizable and real—perhaps a little too real. Mills never flinches but still offers moments of grace, shows us that in the small spaces between horrors we can find gratitude, find peace, and hopefully find each other. No easy answers here, but worthwhile reminders to hold on to our humanity and to fight the darkness by loving ourselves and each other.</p> <h2 id="featured-author-newsletter-glen-engel-cox">Featured Author Newsletter - Glen Engel-Cox<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-author-newsletter-glen-engel-cox" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-author-newsletter-glen-engel-cox"></a></h2> <p>This month, I’m excited to introduce fellow writer Glen Engel-Cox and his free daily newsletter <em>Book of Days</em>. Glen Engel-Cox has published a novel, <em>Darwin’s Daughter</em>; a non-fiction compilation, <em>First Impressions</em>; and short fiction in <em>The Daily Tomorrow</em>, <em>Phano</em>, <em>Triangulation</em>, <em>LatineLit</em>, <em>Utopia</em>, <em>Nature</em>, and elsewhere. Glen grew up in Texas and has since lived and worked in California, Malaysia, Ohio, Saudi Arabia, and Washington (both state and District of Columbia), as well as traveling to 90+ other countries. <em>Book of Days</em> is a daily newsletter about authors and literary events, celebrating books and book people. You can subscribe to Glen’s newsletter here: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://patreon.com/gengelcox">patreon.com/gengelcox</a></p> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="icymi">ICYMI<a class="zola-anchor" href="#icymi" aria-label="Anchor link for: icymi"></a></h2> <p><em>If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work.</em></p> <p>Forthcoming: “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis” in <em>Lightspeed</em>.</p> <p>I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, <em><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a></em> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">(Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Now available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library.</p> <p>My most recent fiction, “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins</a>,” is available in the April 2025 (Version One) issue of <em>World of Possibilities</em>.</p> <p>Other recent fiction includes, “<a href="/works/polyphemus">The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus</a>,” “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell from the Sky</a>,“ and “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/under-a-star-bright-as-morning/">Under a Star, Bright as Morning</a>.” Visit my <a href="/works">Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works.</p> <p>I wrote for <a href="/works/glitch-techs">Nickelodeon’s <em>Glitch Techs</em></a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, <em><a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a></em>,about three kids whose life is anything but normal.</p> <h2 id="have-something-to-say">Have something to say?<a class="zola-anchor" href="#have-something-to-say" aria-label="Anchor link for: have-something-to-say"></a></h2> <p>I’d love to hear from you. If you’re reading in your inbox, you can reply directly to this email, or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/p/my-new-post?comments=true">comment publicly on the website</a>. Say hi!</p> <p><em>Anaxagology</em> is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Subscribe now</a>! You can learn more about Dave at his <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://davidanaxagoras.com/">website</a>, or follow him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com">Instagram</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Anaxagology for May 2025</h1> <p>Unknown — Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p>Just a quick reminder: My novel <em><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a></em> is now available wherever audiobooks are sold. It’d make a perfect listen for those summer road-trips. Here’s one of my favorite reviews from an Amazon listener: <strong>“It’s spooky, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s creepy, it’s thrilling, it’s scary, and it’s so much fun!”</strong> I’m so grateful for the positive response so far. Seeing <em>The Tower</em> find its way into listeners’ ears has been such a ride, and I love hearing your thoughts. If you’re in the mood for a mix of chills, mystery, and heart, give it a listen. And if you’ve already picked it up—thank you! I’d love to know what you think—your feedback means a lot.</p> <p>Also, if you are a professional reviewer or a voting member of the SFWA, HWA, or other awards body, I have review copies of <em><strong>The Tower</strong></em> available. You can reply directly to this email if you’re reading in your inbox, or drop me a note at <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxaoras.com</a></p> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="post-post-apocalypse">Post post-apocalypse<a class="zola-anchor" href="#post-post-apocalypse" aria-label="Anchor link for: post-post-apocalypse"></a></h2> <p>I’ve been thinking about apocalypses a lot lately. No reason, aside from <gestures broadly>. As an old Gen-Xer, I’m no stranger to the post-apocalyptic wastelands. It’s part of my DNA. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/UlwtiOyaoo0">The Road Warrior</a> touched off an aesthetic conflagration that consumed everything from <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/M43wsiNBwmo">music videos</a> to <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Toriyama%27s_Manga_Theater">manga and comics</a> to <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/w13PracbN9Y">network television</a> and right back to <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/NpKbULrB9Z8">movies</a> again. These days it’s mostly a zombie-flavored apocalypse you see. In my day, it was nuclear war and radioactive mutants. YAMV (Your Apocalypse May Vary). Depends on the prevailing collective cultural fears and threats.</p> <p>What’s the appeal of the post-apocalypse? Well, aside from giving a shape to our fear, and thus allowing us to grapple with it in a more concrete form—which is slightly more therapeutic than living under a vague cloud of nightmarish anxiety and stomach-gnawing apprehension—it represents a kind of freedom. The worst has happened and we have survived. Now, there are no rules. It’s permission to indulge fantasies of violence and domination—which usually take the form of a lone, angry white dude on loan from spaghetti westerns and 70s revenge films killing a lot of zombies/radioactive mutants/infected/aliens/robots or whatever stand-in for <em>not one of us</em> is handy.</p> <p>As I said, I grew up with apocalypses in popular media and I’ve indulged this fantasy plenty. If only civilization would collapse I could finally be <em>free</em> and the world would be mine. No school, no parents, no job, no stress. Well, aside from the things that want to eat you—but, you know, you gotta have something to shoot/chain saw/smash with a big spiky ball on a chain to prove you’re king of the radioactive scrap heap. Oh dear, the neighborhood bully turned into a mutant! Better do him a solid and put him out of his misery.</p> <p>My latest WIP is a novelette set in post-apocalyptic times though it didn’t start out that way. I had the image of a boy behind a workbench in a grimy repair shop fixing someone’s robot. The world grew around that. I grabbed on to the theme of <em>repairing is caring</em> and started thinking a lot about what kind of world this kid was living in. I write a lot about boys because they are inherently facing the choice of what kind of man they are going to become. It’s rich ground for storytelling and also important in life.</p> <p>Most of us aren’t living in a post-apocalypse but we already have plenty of men eager to don their warrior garb, join ICE, and march off to round up brown “invaders”. If we <em>have</em> to have an apocalypse, at least we can start to imagine a better one. Or one that’s a bit more original.</p> <p>My post-apocalyptic future isn’t about violence and domination. The answers aren’t about who can be the strongest, biggest, baddest. That’s what gets you an apocalypse in the first place. It’s about repair, connection and reshaping the bonds of community. Repairing is caring.</p> <p><em>Here’s a sneak peek at my post-apocalypse WIP. This is still an early draft, so please excuse the rough edges. In this snippet, we catch up with Ladd, a fiercely guarded and independent boy scavenging an underground parking garage, as he tries to ditch an annoying pre-Collapse butler/nanny-bot he has inadvertently reactivated:</em></p> <blockquote> <p>“Just stay out of my way, Bits.”</p> <p>I shoved past him. Hopped across a pile of concrete slabs, moving fast. I could outpace a rusty old pre-Collapse robot. I ducked under a beam and squeezed through a narrow space—wasn’t really watching where I was going. Just trying to put space between me and Bits.</p> <p>But the structure was less stable here. When I climbed over another tangle of debris, I felt something shift.</p> <p>I had no time to react.</p> <p>Something heavy—a concrete pillar, or worse—hit my shoulder, knocking me sideways. I was seconds from becoming a permanent part of the architecture. But before I could be squashed to jelly, a hand yanked me clear.</p> <p>Two lamplights blinked at me in the dark.</p> <p>Bits shoved me against a wall and leaned in, bracing me. He put his hand gently on top of my head and pressed my face into his chest.</p> <p>“I advise the young master to close his eyes against the dust.”</p> <p>I did as he said.</p> <p>I heard the rumble and crunch as the building folded. Smaller bits—gravel, dirt, dust—made a soft <em>shushing</em> sound as it all settled into the gaps. My heart was in my throat, vibrating like a loose cooling fan.</p> <p>When it was over, Bits stepped back. His eyes blinked brilliant blue. A soft scan-light washed over me.</p> <p>“There. I see the young master is entirely unharmed. How gratifying.”</p> <p>He produced a tiny lint brush from his coat pocket and started brushing my shoulders in slow careful strokes. Pretty sure it was leaving more cruft than it removed.</p> <p>I pushed his hand away.</p> <p>“Stop that.”</p> <p>“As you wish, young sir. I—”</p> <p>“Endeavor to satisfy, yes. I’ve heard.”</p> <p>Bits stood completely still for a moment. Then—</p> <p>“Shall we proceed, then, to the exit?”</p> <p>I looked around—or tried to. Wherever I had left the cracklights, they were now buried. Maybe I wouldn’t ditch Bits just yet.</p> <p>“You can see in the dark?”</p> <p>“I am equipped both with infra-red sensors—” his eyes flashed red, “—and ultra-sonic echolocation.”</p> <p>His “ears” popped out and emitted a faint high-pitched whine. I just hoped we didn’t attract razor bats.</p> <p>“If the young master would care to follow me—”</p> <p>The young master would.</p> <p>Just this once.</p> </blockquote> <h2 id="out-now">Out now<a class="zola-anchor" href="#out-now" aria-label="Anchor link for: out-now"></a></h2> <p>I had two flash fiction stories published in May. The first is “<strong>The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus.</strong>” <em>After centuries of isolation, a blinded Polyphemus struggles to heal in a world that only remembers him as a monster—until an unexpected friendship teaches him to truly see again.</em></p> <blockquote> <p>“The last time I looked at anything with this eye, all I saw were men who hated me.”</p> </blockquote> <p>In <em>The Odyssey</em>, we see the Cyclops Polyphemus as a terrifying, man-eating monster. He traps Odysseus and his crew in his cave and proceeds to devour them one by one. He was not a gracious host—it’s just terrible manners to eat your guests.</p> <p>Polyphemus turned up a couple hundred years later in <em>The Cyclops</em> by Euripides, still a one-eyed giant, but he now bumbling and oafish, full of self-pity. An object of derision. I thought it was pretty shabby treatment, even if he did occasionally consume a dinner guest or two.</p> <p>I was fascinated in this shift of the portrayal of Polyphemus and felt he deserved a more sympathetic examination. I cast him a lonely figure, out-of-place in the modern world. His wounded eye and his refusal to remove his bandages spoke to his unprocessed trauma. Fortunately for him, Gale from the Department of Mythical Beings isn’t ready to give up on him just yet.</p> <p>You can check out a review of “The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus” in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://mynachang.com/2025/05/23/flash-roundup-may-2025/">Myna Chang’s Flash Roundup for May 2025</a>. “I’m in love with the idea of a Department of Mythical Beings!…Anaxagoras succeeds on several layers in this alluring piece.”</p> <p>The story is free to read right now in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://factorfourmag.com/the-everlasting-wound-of-polyphemus-by-david-anaxagoras/"><em>Factor Four Magazine</em></a>.</p> <p>Also available this month is “<strong>The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins.</strong>” On the last night before he disappears, enigmatic Farrell Jenkins—a boy possibly raised by cats—takes reluctant Autumn on one final, magical prowl through the strange spaces between growing up and letting go.</p> <blockquote> <p>“It’s not a proper prowl unless you leave by the window,” Farrell said. “No good prowl ever started out the front door.”</p> </blockquote> <p>You can read “Farrell” in the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">April 2025 (Version One) issue of</a> <em><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">Worlds of Possibility</a></em>. I’ll have more story notes on “Farrell” next time.</p> <p>If you enjoyed these (or any of my stories) please share them on social media, drop me a note on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com/theanaxagoras/">Instagram</a>, or comment on my <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://davidanaxagoras.com/">website</a>. Members of the <strong>SFWA</strong>, you can add to or upvote these stories on the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/">Nebula Reading List</a>.</p> <h2 id="reading-log">Reading log<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-log" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-log"></a></h2> <p>I’m keeping a reading log of both vintage and contemporary speculative short fiction. I thought I’d share some select stories here. I’ll note where I read them, if you’re interested. Pro tip: You can look up a speculative short story in the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi">ISFDb</a> and get a list of magazines, anthologies and collections in which it is featured.</p> <p><strong>“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”</strong> by Harlan Ellison in <em>If: Worlds of Science Fiction</em> (Magazine) 112, March 1967. The last five humans on Earth are imprisoned and tortured by an insane supercomputer AI. Harrowing and nightmarish and more than a little cruel and sadistic. Misogynist in its treatment of the lone female character. Disturbing and effective prose and an increasingly relevant warning about AI that absolutely no one seems to be heeding.</p> <p><strong>“Mimsy Were the Borogoves”</strong> by Lewis Padgett in <em>The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF</em>. A future higher-dimensional being unintentionally sends a box of children’s toys back to our time, where they inadvertently train a couple of kids to think beyond our current understand of math and physics. The ideas here must have seemed bold at the time, but the dry expository writing was a struggle to get through. Succeeds mostly when focused from the kids’ perspective (the writing is more immediate and visceral) but quickly becomes an old white man’s science lecture as the parents’ take over the narrative. Full of dry scientist-types explaining, drinking, patronizing, drinking, philosophizing, drinking, repeat and re-repeat. An undeniably influential SF story but not well constructed. Loosely adapted as the movie <em>The Last Mimzy</em> which was terrible in it’s own right and if I recall correctly, added in a bunch of new-age claptrap.</p> <p><strong>“Steadyboi After the Apocalypse”</strong> by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor in <em><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/02/06/escape-pod-979-steadyboi-after-the-apocalypse/">Escape Pod</a></em> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/02/06/escape-pod-979-steadyboi-after-the-apocalypse/">#</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/02/06/escape-pod-979-steadyboi-after-the-apocalypse/">979</a>, February 6, 2025. Steadyboi is a warbot without a war, built like a tank, and ready to give up and literally crawl into a hole and deactivate after being constantly treated as a threat by humans—despite efforts to find peaceful purpose in the post-apocalypse. This is a story about finding meaning and renewal in helping others. And it’s about the necessity of trust and care in (re)building a community. Rich characterization, expertly crafted. A moving tale of holding out and holding on.</p> <p><strong>“After the Rain”</strong> by P.A. Cornell in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/05/01/escape-pod-991-after-the-rain/"><em>Escape Pod</em></a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/05/01/escape-pod-991-after-the-rain/">#991</a>, May 1, 2025. A young courier rides her bike around her caring and sharing post-apocalyptic community. Her village is soon confronted with a criminal in their midst. This story has a gentle, easy, pleasant vibe that makes you want to be part of this community and ride your bike through the summer rain. Lovely.</p> <h2 id="featured-author-newsletter-p-a-cornell">Featured author newsletter: P.A. Cornell<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-author-newsletter-p-a-cornell" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-author-newsletter-p-a-cornell"></a></h2> <p>This month, I’m excited to feature a fellow writer and her fantastic free monthly newsletter. Meet <strong>P.A. Cornell</strong> (She/Her), a Nebula, World Fantasy, and Aurora-nominated speculative fiction writer, with publications in over fifty magazines and anthologies, including <em>Lightspeed</em>, <em>Analog</em>, <em>Apex</em>, and three “Best of the Year” anthologies. In her newsletter, you can expect updates on all her writing-related news as well as a “Story Behind the Story” feature with a look at a new story each month. Subscribers also receive occasional bonuses just because. Subscribe to P.A. Cornell’s newsletter here: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pacornell.substack.com/">https://pacornell.substack.com/</a></p> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="icymi">ICYMI<a class="zola-anchor" href="#icymi" aria-label="Anchor link for: icymi"></a></h2> <p><em>If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work.</em></p> <p>Forthcoming: “ <strong>Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis</strong> ” in <em>Lightspeed</em>.</p> <p>I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, <em><strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a></strong></em> <strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">(Recorded Books, 2025)</a></strong>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Now available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library.</p> <p>My most recent fiction, “<strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins</a></strong>,” is available in the April 2025 (Version One) issue of <em>World of Possibilities</em>.</p> <p>Other recent fiction includes, “<strong><a href="/works/polyphemus">The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus</a></strong>,” “ <strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell from the Sky</a>**,</strong>“ and “<strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/under-a-star-bright-as-morning/">Under a Star, Bright as Morning</a>*.”</strong> Visit my <strong><a href="/works">Bibliography</a></strong> for a full list of fiction and other works.</p> <p>I wrote for <strong><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://davidanaxagoras.com/projects/glitch-techs/">Nickelodeon’s</a></strong> <em><strong><a href="/works/glitch-techs">Glitch Techs</a></strong></em>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, <em><strong><a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a></strong></em><em>,</em> about three kids whose life is anything but normal.</p> <h2 id="have-something-to-say">Have something to say?<a class="zola-anchor" href="#have-something-to-say" aria-label="Anchor link for: have-something-to-say"></a></h2> <p>I’d love to hear from you. If you’re reading in your inbox, you can reply directly to this email, or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/p/my-new-post?comments=true">comment publicly on the website</a>. Say hi!</p> <p><em>Anaxagology</em> is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Subscribe now</a>! You can learn more about Dave at his <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://davidanaxagoras.com/">website</a>, or follow him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com">Instagram</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus</h1> <p>Unknown — Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="some-wounds-never-heal">Some wounds never heal<a class="zola-anchor" href="#some-wounds-never-heal" aria-label="Anchor link for: some-wounds-never-heal"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>I could not resist this story….Anaxagoras succeeds on several layers in this alluring piece. <cite>— Myna Chang, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://mynachang.com/2025/05/23/flash-roundup-may-2025/">Flash Roundup, May 2025</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> <p>“The last time I looked at anything with this eye, all I saw were men who hated me. I forged the thunderbolt of Zeus! I built the walls of Mycenae!”</p> <p>“Is that why you won't take your blindfold off? So you don’t have to see yourself in their faces? In their fear?”</p> <p>“All they see is a monster.”</p> <p>“I don't, Poly.”</p> <p>“Bah!” he said and stalked away.</p> </div> <p>In <em>Factor Four Magazine</em>, Issue 47 (May 2025). <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://factorfourmag.com/the-everlasting-wound-of-polyphemus-by-david-anaxagoras/">Read</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="hold-on-to-wonder">Hold on to Wonder<a class="zola-anchor" href="#hold-on-to-wonder" aria-label="Anchor link for: hold-on-to-wonder"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>Offering a reminder that magic still exists in the world, regardless of how old you get or serious your demeanor…It’s a lovely story. <cite>— Charles Payseur, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://locusmag.com/2025/08/diabolical-plots-zooscape-and-worlds-of-possibility-version-one-reviews-by-charles-payseur/"><em>Locus Magazine</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> <p>Farrell holds his cupped hands under his mouth and flashes of green reflect on his pale chin. That’s how I know he’s holding a firefly. I’m trying to get my history paper done, the one I was supposed to be working on all week but didn’t start until tonight, but it’s hard to ignore a boy on a thickamore mumbling to a bug outside your window.</p> </div> <p>Read the full story free in <a href="/yearbook">The 2025 Story Yearbook</a></p> <p>First published in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.juliarios.com/introducing-the-april-2025-issues-of-worlds-of-possibility/">Worlds of Possibility, April 2025</a> (Version One).</p> <p>Reprinted in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.juliarios.com/a-gift-to-end-2025-worlds-of-possibility-volume-2/">Worlds of Possibility, Volume 2</a>, December 2025. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.juliarios.com/a-gift-to-end-2025-worlds-of-possibility-volume-2/">Download</a></p> <p>Watch a live reading on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/3s-GskX8Duw?t=2484">Story Hour (YouTube)</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Tower</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p><MARK><strong>A 2026 Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist!</strong></MARK></p> <h2 id="praise-for-the-tower">Praise for <em>The Tower</em><a class="zola-anchor" href="#praise-for-the-tower" aria-label="Anchor link for: praise-for-the-tower"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ An enthralling work of middle grade horror…A challenge to put down. I read the whole thing within a day. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8497679758">Beth Cato, Author/Goodreads</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ It’s spooky, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s creepy, it’s thrilling, it’s scary, and it’s so much fun! <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1D86N2KWTI4B5/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0D5JVWWJY">Amazon Reviewer</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ Great characters and characterization, a deep and disturbing mystery, and good narration make this a winner. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7378254239">M.E. Garber, Author/Goodreads</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>★★★★★ The book is full of suspense and adventure that will keep you enthralled until the ending that you won’t see coming. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7376133900">Leah Orr, Author/Goodreads</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <h2 id="synopsis">Synopsis<a class="zola-anchor" href="#synopsis" aria-label="Anchor link for: synopsis"></a></h2> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/p/davidanaxagoras/845013101170977037">Cover image</a></p> <p>When 12-year-old Kolby wakes up on the polished concrete floor of an empty white room, he has no memory, no clothes, and no idea where he is. Kolby soon discovers he’s one of a dozen kids living in an extravagant penthouse atop the tallest tower in the city. Adults are nowhere to be found and, like Kolby, all the kids are missing their memories. The kids in the tower spend their time scaling the climbing wall, riding the winding waterslide into an Olympic-sized swimming pool, or playing video games on the 105-inch 8K video screen. A mysterious “manifesting room” magically provides food and rewards. They have virtually everything a kid could want.</p> <p>Except a way out.</p> <ul> <li>Check out <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BiRnhEmprk">The Tower audiobook trailer on YouTube</a></li> <li>I wrote about <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-david-anaxagoras-talks-about-the-tower/?utm_source=anaxagoras.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=anaxagology-for-july-2025">My Favorite Bit of writing The Tower</a> on Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog.</li> <li><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/06/09/move-over-middle-grade-take-two-by-guest-bloggers-christina-chatel-and-marcia-kochel/?utm_source=anaxagoras.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=anaxagology-for-july-2025">The Tower was featured in a post</a> on the School Library Journal’s website .</li> </ul> <h2 id="order-the-tower-from-your-favorite-seller-now">Order <em>The Tower</em> From Your Favorite Seller Now!<a class="zola-anchor" href="#order-the-tower-from-your-favorite-seller-now" aria-label="Anchor link for: order-the-tower-from-your-favorite-seller-now"></a></h2> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-The-Tower/dp/B0D5JVWWJY">Amazon</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-tower-david-anaxagoras/1145642534">Barnes & Noble</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-tower/id1748018779">Apple Books</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/the-tower-99">Kobo</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798892746618-the-tower">Libro.fm</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/9798892746618">Audiobooks.com</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/David_Anaxagoras_The_Tower?id=AQAAAEDS_kK-gM">Google Play</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell From the Sky</h1> <p>Unknown — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="one-kiss-changes-everything">One Kiss Changes Everything<a class="zola-anchor" href="#one-kiss-changes-everything" aria-label="Anchor link for: one-kiss-changes-everything"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>Nicely strange story. <cite>— Sam Tomaino, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=20688">SFRevu</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Nothing if not inventive…successfully conveying a wistful sense of the loss of innocence. Recommended. <cite>— Mike Bickerdike, <em>Tangent Online</em></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class=excerpt> <p>I lifted my t-shirt. The wren hopped into my hand and rich red blood pooled in the cup of my navel, then trickled over, making a thin red trail into my waistband. The wren skipped to the top button of my jeans and dipped its beak in my blood.</p> <p>“Ew! Vampire bird!” Isa noted.</p> <p>“Stop that,” I said to the wren. I inspected my navel. It seemed fine. Aside from the blood, you couldn’t tell a bird had just pushed through. I snatched up the wren and wiped at the blood, and it kind of just smeared around on my pale belly turning it pink.</p> </div> <p>In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/dec-2024-issue-175/"><em>Lightspeed Magazine</em>, Issue 175</a>, December 2024. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/fj/podcast/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-get-hyped/id375802058?i=1000681710197">Listen</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/december-2024-issue-175/">Buy</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>All the Things We Can't Outrun</h1> <p>Unknown — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="racing-from-one-disaster-to-another">Racing from One Disaster to Another<a class="zola-anchor" href="#racing-from-one-disaster-to-another" aria-label="Anchor link for: racing-from-one-disaster-to-another"></a></h2> <div class="excerpt"> <p>I am hoping bad for the Magic Sword Ladies to come, hoping so hard my stomach aches, when the new critters, the should-be-dead things, the not-raccoon things, start peeling up off the road. They are flat and floppy like an empty glove, so they take turns blowing into each other’s snouts and inflating themselves like furry balloons and then they shovel up their squished-out insides with their broken jaws and fill themselves full again.</p> </div> <p>In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://frombeyondpress.com/product/xanax-hamster-december-2024/"><em>Xanax Hamster</em>, Vol. 1, Issue 2, (December 2024)</a>. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://frombeyondpress.com/product/xanax-hamster-december-2024/">Buy</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Under a Star, Bright as Morning</h1> <p>Unknown — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="birthing-a-new-god-don-t-forget-your-garbage-bag-rain-poncho">Birthing a new God? Don’t forget your garbage-bag rain poncho.<a class="zola-anchor" href="#birthing-a-new-god-don-t-forget-your-garbage-bag-rain-poncho" aria-label="Anchor link for: birthing-a-new-god-don-t-forget-your-garbage-bag-rain-poncho"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>I did not expect the end to play out the way it did. A satisfying, full-circle piece. <cite>— Myna Chang, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://mynachang.com/2024/04/26/flash-roundup-april-2024/">Flash Roundup, April 2024</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> <p>Jo drives urgently as they race toward the star, not sure how far to go, racing because the baby is coming tonight, now, and He (a He, of course) is supposed to be born under the star, that’s how the story goes. The story, the new story and the old, begins with a visitor, a messenger. Molly had just logged out for the day when the monk knocked on her door.</p> </div> <p>In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/apr-2024-issue-166/">Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 167</a>, April 2024. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/under-a-star-bright-as-morning/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-anaxagoras-under-a-star-bright-as-morning/id375802058?i=1000652100021">Listen</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/april-2024-issue-167/">Buy</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>We Shall Not Be Bitter at the End of the World</h1> <p>Unknown — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="cherry-cola-shish-kebabs-bigfoot">Cherry Cola. Shish KeBabs. Bigfoot.<a class="zola-anchor" href="#cherry-cola-shish-kebabs-bigfoot" aria-label="Anchor link for: cherry-cola-shish-kebabs-bigfoot"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>Dreamy and strange…It’s quite poignant and well done. <cite>— Mike Bickerdike, <a href="#"><em>Tangent Online</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Wonderfully bizarre” <cite>—Sam Tomaino, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=20413"><em>SFRevu</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Cute, amusing and a little strange. It made me laugh. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://cathysreadingbonanza.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/coming-to-you-at-the-speed-of-light/">Cathy’s Reading Bonanza</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>The narrative voice is an absolute delight. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.tarvolon.com/2024/03/04/february-2024-round-up-and-short-fiction-miscellany/">Tarvolon.com</a></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> <p>Dad says the gravity will hit us long before Wormwood physically does, and already the moon is cracking and reality is getting pushed and pulled and squeezed and twisted (like taffy, Mom explains, but I’ve never really had taffy because Mom always says it is bad for my teeth and I’m thinking instead when I used to stretch and pull different colors of modeling clay together and each color became a thin band, then many thin bands, then eventually blended all together into itself). That’s what’s happening now. Everything we know is getting all mixed together. Even time, because it’s all one thing with space, Dad says, and I said I know that already because I watch science on YouTube. Amelia Earhart was here last night but I missed her because I had already gone to bed and apparently there are still bedtimes at the end of the world, which sucks.</p> </div> <p>In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/"><em>Lightspeed Magazine</em>, issue 164</a>, January 2024. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/id375802058?i=1000643445220">Listen</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/january-2024-issue-164/">Buy</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Boy Who Ran from His Faerie Heart</h1> <p>Unknown — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="a-heart-shared-shall-never-diminish">A Heart Shared Shall Never Diminish<a class="zola-anchor" href="#a-heart-shared-shall-never-diminish" aria-label="Anchor link for: a-heart-shared-shall-never-diminish"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>Both an imaginative fantasy and an intimate psychological portrait. <cite>— Victoria Silverwolf, <a href="#"><em>Tangent Online</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>A nicely written love story. <cite>— Sam Tomaino, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=20290"><em>SFRevu</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> <p>Here is a boy, barely thirteen, broken, lying in the road, twisted metal around him, twisted metal in him. Here is his heart, pierced by the shrapnel of the truck, a truck no longer, now a confusion of tangled wire and torn steel and glass pebbles. The boy’s name is Sheridan. He will live a few minutes more.</p> </div> <p>In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/august-2023-issue-159/"><em>Lightspeed Magazine,</em> Issue 159</a>, August 2023. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-boy-who-ran-from-his-faerie-heart/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/august-2023-issue-159/">Buy</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Your Dasher Has Accidentally Awakened the Crawling Chaos by Gazing into the Loathsome Geometry of the Taco Pup Mega-muncher Meal Box</h1> <p>Unknown — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="your-dasher-astrid-is-having-a-tough-night">Your Dasher, Astrid, Is Having a Tough Night<a class="zola-anchor" href="#your-dasher-astrid-is-having-a-tough-night" aria-label="Anchor link for: your-dasher-astrid-is-having-a-tough-night"></a></h2> <p><mark>Longlisted for the HWA Bram Stoker Award</mark></p> <div class="excerpt"> <p>We are very sorry that malodorous bat-winged night-gaunts greedily captured and consumed your Large Cajun-spice Curly Fries, though it is a mystery how they did this considering their detestable, malignant faces have no mouths. Nevertheless, this is not the experience we wish our customers to have.</p> </div> <p>In <em>The Dread Machine</em>, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.thedreadmachine.com/product/issue-3-1-paperback/">Issue 3.1</a> and <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.thedreadmachine.com/your-dasher-has-accidentally-awakened-the-crawling-chaos/">online</a> February 8, 2023. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.thedreadmachine.com/your-dasher-has-accidentally-awakened-the-crawling-chaos/">Read</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Anything Short of Death is Survivable</h1> <p>Unknown — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="nice-girls-die-fast">Nice Girls Die Fast<a class="zola-anchor" href="#nice-girls-die-fast" aria-label="Anchor link for: nice-girls-die-fast"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>It’s a tense, action-packed story about the resilience of hope, and it’s a wonderful read! <cite>— Charles Payseur, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://quicksipreviews.blogspot.com/2021/08/quick-sips-08132021.html#more"><em>Quick Sip Reviews</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Full of action set in an imaginative future. <cite>— Kevin P Hallett, <a href="#"><em>Tangent Online</em></a></cite></p> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> <p>Olive feared she might vomit which would be a really dumb and dangerous thing to do since her mouth was sealed off (along with the rest of her skin) against the vacuum of space. Basically, her insides had nowhere to go. She swallowed hard. Only little kids got space sick and she wasn’t a little kid, she was fourteen. As soon as the hatch had opened and she went rushing out into the empty, Olive’s skin crystalized—just like it was supposed to.</p> </div> <p>In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/aug-2021-issue-135/"><em>Lightspeed Magazine</em>, Issue No. 135</a>, August 2021. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anything-short-of-death-is-survivable/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/august-2021-issue-135/">Buy</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Glitch Techs</h1> <p>Unknown — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000</p> <p><mark>MPAC Media Award Honoree</mark></p> <h2 id="now-streaming-only-on-netflix">Now Streaming Only on Netflix<a class="zola-anchor" href="#now-streaming-only-on-netflix" aria-label="Anchor link for: now-streaming-only-on-netflix"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p><em>Glitch Techs</em> is well-paced, sharply animated, and nicely suited to both gamers and the occasional VR dabbler. <cite>—Emily Ashby, <em>Common Sense Media</em></cite></p> </blockquote> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80221337">Watch Now</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street</h1> <p>Unknown — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000</p> <h2 id="friendship-adventure-magic">Friendship. Adventure. Magic.<a class="zola-anchor" href="#friendship-adventure-magic" aria-label="Anchor link for: friendship-adventure-magic"></a></h2> <blockquote> <p>This adult found himself gobbling the four episodes Amazon sent as if I were raiding my kids’ Halloween candy. <cite>—James Poniewozik, <em>Time</em></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>An inventive and terrific kids’ show that grown-ups may want to watch as well. <cite>—David Wiegand, <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em></cite></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p><em>Gortimer</em> is charming, endearing, a little magical and a lot wonderful. <cite>—Ann Oldenburg, <em>Parent’s Choice</em></cite></p> </blockquote> <p><em>Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</em> is an award-winning TV series created by <a href="/about">David Anaxagoras</a> that follows Gortimer and his two best friends, Ranger and Mel, as they face the challenges of growing up on Normal Street—a seemingly ordinary suburb that has a hint of something magical just beneath the surface. The trio set out to end a jinx while helping the unluckiest kid on Normal Street, solve a mystery before a spooky spirit turns them into ghost stories, find a fabled lost treasure, and outsmart fate after some advice from a fortune teller.</p> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08B48S27P/">Watch Now on Amazon</a></p> <h2 id="awards">Awards<a class="zola-anchor" href="#awards" aria-label="Anchor link for: awards"></a></h2> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://kidscreen.com/">Kidscreen</a> 2017</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — Best Non-animated or Mixed Series</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_Writers_Guild_of_America_Awards">WGA Award</a> 2017</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — Laurie Parres, “Mel vs. the Night Mare of Normal Street,”Outstanding Children’s Script — Episodic and Specials</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.dga.org/Awards/Annual.aspx#childrens">DGA Award</a> 2017</p> <ul> <li>Nominee — Alethea Jones, “Gortimer and the Jacks of All Trades,” Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170704224853/https://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=34864&StepNum=1&award=aw">Parents Choice Foundation Awards</a> 2017</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — Gold Award</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68th_Writers_Guild_of_America_Awards">WGA Award</a> 2016</p> <p>Outstanding Children’s Script — Episodic and Specials</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — Gretchen Enders & Aminta Goyel, “Gortimer, Ranger, Mel and the Endless Night”</li> <li>Nominee — David Anaxagoras and Luke Matheny, “Gortimer vs. the Relentless Rainbow of Joy”</li> <li>Nominee — Laurie Parres, “Ranger vs. the Fabled Flower of Normal Street”</li> <li>Nominee — Garrett Frawley & Brian Turner, “Gortimer and the Surprise Signature”</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.dga.org/Awards/Annual.aspx#childrens">DGA Award</a> 2016</p> <ul> <li>Nominee — Sasie Sealy, “Gortimer and the Vengeful Violinist,” Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.humanitasprize.org/prize-winners">Humanitas Prize</a> 2016</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — Garrett Frawley & Brian Turner, “Gortimer and the Surprise Signature”</li> <li>Finalist — Gretchen Enders, “Ranger and the Legend of Pendragon’s Gavel”</li> </ul> <p>Parents Choice Foundation Awards 2016</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160318152702/http://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=33989&StepNum=1&award=aw">Gold Award</a></li> </ul> <p>Parents Choice Foundation Awards 2015</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160203124900/http://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=33120&StepNum=1&award=aw">Silver Honor</a></li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37th_Young_Artist_Awards#Best_Performance_in_a_TV_Series">Young Artist Awards</a> 2015</p> <ul> <li><strong>Winner</strong> — Sloane Siegel, Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actor</li> </ul> <p><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Cinematography#2010s">Daytime Emmy Awards 2015</a></p> <ul> <li>Nominee — Eduardo Mayen, Outstanding Single Camera Photography</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Miss Spyder</h1> <p>Unknown — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 00:00:00 +0000</p> <div class="excerpt"> <p>You sit in class and you are nine years old. Your hair is so blond it’s white. So is your skin. That’s why they call you Ghost. Your name really is Griffin, like the myth, but no one knows that except your teacher.</p> <p>She is called Miss Spyder.</p> </div> <p>In <em>Flesh & Blood</em> 10, July 2002. Out of print.</p> </article> </main></body></html>

David Anaxagoras

How to Survive a Corn Maze (Forthcoming)

Unknown — Thu, 31 Dec 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Coming soon in Lightspeed</a></h2>

You have been led to the place of the bone ravens. They are just what they sound like. They feast on bones. Freshly extracted and wet. Dripping with life. Their beaks are razors. Their claws are scalpels. Their eyes dark and heartless.
The bone ravens land one by one. Gathering. Feathers whisper like corn stalks. This language you do understand. It is an expression of a primal need.
Of Hunger. </div>

Ladd's Robot Repair (Forthcoming)

Unknown — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Forthcoming in Lightspeed</a></h2>

I swiped dust off the windshield and brought the light close to the glass—and my stomach nearly did a hard reboot.
The driver was still inside.
Look, when you do serious scavving, you run into corpses now and then. Most are just skeletons or shriveled-up mummies that don’t even look real anymore. But this guy…at first glance he looked very well preserved.
I really didn’t want to do what I had to do next.
But I also really didn’t want to spend the night in the Tumbledown. Or hike all the way back to Gatehold and pay for a tow.
I jammed my rat-key in the door lock and ratcheted until I heard the bolt disengage. Then I braced myself, held my breath against the potential dead-flesh smell, and yanked the door open.
The thing inside flew at me. </div>

chaOS Terminal Simulation Project

Unknown — Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The walker smashed through a mound of rubble, trampled over the rusted shell of an old sedan, took out a few of the last standing streetlights, then charged up a hill. I was gripping the dead stick like it would suddenly listen.“Ladd’s Robot Repair,” David Anaxagoras</cite> </blockquote>
What is this?</a></h2>
chaOS Terminal is an experimental terminal exploration game set in the world of Ladd’s Robot Repair</a>.
You pilot a glitchy salvage walker built from scrap and attitude through the ruins of a post-apocalyptic metropolis known as the Tumbledown. Scan your surroundings, intercept rogue signals, fight your own failing systems, and try not to get buried under targeted advertising in your feed.
Visit the Screenshot Gallery</a>

⚠ IMPORTANT
The project, as it currently exists, is best thought of as a proof-of-concept or experimental prototype. It is not (yet) a full game, but is in active development. </blockquote>
Downloads</a></h2>
Download the latest release (v0.2.2) for Mac (Intel and Apple Silicon)

Known Issues </a></h3>
Entering a manual section number that does not currently exist (such as 2.0 or 6.0) may cause the application to exit unexpectedly. Please use listed manual sections only in this prototype build.
Requirements </a></h3>

macOS</li> </ul>
Quick Install (Mac)</a></h3>

Download and unzip the file</li>
Double-click chaOS</code></li> </ol>ⓘ NOTE Because this is an unsigned indie prototype, macOS Gatekeeper may warn you or block the application the first time you open it. If that happens: Click “Done”</li> Open System Settings → Privacy & Security</li> Scroll down to the Security section</li> Look for "chaos" was blocked..."</code></li> Click “Open Anyway”</li> </ul> See Apple’s Gatekeeper documentation</a> for additional details. </blockquote> Power Users</a></h3> This app launches in Apple’s Terminal app. Advanced users can run this app in their preferred terminal by navigating to the app folder and entering: ./chaOS.app/Contents/Resources/chaOS/chaOS</code></pre>License</a></h3> All original story elements, characters, settings, terminology, and worldbuilding related to Ladd’s Robot Repair‚ including but not limited to Ladd, Broken Road Market, Gatehold, The Tumbledown, and associated fictional lore, are copyright 2026 © David Anaxagoras. All rights reserved. Previous Releases</a></h2> chaOS-v0.2.1-mac.zip</a>
Anaxagology for May 2026 Unknown — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 News</a></h2> The Robot-Filled Post-Apocalypse is Coming in July</a></h3> I’m delighted to announce that my post-apocalytpic novelette, “Ladd’s Robot Repair,”</a> is coming to Lightspeed in July! When a fiercely independent scavver boy’s walker breaks down deep in a dangerous and ruined city, he’s forced to team up with a glitchy, overprotective nanny-bot — and must decide whether survival is worth the cost of sacrificing the only companion who truly cares for him. </blockquote> Pop by Lightspeed</a> in July or keep an eye on my Bluesky</a> feed for the exact date and link. I can’t wait to introduce you to some of my favorite characters. Nebula Awards</a></h3> This year, I’m a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for The Tower</a>. I’m still pretty amazed I get to say that. Tune in to SFWA’s YouTube channel</a> to stream the Nebula Award Ceremony live on June 6, 6pm PDT/9pm EDT. Though I can’t make it in person to the ceremony, I’ll be attending virtually and watching the awards stream right alongside you. Work in Progress</a></h2> I’ve decided to focus on longform projects this year and let the short stories simmer on the back burner for a bit. It’s torture. No matter what I write there’s always some other thing I feel I’m neglecting. I need another couple of keyboards and two or three extra sets of hands. My post-apocalyptic novelette “Ladd’s Robot Repair”</a> will be coming soon in Lightspeed (see above), and I’ve written an even longer second story set in the same world, and have plans for 13 more. Not a typo. The stories focus on a fiercely independent scavenger boy (Ladd) who repairs robots and reluctantly learns that in a broken world, connection is survival. I plan eventually to collect the novelettes into one volume. And, for reasons unknown even to me, I’ve also embarked on a series of 5 weird western novellas. Not a typo. I’ve been building up to this one for a while. I recently dusted off a flash fiction piece that I wrote as a kind of proof of concept a few years ago, and it reignited my interest. So now I’ve begun drafting book one, Buckshot and the Iron Sheriff. It’s about a cybernetic Sasquatch sheriff and his young ward (Buckshot) who face a monstrous threat in the old west. Here’s an excerpt, hot out of the word processor, as told by Buckshot: I were upstairs in the bath at Miss Honeyspoon’s Saloon, scrubbing the stink out of my armpit, when Old Maude came crashing into town like an ornery black cloud full of lightning and meanness. The old she-bear was known to take a chicken now and then from Jessup’s pen and only last week she clawed up the big oak in the center of town even though it weren’t no bee tree and got no honey in it. Jessup said Old Maude got a taste for local chickens since before he had whiskers but the tree was something different and no one could figure it, exactly. But right before Old Maude showed up, I was scrubbing myself raw in the bath as I said. Paid two whole dimes for it, including hot water, which Miss Honeyspoon herself fetched upstairs one big jug at a time, and a mostly clean towel, and the use of a comb, and some sweet-smelling powder for after, even though I got no earthly idea how to put powder on me. Or where. I ain’t partial to baths as you can guess. This were only my second this year, and with any luck it would be my last until the snow came, or maybe ever. But a bath was a necessity at present as I was fixing to ask Sheriff to make me deputy despite my tender years, and wasn’t I just desperate to make myself presentable-like. A sheriff don’t got no call for an orphan boy, but a sheriff needs a deputy as sure as he needs a silver star and a vest to pin it on. </blockquote> Buckshot just goes on like that. If this sort of thing doesn’t make your eyes go cross reading it, good news—there’s a heck of a lot more to come. Story Notes — Gumba Cuddles</a></h2> Many authors have quippy answers at the ready for when they are asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” Award-winning author, SFWA Grand Master, and noted asshole, Harlan Ellison, would famously reply, “Schenectady.” To be fair, it’s hard to answer that question in general terms because it assumes that all stories emerge from the same general wellspring—as if there really were an idea subscription service running out of a small shop in Schenectady. But if you ask an author what the flash point for a specific story was, you generally won’t be able to shut them up. Each story has it’s own origin story. My short story Gumba Cuddles</a> was published in Hell Itself in March. It is the story of a boy who accompanies his Grandpa to the NICU to help comfort babies from war-torn lands. This idea sat in my (digital) notebook for a long time—maybe ten years, maybe more. I had seen a news article (or maybe a feature on a TV news program) about a volunteer grandpa who cuddled babies. I was very drawn to the idea of character who was a male nurturer, perhaps because I had been a preschool teacher for more than 20 years. But a character is not a story and for a long time, I couldn’t figure one out. Then, a few years ago, Israeli forces began attacking hospitals in Gaza. Dozens of fragile, premature babies had to be evacuated. Not all of them made it out. I was enraged. Sometimes stories come from anger. Or at least, the motivation to write can come from there—or from love, or homesickness, or nostalgia. Any strong emotion. So these things collided—feelings of rage and helplessness, the character of a volunteer grandpa baby cuddler, a different idea of masculinity, and a dream of safety, kindness, and humanity. What resulted was a story that begins with a sense of mounting horror, but ends up someplace completely different. The story was rejected by 27 publishers before it found a home. It’s a story I’m especially fond of and I hope you’ll hop on over to Hell Itself when you get a chance and check it out</a>. Also, I don’t have a ko-fi or Patreon and I don’t ask for tips, but if you found the story worth your while, or the idea of babies being caught in crossfire of war upsets you, please consider making a small donation to Doctors Without Borders</a>, who are doing real work to help people affected by wars, disease or natural disasters. And finally, I am delighted to see that older men are still cuddling babies</a>. In this world, especially if you are an infant in need of a cuddle, what could matter more? Reading Log</a></h2> Capsule reviews of vintage SFF short stories “Happy Birthday, Little Elroy” (1982) by Barbara Owens in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It’s Little Elroy’s 10th birthday, which means it’s his first time to use the Way — a gift handed down through his family for generations to grant themselves birthday wishes and reshape reality however they see fit, irreversibly, for an entire year. Trouble is, Elroy’s been neglected by his boorish family, bullied by his brother, and mistreated by others in the community. When his family used the Way on their own birthdays, they thought small. Little Elroy, on the other hand, thinks big. This story is a bit of a throwback to EC Comics-style revenge horror stories. There’s not much in the way of characterization or plot. The “fun” is in watching the inventive ways in which Elroy reshapes the world to his liking, which mostly entails endless suffering for others that wronged him. It’s okay as far as it goes, but lacks the kind of deeper insight offered by Jerome Bixby’s similar and much more well-known “It’s a Good Life,” written decades earlier. “Little America” (2012) by Dan Chaon in Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, ed. Sam Weller & Mort Castle. Available online</a>. Peter is on a road trip through a ruined and desolate America. He’s a boy who was born human but soon showed signs of an affliction affecting many youth: he grew sharp teeth, long nails, course hair, and a predator’s instinct. Mr. Breeze rescues these predators and takes them to a sanctuary where they have a hope at a normal life. Chaon excels at creating a sense of accumulating dread with slow-burn, oblique worldbuilding. The story begins as a simple runaway-kid story (or perhaps even a kidnapping) but little by little small bits of wrongness build up until finally Peter’s true nature comes into focus. Peter, ironically, feels like the most human character in the story—another of Choan’s achievements. For all the implications of his monstrousness, Peter is simply a lonely, frightened, uncertain kid who desperately wants to be “a good boy,” but the adults in his world are fearful, exploitative, and cruel. Though the story’s final line is haunting, the ambiguous ending left too much unresolved for me and weakened the full emotional impact. “The Father-Thing (1954) by Philip K. Dick in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1954, reprinted in Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories: 16 (1954) eds. Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. Charles, an eight-year-old boy, suspects his father is not his father and has been replaced by an impostor. When he discovers the discarded, desiccated skin of his real father stuffed into the bottom a garbage can, he seeks the assistance of the neighborhood bully to help fight the interloper. It’s hard to fully appreciate “The Father-Thing” with modern eyes in the long shadow cast by Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers and its many descendants (even though this story pre-dates its publication by a year). What surprised me the most was how active the children were in this story. Rather than waiting to be picked off one by one as passive horror victims, they investigate, strategize, and fight back. Charles especially is emotionally authentic. He’s terrified, but acts in spite of that fear—and his bravery is all the more visceral. I also appreciated the capable role given to Daniels, “the best at finding,” and though the story’s casual racial framing is painfully dated, it’s refreshing to see a diverse cast of kid protagonists in a 1950s science fiction tale. This story feels more akin to Stranger Things than Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and it’s just as fun…and, even after 72 years, it still contains some genuine scares. That’s the news for this month. Subscribe for more and thanks for reading! ICYMI</a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. Coming Soon: “Ladd’s Robot Repair”</a>, post-apocalyptic SF novelette forthcoming this July in Lightspeed Magazine.</li> “How to Survive a Corn Maze”</a>, horror flash fiction forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine.</li> </ul> My latest short stroy, “Gumba Cuddles”</a> is free to read in Hell Itself. You might also enjoy “‘We Require an Engine,’ Said the Testicle Collective”</a>. Visit my Bibliography</a> for a full list of my fiction and other works. I am the Andre Norton Nebula Award</a> finalist author of The Tower (Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. I wrote for Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, about an ordinary suburb that hides extraordinary magic. Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div>About</a></h2> Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. Subscribe now!</a> You can learn more about Dave at his website</a>, or follow him on Bluesky</a>. Anaxagology for March 2026 Unknown — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Originally published on March 18, 2026 via email News</a></h2> NOMULATED!</a></h3> I was lying in my hospital bed when I got an email from the SFWA. Wait. Let me back up. I was in the hospital several weeks last year and it was a drag. Unfortunately I had a repeat of similar issues this month and, though not as severe, I’m back at the same hospital. I’m hoping by the time this newsletter goes out, I’ll be home. (UPDATE: I’m home!) About three days into my stay at my least favorite resort, I got a brief and mysterious email to call the SFWA</a>. I almost didn’t, fearing it was a fundraising pitch. (I’m a writer. We just aren’t wired to expect good news.) When I did call, I was informed that my audiobook, The Tower</a>, had received enough votes to be nominated for the SFWA Andre Norton Nebula Award</a>! For those not in the know, the Nebula Awards are the “Oscars” of the science-fiction and fantasy literature field. The Brand Name SFF writers you’ve heard about — Herbert, Deleny, Le Guin, Clarke, Asimov — all Nebula winners. The awards are voted on and presented by professional writers. After a few short questions (Was I the author? Yes. Did I use AI/LLM in the writing process? No. Would I accept the nomination? Absolutely yes.) I was informed this was the SFWA’s awkward way of saying I had been nominated for a Nebula Award</a> and congratulations. Sometimes I think the universe is inordinately concerned with balance. Silver linings all have their clouds. At least for once the universe was tipping back in a more preferable direction. If you ever find yourself three or four days into a hospital stay, I recommend getting nominated for a Nebula. It’s a real boost and will make your medical journey much more tolerable. My thanks to the SFWA voters and congratulations to my fellow nominees! Out Now</a></h3> At last, the greatest science fiction story ever told (about testicles) is out of the bag! Thrilled to announce my short story “‘We Require an Engine,’ Said the Testicle Collective” is out now in Translunar Travelers Lounge</a>! When a collective of escaped testicles kidnaps his dairy cow and demands a spaceship to flee Earth’s toxic masculinity, a grizzled ex-rocket engineer must build their ride—and finally confront his own emotional baggage. When the barn door swings open, you are greeted, as usual, by the sweet green smell of hay undercut by the sharp scent of manure and a half-dozen other woody, mossy and pungent aromas. All of them comforting. “Ruby?” you ask of the dark, empty barn, your voice at this hour a phlegmy whispering croak. It appears Ruby has performed the magic trick of escaping while the doors were shut. In her place, towering above you in a wobbling, glowing mass— Testicles. Hundreds of them. Pale. Bulbous. Disturbingly large. Greetings, they rumble inside your skull, sending uncomfortable vibrations downward. We require your assistance. You gently close the barn door. </blockquote> This story was originally inspired by a joking misinterpretation of a class SF novel cover. I’ll dive more into that in a future newsletter! Even More New Fiction</a></h3> Everything’s coming up Anaxagoras. I had two short stories published this month and the second is, along with “Testicle Collective,” also one of my absolute favorites. They both have themes of toxic masculinity. Every weekend, a boy accompanies his grandfather in the NICU to cuddle infants from war-torn lands—but there’s more to the old man’s healing touch than meets the eye. His cuddles are curtains of sun on your bare brown skin, soaking through your muscles, until your bones are warm and glowing. </blockquote> This story was sparked by a news report of an actual grandpa baby cuddler and also by enraging reports of babies having to be flown out of Gaza because there were no more hospitals left to treat them. “Gumba Cuddles” is out now in Hell Itself</a>. I’d love for you to give it a read. It holds some surprises. New Story Sale</a></h3> After letting it sit on my hard drive for 5 years because I’m an idiot, I have finally sold my dark fantasy flash “How to Survive a Corn Maze” to Lightspeed. This is a mostly-vibes story and entirely unconcerned with plot. This is my 8th sale to Lightspeed. You have been led to the place of the bone ravens. They are just what they sound like. They feast on bones. Freshly extracted and wet. Dripping with life. Their beaks are razors. Their claws are scalpels. Their eyes dark and heartless. The bone ravens land one by one. Gathering. Feathers whisper like corn stalks. This language you do understand. It is an expression of a primal need. Of Hunger. </blockquote> Coming soon to Lightspeed! Reading Log</a></h2> Capsule reviews of vintage SF short stories “It’s a Good Life” (1953) by Jerome Bixby in The 18th Golden Age of Science Fiction MEGAPACK: Jerome Bixby, Wildside Press. This is a remarkably modern-feeling story for its era, immersing the reader in the terrified inner lives of the denizens of a small town at the mercy of a three-year-old boy with godlike psychic powers. Famously adapted as an iconic Twilight Zone episode. While Bixby’s story was faithfully translated nearly beat-for-beat, it still offers a greater depth and nuance that offers us a better understanding of the true nature of the boy at the center of events. What’s striking is that Bixby does not portray Anthony as malevolent — his most destructive acts stem from the emotional logic of a young kid: misguided attempts to help, or impulsive reactions to fear, confusion, or even boredom. “Like the time Mrs. Kent’s husband, Sam, had come walking back from the graveyard because Anthony liked Mrs. Kent and had heard her mourning.” Anthony is introduced to the reader as he is torturing a rat, forcing it to eat itself until it eventually dies from pain. Sadistic, yes, but Anthony is responding to his aunt’s revulsion of rats. Later, in a sequence not adapted for TZ, we find Anthony peacefully enjoying a secluded meadow where he senses the minds of the small animals and does what he can to help them live their best lives — hardly monster stuff. The adults’ enforced cheerfulness (“It’s a real good day”) is not the satire of permissive parenting that common interpretations would have you believe, but a tragic survival mechanism. It’s not that Anthony forces everyone to be happy, it’s that if you dare to express disappointment, Anthony might try to help you or fix things…often with horrifying results. Anthony is both monster and victim — a lonely child whose omnipotence isolates him from everyone who might truly care for him. That’s plenty of news for March. Subscribe for more and thanks for reading! ICYMI</a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. Coming Soon: “Ladd’s Robot Repair</a>,” SF novelette forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine.</li> “How to Survive a Corn Maze</a>,” horror flash fiction forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine.</li> </ul> My latest short stroy, “‘We Require an Engine,’ Said the Testicle Collective”</a> is out now and free to read in Translunar Traveler’s Lounge. Other recent fiction includes “Gumba Cuddles”</a> in Hell Itself. Visit my Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works. I am the author of the Andre Norton Nebula Award nominated middle grade audiobook, The Tower (Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My guest post about The Tower</a> was recently featured on My Favorite Bit. I wrote for Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, about an ordinary suburb that hides extraordinary magic. Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div>About</a></h2> Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. Subscribe now!</a> You can learn more about Dave at his website</a>, or follow him on Bluesky</a>. Gumba Cuddles Unknown — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The Youngest Babies Need the Oldest Magic</a></h2> There are some stories that, when you ask me what it’s about or to describe it, I pause and then say, “You know what, just read it.”…Just read it. You’ll be glad you did. —Arthur Robert Tracy IV</a>, Editor, Hell Itself</cite> </blockquote> Gumba is my name for grandfather. It sounds like the word for grandfather where Gumba is from—but not exactly. Gumba came from Faraway Land. He has had many jobs, but he says this job at St. Joseph’s Neonatal ICU is the most important. Gumba is not a doctor. He is a volunteer. His job is to cuddle babies. </div> In Hell Itself, March 13, 2026. Read</a> “‘We Require an Engine,’ Said the Testicle Collective” Unknown — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Rockets and Regret</a></h2> Only a writer as talented as @davidanaxagoras.com would have the…er…BALLS to write a story like this—and actually be capable of pulling it off. 😄🍒 — P. A. Cornell</a></cite> </blockquote> I insist you all read the excellent and unexpectedly poignant sentient testicles story 🍒 — Dana Berube</a></cite> </blockquote> If you need a laugh today — a weird, wonderful laugh with a side of giving the middle finger to toxic masculinity — check out @davidanaxagoras.com’s wacky story…It’s amazeballs! — Jamie M. Boyd</a></cite> </blockquote> When the barn door swings open, you are greeted, as usual, by the sweet green smell of hay undercut by the sharp scent of manure and a half-dozen other woody, mossy and pungent aromas. All of them comforting. “Ruby?” you ask of the dark, empty barn, your voice at this hour a phlegmy whispering croak. It appears Ruby has performed the magic trick of escaping while the doors were shut. In her place, towering above you in a wobbling, glowing mass— Testicles. Hundreds of them. Pale. Bulbous. Disturbingly large. Greetings, they rumble inside your skull, sending uncomfortable vibrations downward. We require your assistance. You gently close the barn door. </div> In Translunar Travelers Lounge, Issue Fourteen, February 2026. Read</a> Buy</a> Anaxagology for December 2025 Unknown — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Originally published on December 8, 2025 via email Where the hell have I been?</a></h2> As I sometimes (defensively) say, I’m a professional writer, not a professional newsletter-puter-outer. While there was no Anaxagology</a> for September or October…or November, the good news is that I was too involved in writing a new story to make newsletters. I hope you don’t feel neglected, but if you do — you are not alone. I tend to ignore nearly everything in my life when I’m writing. No house plants survived my novel. One more reason to be happy you are not a plant. What’s the story, you ask? It’s a new post-apocalyptic novelette that follows in the world of “Ladd’s Robot Repair</a>,” (forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine). I threatened to write a series of Ladd stories and so far I have 15 planned. This new one involves a glitchy courier bot, entropy monks, creatures with iron teeth that feed on electromagnetic waves, and an army of feral, clown-painted lost boys. It’s a blast - and it’s nearly twice as long as the first Ladd story. And then — I outlined the next story after that. So, yeah. I’ve been busy. News</a></h2> OUT NOW: The 2025 Story Yearbook</a></h3> The 2025 Story Yearbook</a> is a small collection of the stories I published this year — science fiction, fantasy, a little horror, a drabble, and an excerpt from my middle-grade horror novel, The Tower. Each piece includes a brief introductory note about the spark that led me to write it. I think of it as a yearbook: a snapshot of who I was, creatively, for a little while. I’m making the collection FREE to download and share with friends. No sign-ups, no accounts, no email required. What’s inside A personal Introduction about why I write</li> Every story I published in 2025</li> Behind-the-scenes notes on what inspired each piece</li> An excerpt from my middle-grade horror novel The Tower</li> A few bonus surprises</li> </ul> Download The 2025 Story Yearbook EPUB Now ↓ </a> </div> Visit https://davidanaxagoras.com/yearbook</a> for more information or to download the eBook. New Story Sale</a></h3> I’m thrilled to announce that my science-fiction short story “‘We Require an Engine’, Said the Testicle Collective” has been acquired for publication by Translunar Travelers Lounge</a>! It’s absurd, tender, and — yes — exactly what the title says. When a collective of escaped testicles kidnaps his dairy cow and demands a spaceship to flee Earth’s toxic masculinity, a grizzled ex-rocket engineer must build their ride — and finally confront his own emotional baggage. When the barn door swings open, you are greeted, as usual, by the sweet green smell of hay undercut by the sharp scent of manure and a half-dozen other woody, mossy and pungent aromas. All of them comforting. “Ruby?” you ask of the dark, empty barn, your voice at this hour a phlegmy whispering croak. It appears Ruby has performed the magic trick of escaping while the doors were shut. In her place, towering above you in a wobbling, glowing mass— Testicles. Hundreds of them. Pale. Bulbous. Disturbingly large. Greetings, they rumble inside your skull, sending uncomfortable vibrations downward. We require your assistance. You gently close the barn door. </blockquote> If you like your speculative fiction weird and weirdly heartfelt — with a side of wacky B-movie vibes — I hope you’ll check it out when it, uh, drops. Coming February 2026! Appearances</a></h3> I returned to Story Hour this October to read a trio of my favorite short horror pieces, including Stoker Award long-lister, “Your Dasher Has Accidentally Awakened the Crawling Chaos by Gazing into the Loathsome Geometry of the Taco Pup Mega-Muncher Meal Box</a>.” I had an absolute blast. If you missed it, you can watch the video on YouTube</a>. Reading Log</a></h2> Capsule reviews of vintage SF short stories “Born of Man and Woman” (1950) by Richard Matheson in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Summer 1950. This is Matheson’s first short story sale…which was to F&SF…at the age of 22. I try not to hate him for that. The story is told through diary entries made in broken English by a mistreated child chained in the basement. Matheson uses the child’s voice and innocence to affect a slow, unsettling reveal of their true, horrifying nature. But the real horrors are the child’s emotional wounds—the isolation and deep sadness of familial rejection. We ultimately recoil, not from the child, but from the child’s treatment at the hands of their barbaric parents. “Hail and Farewell” (1953) by Ray Bradbury in Young Mutants, Asimov, Greenberg, Waugh, eds. A heartbreaking story about a boy who never ages, doomed to watch as friends, family, and love remain out of reach forever. This is a mournful meditation on loneliness and loss when everything changes but you do not. Bradbury often gets unfairly maligned as sentimental and overly nostalgic, but this story is a sharp example of his unwillingness to pull punches. Nostalgia isn’t simply comfort here, it’s the shadow of love lingering long after loss. It’s the slow, soul-grinding reckoning with the consequences of being stuck in childhood, forever adrift in a world that has no real place for you, and it is devastating. “Little Boy” by Jerome Bixby (as Harry Neal) in If, October 1954 (available via Project Gutenberg</a>). Seven-year-old Steven survives by his wits and his knife in post-apocalyptic New York, fearing Men and hunting squirrels for food until he crosses paths with another young survivor—a girl—and rediscovers something long-buried in himself. Writer Jerome Bixby (writing as Harry Neal for some reason) is best know for introducing sci-fi audiences to another “little boy”—Anthony, the monster from “It’s a Good Life,” adapted as an iconic episode of The Twilight Zone. In this “Little Boy,” Bixby explores the post-apocalypse through the POV of a feral child survivor, giving us the immediacy of terror stripped of adult perception. When Steven meets a girl survivor, he has to relearn how to relate to another human being, and struggles to understand the difference between an aggressive baring of the teeth and a smile. Just as the kids form a bond, they are “rescued” by the military for reintegration to society. Perhaps in the cold war era this would have been viewed as a good thing. But with talk of cleaning up the kids and sending them to camps to relearn how to be good little citizens, it strikes this modern-day reader as a somewhat disturbing end. The kids might have been better off outside the system that destroyed the world in the first place. Bixby has something to say about resilience in this story and does acknowledge the role that adults played in destruction, but it’s hard to tell where he, and the story, come down on the ending. It’s a story that’s left me thinking a lot, though, and that’s not a bad thing. “A Boy’s Best Friend” (1975) by Isaac Asimov in The Complete Robot (1982) (collection) by Isaac Asimov. Originally published in Boy’s Life and not reprinted anywhere but this collection. A boy lives on the moon with his family and a robot-dog companion but protests when his parents’ try to give him a real dog as a replacement, insisting that he loves his mechanical mutt. This is a juvenile SF tale. Stories for kids don’t have to be simplistic and moralizing but this one sure is. Everything in this story is undercooked—the boy’s relationship with the unfortunately-named robutt (robot+mutt) is too thinly drawn to believe the boy’s relationship with it, and his parents are so lacking in character they might as well be robots themselves. It’s not too much to expect better from Asimov of all writers, even if this is “just” a kids story. With “AI” now upon us, and startups attempting to foist “AI” companions on the population, this story should be more relevant than ever. Instead, it’s disappointingly glassy-eyed and firmly Golden Age despite it’s 1975 publication date. Asimov has little to say about this issue beyond “emotional attachment to technology is okay, actually.” Writing Reptile Books - From the eBay Store</a></h2> In the shop this month: A classic leather-bound Easton Press edition of Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein</a>. This edition is extremely hard to find and is no longer available from the publisher. Includes a full color frontispiece by Walter Velez and an introduction by Spider Robinson. Special offer for Anaxagology readers: Grab Starship Troopers for 15% off. Click “Make an Offer,” deduct 15%, and mention Anaxagology. Coming soon to the shop: Easton Press leather-bound editions of Martian Chronicles and Flowers for Algernon. Browse the shop for more great books and comics</a>. ICYMI</a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. Coming Soon: “‘We Require an Engine’, Said the Testicle Collective</a>,” SF short story forthcoming in Translunar Travelers Lounge</li> “Ladd’s Robot Repair</a>,” SF novelette forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine.</li> </ul> I was a guest on Story Hour October 1st, 2025</a>, and helped kick off Spooky Month with some of my favorite horror fiction. In my previous appearance on June 18, 2025</a> I read three of my favorite fantasy flash fiction stories. Follow the links to watch on YouTube. I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, The Tower (Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My guest post about The Tower</a> was recently featured on My Favorite Bit. My most recent story, “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924B Regarding Post-Battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis”</a> is free to read in Lightspeed Magazine. Other recent fiction includes “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”</a> and “The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus”</a>. Visit my Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works. I wrote for Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, about an ordinary suburb that hides extraordinary magic. Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div>About</a></h2> Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. Subscribe now!</a> You can learn more about Dave at his website</a>, or follow him on Bluesky</a>. Download The 2025 Story Yearbook Unknown — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Your download of The 2025 Story Yearbook should start automatically. If it doesn’t, you can download the Yearbook here</a>. When you’re download is done, you might also like to: Visit the Yearbook overview page</a> for more about what’s inside</li> Learn a bit more about me</a></li> Browse more of my stories</a></li> Check out past issues and subscribe to my author newsletter</a></li> Go back Home</a></li> </ul> Thank you for taking the time to read my work. Anaxagology for August 2025 Unknown — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Originally published on August 29, 2025 via email If you are watching Stephen King’s The Institute and are ready for a deeper mystery, higher stakes, faster pace, and characters who truly break your heart, check out my original audiobook The Tower</a>. In my novel, a group of captive children must uncover the true nature of the Tower—and themselves—before it’s too late. What begins as survival becomes something much stranger—and more human. Give The Tower a spin now and see why listeners say it’s “truly creepy,” “surprisingly emotional,” and “full of suspense and adventure.” The Tower is available at Libro.fm</a>, Amazon</a>, Barnes & Noble</a>, Apple Books</a>, Kobo</a>, and wherever audiobooks are sold. Members of the SFWA or HWA, I have free review copies of The Tower available. Reply directly to this email or drop me a note at dave@davidanaxaoras.com</a>. Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div> Introducing DavidAnaxagoras.com 2.0</a></h2> If you’ve been to my website DavidAnaxagoras.com</a> recently you may have noticed I’ve rearranged the furniture. In fact, I’ve completely rebuilt the site from the ground up. I wanted something clean, fast, and easy and maintain. For visitors, that means less friction, less loading time, more privacy, and more frequent updates, and more ways to explore. You’ll notice a distinct lack of images, decorative jimjams1</a>, and fancy animation. This is because my website is an extension of my plain-text philosophy</a>. It’s about the words, not the razzle-dazzle. It’s the web, the way it was meant to be. For the terminally tech-curious: under the hood, the site is written in Markdown</a> and powered by Zola</a>, a static site generator. It’s just HTML and CSS. No database. No cookies. No trackers. No paywalls. No ads. No external fonts. No surveillance. No bullshit</a>. I hope you’ll drop by and explore the new site. If you’re not sure where to start, try the Visitor’s Bureau</a>. You can also find out what I’m doing right now</a>. Or browse my bibliography</a>. You can even search for my fiction by vibe</a>. News</a></h2> Author reading</a></h3> I’ll be helping to kick off October on Story Hour</a> on the first of the moth with three of my favorite horror flash fiction pieces, including a Stoker long-lister, a story that’s not available online, and my latest from Lightspeed</a>. You can watch on YouTube</a> or via Zoom</a>. More details next month! Recent sale</a></h3> I’m super excited to announce that Lightspeed has accepted my sf novelette, “Ladd’s Robot Repair,” for publication. When a fiercely independent scavver boy’s walker breaks down deep in a dangerous and ruined city, he’s forced to team up with a glitchy, overprotective nanny-bot — and must decide whether survival is worth the cost of sacrificing the only companion who truly cares for him. This one means a lot to me — it’s a post-apocalyptic adventure with mutant children, ravenous signal-beasts, and a rusted robot butler who won’t stop trying to care for a kid who refuses to be cared for. At its core, it’s about connection, repair, and learning to let someone in. This one’s a real banger and I had a blast writing it. I previewed this story in the May issue of Anaxagology</a> and I have a dozen more stories planned in this world (so far). Publication date to come — stay tuned! Locus review</a></h3> I’m delighted to share a wonderful review of my flash fiction “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”</a> featured in the latest issue of Locus Magazine</a>. Reviewer Charles Payseur beautifully captures the heart of the friendship between Autumn and the enigmatic Farrell Jenkins as they navigate the bittersweet balance between growing up and holding onto wonder. As Charles writes, it’s “a reminder that magic still exists in the world, regardless of how old you get or serious your demeanor… Magic remains, waiting for those who can see it.” You can get a copy of the story in Worlds of Possibility</a>, or watch my reading on Story Hour</a>. New fiction</a></h3> My new sci-fi/horror/biopunk flash-fiction, “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924B Regarding Post Battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis</a>” is out now and free to read at Lightspeed. In a war-scarred future, a field scientist investigates a body-erasing bioweapon designed to hide the human cost of war—but memory has roots, and what grows back doesn’t forget. A casket hides a lot of crimes. Children buried without limbs. Skin blackened. Jaws, eyes, ears ripped away. A ragged hole where a face used to be. A casket doesn’t spare the first responders, the authorities who arrive late after the destruction, the body collectors, the embalmers. A child’s body done in by violence is an open wound in the world that can never be closed. </blockquote> This is an unsettling tale about truth that refuses to stay buried. I wrote this story in response to the deliberate slaughter of children with guns in peace and war, and the way in which these young victims are hidden and erased from our collective consciousness by the media and the government. I hope you’ll check it out. I’ll be back with story notes next month. Pro-tip: you can listen to the audio-version of this story through Lightspeed’s website (just click Listen on the story page) or look for Lightspeed Magazine’s podcast on your favorite listening app. SFWA members, you can help others discover “Five Dispatches…” by adding or upvoting this story on the Nebula Reading List</a>. Book Review - Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha</a></h2> Uncertain Sons and Other Stories</a> by Thomas Ha. Undertow Publications. Trade paperback (284 pages). $20.00. Releases September 2025. Thomas Ha’s short story collection is a haunting, unsettling exploration of the familiar made strange and the strongly familiar. These tales pull the rug out from under our sense of self and the narratives we cling to, urging us to step outside our comfort zones and confront our fears. Ha is no stranger to accolades—his fiction has been nominated for multiple awards, he frequently appears in prestigious genre publications like Clarkesworld, and his stories have been included in The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. Yet this collection taken as a whole feels like something completely new and different—a landmark moment in weird fiction, the dividing line between before and after. Like the otherworldly Behema of the title story, its disparate parts form a beautiful and terrifying whole. The Tilted Reality</a></h3> In “Window Boy,” the heartbreaking opener, a lonely kid befriends another boy he sees only through a “window”—a video screen that filters out the frightening darkness and dangers of his peculiar world. But it can’t stop the truth from leaking through. The window blots out the muzzle flashes of a gun, but not the gun itself, nor the violence it represents. As in many of Ha’s stories, the world is recognizable but disturbingly off-kilter. The owner of the gun? A friendly mailman who arrives at night—and when he lifts his visor, “his eye-lights shone in the dark like the little display parts on their microwave.” In “Alabama Circus Punk,” a repairman shows up after dark, but with far less kindness. Here, Ha folds machine intelligence into domestic drama with a family unit (actually aspects of the same construct) victimized as corruption spreads through cognition itself. Words break down, meaning erodes, and we witness the horror of language collapsing into nonsense. I considered, then, for the first time, that something wasn’t operating properly within the house system. I could have been Hammer Jiggled at some point, maybe well before this, and I would have no way of knowing if Snow. </blockquote> The Dawning Horror</a></h3> The horror in Ha’s stories often unfolds with a gradual, dawning realization. His tales are monsters hunched in the dark, and as we approach they slowly turn their faces to us. By the time we see them fully, we are being consumed. We often meet characters who are just trying to find a way to live through the weirdness. Nothing could be more human. Again, this is us. “Balloon Season” begins with what should be a simple family tale of summer heat, working on the house, kids getting into pajamas—but preparations for sundown reveal an existential threat: monstrous balloons descending from the sky. Ha spares us nothing: A tether flings out from the glistening underside of the balloon and sinks into someone’s back…their body starting to swell, filling with liquid…until it pops like an over-easy egg, the armless, dripping shape of a parasitic anchor emerging from inside. </blockquote> The story’s true devastation comes not from the monsters, but from the narrator’s realization that he is not the man he hoped he was, fleeing while knowing he has failed. Ha cuts us to the core with the horror of not living up to the identity we cling to, the person we imagine ourselves to be. The Wrong World</a></h3> Threaded through the collection is the sense of children (and childlike figures) navigating liminal spaces—not quite grown, not quite safe, not quite belonging. In “The Sort,” a boy and his father, genetically modified in a world that no longer allows it, arrive in a subtly hostile town where difference is mocked and contained. The last surviving modified tiger slumps in a cage, humming under his breath. The boy feels an immediate kinship. As he later confesses: We’re so different from everybody, I feel like we’re in the wrong world sometimes. </blockquote> The boy’s empathy curdles into something darker as he recognizes the world’s rejection of both the tiger and himself. Maybe the tiger—and by extension the boy himself—shouldn’t exist at all. The moment is chilling in its authenticity. The boy’s quiet devastation reveals the price extracted from those treated as different. Reckoning and Hope</a></h3> In “House Traveler,” a man wandering through fog encounters a woman who explains: “Everything here is a representation of a kind….When your species interacts with me, I amplify, but I don’t create. It’s only you.” Ha’s stories amplify. They magnify our distortions until they can no longer be ignored. But they also amplify compassion, kinship, and resilience. For all their creeping dread, Ha’s stories hold moments of fragile hope. A child plants something new. A brotherhood refuses to let the past be erased. A boy risks himself to save creatures beyond his own comprehension. Even as the fog closes in, there are lights—small, human, enduring. This collection is extraordinary—a definitive volume of weird and darkly delightful fiction. Like us, Ha’s characters stagger half-blind through the fog, meeting monsters, reflections, and themselves. But if they can survive, hope, and carry on—then maybe so can we. eBook ARC provided by the publisher for purposes of review. Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div>Writing Reptile Books - from the eBay store</a></h2> New in the shop this month: A classic leather-bound Easton Press edition of Left Hand of Darkness, signed by Ursula K. Le Guin</a>. Special offer for Anaxagology readers: Grab Left Hand of Darkness for 15% off. Click “Make an Offer,” deduct 15%, and mention Anaxagology. Browse the shop for more great books and comics</a>. Featured author newsletter: Jo Miles</a></h2> This month, I’m excited to feature Jo Miles (they/them) and their fantastic newsletter. Jo writes short stories and novels across the spectrum of speculative fiction, featuring vivid characters, quirky world-building, and a sense of hope. Their novels include Warped State, the first of a space opera trilogy that’s like Star Trek meets Leverage, and their stories have appeared in magazines including Lightspeed, Uncanny, and F&SF. In Jo’s newsletter, you can expect fun extras related to their books, behind-the-scenes info about each new story, SFF book and media recommendations and other cool SFF-adjacent stuff from around the web, plus cat pictures. Subscribe to Jo Miles’s free monthly author newsletter here: https://www.jomiles.com/newsletter/</a>. After signing up, you will get a free prequel story to Warped State that can’t be found anywhere else. ICYMI</a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. My post-apocalyptic adventure novelette, “Ladd’s Robot Repair,” about connection, care, and learning to let someone in, is forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine. I was a guest on Story Hour and read three of my favorite flash fiction stories. You can watch the video on the Story Hour YouTube Channel</a>. I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, The Tower (Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My guest post about The Tower</a> was recently featured on My Favorite Bit. My most recent story, “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924B Regarding Post-Battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis”</a> is available in the August 2025 issue of Lightspeed Magazine. Other recent fiction includes “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”</a> and “The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus”</a>. Visit my Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works. I wrote for Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, about an ordinary suburb that hides extraordinary magic. Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div>About</a></h2> Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. Subscribe now!</a> You can learn more about Dave at his website</a>, or follow him on Bluesky</a>. I am on a mission to redefine “jimjam” as an all-purpose word, along the lines of whatnot or doodad. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the jitters” but that’s preposterous, I say. A jimjam is a doohickey. Fight me. ↩</a> </li> </ol> </section> Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924B Regarding Post-Battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis Unknown — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000 The War is over. Something else is taking root.</a></h2> I was doomed to love this. Not only is it a powerful story, but it carries some absolutely great body horror to it!…This story has heart to it. — Vale Solomon, How Sweet the Words</a></cite> </blockquote> This a haunting and creepy tale…And it shows that sometimes when we set out to do good, things can go wrong in unexpected and horrible ways. — Howard G. Cornett, My Reading Life</a></cite> </blockquote> A casket hides a lot of crimes. Children buried without limbs. Skin blackened. Jaws, eyes, ears ripped away. A ragged hole where a face used to be. A casket doesn’t spare the first responders, the authorities who arrive late after the destruction, the body collectors, the embalmers. A child’s body done in by violence is an open wound in the world that can never be closed. </div> In Lightspeed Magazine, Issue #183</a>, August 2025. Read</a> Listen</a> Buy</a> Test Page Unknown — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 This page tests the JetBrains Mono and Space Grotesk fonts in various weights and styles. Hanken Grotesk</a></h2> Roman</a></h3> Hanken Grotesk 100 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 200 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 300 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 400 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 500 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 600 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 700 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 800 weight roman. Hanken Grotesk 900 weight roman. Italic</a></h3> Hanken Grotesk 100 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 200 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 300 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 400 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 500 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 600 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 700 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 800 weight italic. Hanken Grotesk 900 weight italic. JetBrains Mono</a></h2> Roman</a></h3> JetBrains Mono 100 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 200 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 300 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 400 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 500 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 600 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 700 weight roman. JetBrains Mono 800 weight roman. Italic</a></h3> JetBrains Mono 100 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 200 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 100 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 300 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 400 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 500 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 600 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 700 weight italic. JetBrains Mono 800 weight italic. Space Grotesk</a></h2> Space Grotesk 300 Light Space Grotesk 400 Regular Space Grotesk 500 Medium Space Grotesk 700 Bold Element Showcase</a></h1> Purpose: Quickly verify fonts, spacing, colours, and component styles after any design change. </blockquote> 1. Headings</a></h2> H1 Heading</a></h1> H2 Heading</a></h2> H3 Heading</a></h3> H4 Heading</a></h4> H5 Heading</a></h5> H6 Heading</a></h6> 2. Basic Text</a></h2> Normal paragraph text. Emphasis with *asterisks*</code>, strong with **double**</code>. A line of inline code</code> inside a sentence. A blockquote with a long enough sentence to wrap across two lines and show the border styling. </blockquote> Horizontal rule below: Lists</a></h3> Unordered: First bullet</li> Second bullet Nested bullet Double‑nested</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> Ordered: First item</li> Second item Sub‑item</li> Sub‑item</li> </ol> </li> </ol> Definition List: HTML</dt> HyperText Markup Language</dd> CSS</dt> Cascading Style Sheets</dd> JS</dt> JavaScript</dd> </dl> Foldable Text Title 1</summary> IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY. </details> Title 2</summary> Stay awhile, and listen! </details> 3. Code Samples</a></h2> Inline <code></code> already shown; now a fenced block: fn main() { println!("Hello, world!"); }</code></pre> 4. Links</a></h2> A standard link to Wikipedia</a>. A download link to a fake PDF (should show ↓ arrow if your CSS targets it): Download sample PDF</a> 5. Images & Figures</a></h2> Figure 1: A captioned kitten.</figcaption> </figure> 6. Tables</a></h2> Header 1</th> Header 2</th> Header 3</th></tr></thead> Row 1</td> Row 1</td> Row 1</td></tr> Row 2</td> Italics</td> Bold</td></tr> Row 3</td> Code</code></td> 1 234</td></tr> </tbody></table> 7. Forms & Inputs</a></h2> Name:</label> Email:</label> Subscribe</label> Option A</label> Option B</label> </textarea> <button type="submit">Send</button> </form> <hr /> <h2 id="8-semantic-interactive">8. Semantic/Interactive<a class="zola-anchor" href="#8-semantic-interactive" aria-label="Anchor link for: 8-semantic-interactive"></a></h2> <details> <summary>Click to expand the <code><details></code> element</summary> This text was hidden! </details> <kbd>⌘ S</kbd> to save • Highlighted text • <del>Struck‑through</del> </article> <article> <h1>Anaxagology for July 2025</h1> Unknown — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Originally published July 8, 2025 via email A quick Tower update: I was delighted to see my audiobook The Tower get a nice mention in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/06/09/move-over-middle-grade-take-two-by-guest-bloggers-christina-chatel-and-marcia-kochel/">School Library Journal</a> this month! They called it “truly creepy” and said middle schoolers would devour it—which is pretty much the dream. They also wished it existed in print so they could stock it at school book fairs (fingers crossed for that someday!). For now, it’s still an audiobook exclusive, narrated by the amazing Christopher Gebauer and <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">available wherever you get your audiobooks</a>. If you give it a listen, I’d love to hear what you think. Also, if you are a professional reviewer or a voting member of the SFWA, HWA, or other awards body, I have free review copies of The Tower available. You can reply directly to this email if you’re reading in your inbox, or drop me a note at <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxaoras.com</a> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link"> Subscribe to Anaxagology </a> </div><h2 id="i-ll-finally-be-happy-when-i-m-young-and-successful-the-arrival-fallacy-and-the-aging-writer">I’ll finally be happy when I’m young and successful: The arrival fallacy and the aging writer<a class="zola-anchor" href="#i-ll-finally-be-happy-when-i-m-young-and-successful-the-arrival-fallacy-and-the-aging-writer" aria-label="Anchor link for: i-ll-finally-be-happy-when-i-m-young-and-successful-the-arrival-fallacy-and-the-aging-writer"></a></h2> You’re older than you’ve ever been And now you’re even older And now you’re even older And now you’re even older. You’re older than you’ve ever been And now you’re even older, And now you’re older still. — <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/TdIRrmNN_CQ">“Older,” They Might Be Giants</a> Are you too old to become a writer? Well, I don’t know how old you are, but—no. You’re not too old. It’s writing, not boxing. Maybe you’ve been writing for a while—years, even decades—and you haven’t reached whatever version of “success” you imagined. But here’s a question: How old will you be in ten years if you keep going? The same age you’ll be in ten years if you don’t. So you might as well keep writing. There’s a strong link in our culture between youth and success. That’s the story we’re sold—especially by people with something to promote. It’s great copy: A 22-year-old publishing sensation! A debut novel straight out of undergrad! No MFA, no formal training—just pure talent! But those stories are just PR. They sell youth because youth is a product, and you’re the market. If they can convince you that success belongs to the young, they can sell you things that promise to rewind the clock—courses, programs, skincare, hair-growth pills, hustle. Being older? That’s free. Everyone gets there eventually. But if they can make you believe you’re already too late, they can profit off your fear. So what can we do instead? Find counter-examples. They’re everywhere. I was 44 when I sold my TV pilot to Amazon Studios. Frank Herbert was 45 when Dune was published. Raymond Chandler didn’t start writing fiction until his late 40s. Richard Adams published Watership Down at age 52. Laura Ingalls Wilder began writing at the age of 65. Harriet Doerr didn’t publish her first novel until she was 74, and won the National Book Award. And Martha Wells had been publishing for years, but didn’t become a household name until Murderbot hit shelves in 2017—decades into her career. Try to stay friendly with your writing. It’s easy, especially when you’re struggling, to turn the whole process into a battleground—every word a fight, every page a referendum on your worth. But writing isn’t your enemy. And neither are you. Be kind to the work, and to yourself. Some days the writing flows; some days it limps. That’s okay. You’re still showing up. You’re still making something out of nothing. That’s magic. Treat it with care. Take a hard look at what we mean by “success.” Most of us are chasing a moving target. We think if we finally reach that goal—get the book deal, win the award, land the agent—then we’ll feel different. We’ll feel like we made it. We’ll be happy. Forever. That’s the arrival fallacy: the belief that once we finally arrive, we will achieve everlasting happiness. But the truth is, the goalposts move. Climb one hill, there’s another one waiting. Humans are great at adapting—to challenges as well as to success. Your win becomes the new normal. The dopamine hit fades. And then you start wondering why you still feel uncertain, or restless, or behind despite getting what you thought you wanted.. Getting to make my own show with Amazon was amazing. It was also temporary. All shows are. That wasn’t an end point. There is no end point. There’s just life, and whatever you’re doing with it now. So what is real success? Doing the work. Staying in the game. Still writing. Still learning. Still having something to say. Still connecting —with readers, with your past selves, with other people walking their own weird, personal path with their art. Celebrate milestones. Landing an agent, finishing a draft, getting a nice review—those are real wins. Just don’t confuse them for a final destination. They’re waypoints, not end points. Don’t wait to celebrate until you have arrived. You’ll be waiting, literally, forever. Don’t wait until you are published to call yourself a writer. I keep a journal and write down my daily win at the top, so I can look back quickly as see how I’ve progressed, and remember all the tiny wins that have kept me moving forward. It’s easy to forget, so mark the moment. But recognize the journey will continue. Keep a Good Things journal. If you find yourself chasing a feeling that never quite arrives, try making a habit of gratitude. One practice that’s helped me see myself and my career in a better light is something I picked up from <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://time.com/6140818/how-to-feel-gratitude-kindness-catalog/">a Time article on cultivating gratitude</a> from Yohanca Delgado—a Good Things journal. Keep a log of specific moments when someone showed you care, encouragement, or generosity. A friend who read your sloppy first draft. A stranger who complimented your work. An editor who added a personal note to a rejection form. A buddy who texted you out of the blue just to ask how your day was going. It’s easy to forget all the small kindnesses in your life. We tend to remember the negative—dwell on it, even. Revisiting a list of Good Things can help us remember that we are not alone on our efforts and there are reasons to keep going. Even if we never “arrive,” we can appreciate and make the most of the journey. <h2 id="recent-writing-news">Recent writing news<a class="zola-anchor" href="#recent-writing-news" aria-label="Anchor link for: recent-writing-news"></a></h2> My favorite bit about The Tower. I wrote a guest post for Mary Robinette Kowal’s My Favorite Bit series all about Kolby, the emotionally honest, quietly defiant heart of The Tower. <blockquote> His refusal to stop questioning, to stop caring, is what defines Kolby’s heroism. And it’s what makes him a threat to the Tower itself. Because the Tower isn’t just a setting—it’s a system, a beautifully designed trap. </blockquote> If your curious about what makes him tick (and why I love writing him), <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-david-anaxagoras-talks-about-the-tower/">check it out here</a>. Live on tape! I had a blast reading three of my favorite flash fiction stories for <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.storyhour2020.com/">Story Hour</a>, a weekly livestream of speculative fiction hosted by Daniel Marcus and Laura Blackwell. If you missed the live event on June 18th, no worries—you can still catch the reading on YouTube. It’s short, strange, and (I hope) a little fun. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-GskX8Duw">Watch it on YouTube!</a> Coming soon. I’m thrilled to announce that my sci-fi horror flash fiction story “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis ” has been scheduled to appear in the August issue of Lightspeed! <blockquote> “Now firearms literally leave flowers in their wake. The hippies of old could only dream.” </blockquote> In a war-scarred future, a field scientist investigates a body-erasing bioweapon designed to leave nothing behind. But memory has roots, and what grows back doesn’t forget. This is a story about horror, memory, and grief that refuses to stay buried. I hope you’ll check it out when it drops in August. Out now. Here’s a little curiosity for you. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-discover-new-color-thats-impossible-to-see-without-lasering-your/">A recent Scientific American article</a> detailed the discovery of a new “impossible” color beyond our normal vision which you can see only if you zap yourself in the eye with a laser. (Do not, as they say, try this at home!). The article reminded me of a drabble I had written a few years ago. What’s a drabble? It’s a short story of exactly 100 words, excluding the title. It originated as a writing exercise in which I wrote one notebook page every morning, nonstop, to a prompt. The prompt in this case was “Write about a color.” It was a short hop from journal entry to finished drabble, but I never bothered to publish it. In honor of the new color, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com/post/3ln4uudqth227">I posted it to Bluesky</a>. You can read it below. Careful. It comes with a curse. <blockquote> A Handwritten Message Hastily Scribbled by the Dead Traveler on Your Doorstep David Anaxagoras Not everyone can see the color fluum. It is the color of quantum foam before the big bang and has the power to undo creation itself. Humankind was never meant to see it and can scarcely comprehend it. Fluum is the color of a fallen angel’s regret. If you are one of the cursed who can see the color fluum, it falls upon you to defend all of existence from its madness. If you can read this message, know it is scratched in ink made from the ash of my burning bones. Know it is written in the color fluum. </blockquote> If you read and enjoy my stories, please share them on social media, drop me a note on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or send me an <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">email</a>. Members of the SFWA, you can add to or upvote these stories on the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/">Nebula Reading List</a>. <h2 id="things-i-love">Things I love<a class="zola-anchor" href="#things-i-love" aria-label="Anchor link for: things-i-love"></a></h2> I’ve been on a real cyberpunk kick lately and one of the things I love is artist Josan Gonzalez. Josan is a Spanish illustrator with a highly distinct cyberpunk edge. His art has a gritty, hand-drawn look, is often packed with detail, and frequently features a bright pastel color pallet. Influences like Moebius and Katsuhiro Otomo are plain to see. His art book The Future is Now is a wordless graphic novel that serves up a future dystopia of VR headsets, weary robots, human augmentation, biker gangs, brutal police squads, grimy apartments, and noodles. Here’s a few of of my favorite pieces: View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/1dbae5f1-6686-4fb6-97de-cd0dd5b7167c/Neon_Rising_V2_35.png?t=1749666912">Neon Rising V2 p35</a> View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/7ceed413-9bf7-4ed6-8a31-e877e7792b49/Neon_Rising_V2_51.png?t=1749666953">Neon Rising V2 p51</a> View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/29ab30e2-1c85-4fe0-b4bc-15d0821625d1/Neon_Rising_V2_86.png?t=1749668345">Neon Rising V2 p86</a> View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b7add641-aef8-42b5-96ca-40c3b118b5a9/Neon_Rising_V2_80.png?t=1749667238">Neon Rising V2 p80</a> View <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/79371966-304b-44a5-8717-32df9bd63541/Neon_Rising_V2_123.png?t=1749667125">Neon Rising V2 p123</a> You can pick up a beautiful hard copy of Josan’s The Future is Now <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://citadel9.com/collections/all/products/the-future-is-now_neon-rising">at his online shop</a>. <h2 id="reading-log">Reading log<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-log" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-log"></a></h2> “The Gernsback Continuum” (1981) by William Gibson in Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. A photojournalist begins hallucinating a 1930s-style utopian retro-future—gleaming chrome cities, streamlined flying cars, and perfect Aryan people. A cultural theorist suggests he’s tapping into a collective pop-culture unconscious—the ghost of a future that never happened. This is a cultural critique essay masquerading as a short story, and as such it has some interesting concepts (and nice prose), but little in the way of plot, character arc, or emotional impact. Also, it features my least favorite SF character—the “Explainer Guy”—who comes on stage to explain the science (or psychology, or whatever) to the characters—but really, to the audience. And here, he’s Gibson’s mouthpiece. As an anti-nostalgia essay that savagely critiques retro-futurism as aesthetic fantasies grounded in fascism, authoritarianism, and white supremacy, it’s an interesting concept, though it doesn’t go far enough to connect the dots and show us the real horror of such a world. However, as the opening salvo in the Mirrorshades anthology, it’s an effective declaration of war that clearly draws a line in the sand. We’re leaving dreams of Utopia behind and embracing an unflinching, grittier, more complex, but more grounded and authentic future. Bonus:<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/xh5QHtGmXn4">You can watch the 1993 BBC short film adaptation called Tomorrow Calling on YouTube</a>. “The People of Sand and Slag” (2004) by Paolo Bacigalupi in Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse [also <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://windupstories.com/books/pump-six-and-other-stories/people-of-sand-and-slag/">available free on the author’s website</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.drabblecast.org/2012/10/30/drabblecast-261-the-people-of-sand-and-slag/">listen to audio at Drabblecast</a>. A trio of genetically augmented guards providing security at a mining operation in far-future Montana happen upon an nearly impossible rarity—a wild dog living in the industrial wastelands. As they struggle to care for it their post-human emptiness is revealed. A haunting, emotionally punishing story set in a future where humanity has modified itself almost beyond recognition in order to survive in a ruined world—but at the cost of its empathy. This story was vivid, disturbing, and beautifully written. As an animal lover, I found this difficult but powerful. Bacigalupi draws effective contrasts between brutality and softness. It left me sad not only for the dog, but for humanity’s willingness to trade away its heart. This is a story I’ll be thinking about for a long time. “Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince” (2013) by Jake Kerr in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/biographical-fragments-of-the-life-of-julian-prince/">Lightspeed, Issue 34</a>. A life told in clippings and excerpts from Wikipedia articles, speeches, novels, and interviews, of a journalist and novelist who lived though a devastating near world-ending impact. This story cracked open a deep canyon of profound sorrow in me. I’m marveling at the technical craft required to pull off a story that’s so effective emotionally but told in coldly objective clippings. Of course, a lot of it probably has to do with the state of the world right now, but that’s part of the magic of the story. It easily embeds itself in our current context despite being written a decade ago. I could vividly imagine myself in this world…and that was terrifying! “Second Variety” (1953) by Philip K. Dick in Space Science Fiction, May 1953. [Also <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32032">available free at Project Gutenberg</a>] In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where the U.S. has lost to the Soviets, a weary commander ventures into enemy territory to negotiate peace—only to discover that autonomous killer machines called “claws” have evolved into human-like replicants, blurring the line between enemy and ally. A pulpy, action-driven tale that still delivers a chilling and prescient central idea: autonomous, self-replicating war machines evolving beyond human control. A transitional story for PKD that has one foot firmly planted in pulp but touches on deeper themes of identity, runaway systems, and paranoia. Having recently rewatched Screamers, the film adaptation dulled some surprises, but I appreciated how vulnerable the protagonist, Hendricks, is portrayed, physically at least—a contrast to the usual pulp hero. This being PDK, I saw the twist coming, but it was effectively executed, and I liked that the story didn’t just end there. Instead, it leaned into a bleak irony: the machines are now mercilessly fighting and killing each other. A haunting commentary on the inevitable violence of life and war—though I would have welcomed deeper exploration on that point. <h2 id="writing-reptile-books-from-the-ebay-store">Writing Reptile Books - from the eBay store<a class="zola-anchor" href="#writing-reptile-books-from-the-ebay-store" aria-label="Anchor link for: writing-reptile-books-from-the-ebay-store"></a></h2> I have an eBay store and sell comic books and rare and beautiful editions of science fiction, fantasy, and fairy tales. In the store this month: A beautiful Folio Society edition of Andrew Lang’s Green Fairy Book. Special offer for Anaxagology readers: Grab The Green Fairy Book for 15% off. Click “Make an Offer,” deduct 15%, and mention Anaxagology. Your offer will be accepted! <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.ebay.com/usr/writingreptile">Browse the shop for more great books and comics</a>. <blockquote> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/226672177333">Like New — The Folio Society edition of The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.</a> This edition is rare and out of print. The Folio Society Fairy Books are a must-have for any collector of fairy tales and fantasy. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to own this beautiful book. </blockquote> <h2 id="featured-author-newsletter-catherine-tavares">Featured author newsletter - Catherine Tavares<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-author-newsletter-catherine-tavares" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-author-newsletter-catherine-tavares"></a></h2> Catherine Tavares is a speculative fiction author and member of both SFWA and Codex. Her work has appeared on the Nebula Recommended Reading List and been featured or is forthcoming in magazines such as Apex, Phano, Nature Futures, Flash Point SF, and more. Her monthly newsletter includes updates about her work, sneak peaks at future projects, behind the scenes insights, and recommendations for all things SFFH. Subscribe for free and receive an exclusive sci-fi flash story as a thank you here: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://catherinetavares.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Catherine Tavares’ Newsletter</a> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="icymi">ICYMI<a class="zola-anchor" href="#icymi" aria-label="Anchor link for: icymi"></a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. My sf-horror flash fiction piece, “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis” is forthcoming in Lightspeed’s August 2025 issue. I was a guest on Story Hour and read three of my favorite flash fiction stories. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s-GskX8Duw">You can watch the video on the Story Hour YouTube Channel</a>. I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower (Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-david-anaxagoras-talks-about-the-tower/">guest post about The Tower</a> was recently featured on My Favorite Bit. My most recent fiction, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">“The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”</a>,” is available in the April 2025 (Version One) issue of World of Possibilities. Other recent fiction includes, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://factorfourmag.com/the-everlasting-wound-of-polyphemus-by-david-anaxagoras/">“The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus”</a>, and <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">“Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell from the Sky”</a>. Visit my <a href="/works">Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works. I wrote for <a href="/works/glitch-techs/">Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, <a href="/works/gortimer/">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, about three kids whose life is anything but normal. <h2 id="about">About<a class="zola-anchor" href="#about" aria-label="Anchor link for: about"></a></h2> Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Subscribe now!</a> You can learn more about Dave at his <a href="/">website</a>, or follow him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com/theanaxagoras/">Instagram</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Media Kit</h1> Unknown — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="featured-release-the-tower-audiobook-a-2026-andre-norton-nebula-award-finalist">Featured Release: The Tower (Audiobook) - A 2026 Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist!<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-release-the-tower-audiobook-a-2026-andre-norton-nebula-award-finalist" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-release-the-tower-audiobook-a-2026-andre-norton-nebula-award-finalist"></a></h2> <blockquote> When 12-year-old Kolby finds himself captive in the penthouse of a 75-story skyscraper with no memory of who he is or how he got there, he must work together with other young captives to unravel the mysteries of the tower before its ultimate, terrifying purpose can be fulfilled. </blockquote> <ul> <li>Title: The Tower</li> <li>Format: Audiobook</li> <li>Publisher: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">Recorded Books</a></li> <li>Release Date: March 4, 2025</li> <li>Genre: Middle-grade horror</li> <li>Length: 7h23m</li> <li>Narrated by: Christopher Gebauer</li> <li>Link to listen or purchase: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">Publisher page</a></li> <li>Cover image: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/p/davidanaxagoras/845013101170977037">The Tower - HiRes Cover</a></li> </ul> <h3 id="praise-for-the-tower">Praise for The Tower<a class="zola-anchor" href="#praise-for-the-tower" aria-label="Anchor link for: praise-for-the-tower"></a></h3> <blockquote> ★★★★★ An enthralling work of middle grade horror…A challenge to put down. I read the whole thing within a day. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8497679758">Beth Cato, Author/Goodreads</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> ★★★★★ It’s spooky, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s creepy, it’s thrilling, it’s scary, and it’s so much fun! <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1D86N2KWTI4B5/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0D5JVWWJY">Amazon Reviewer</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> ★★★★★ Great characters and characterization, a deep and disturbing mystery, and good narration make this a winner. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7378254239">M.E. Garber, Author/Goodreads</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> ★★★★★ The book is full of suspense and adventure that will keep you enthralled until the ending that you won’t see coming. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7376133900">Leah Orr, Author/Goodreads</a></cite> </blockquote> <h2 id="author-bio">Author Bio<a class="zola-anchor" href="#author-bio" aria-label="Anchor link for: author-bio"></a></h2> <h3 id="short-50-words">Short (50 words)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#short-50-words" aria-label="Anchor link for: short-50-words"></a></h3> David Anaxagoras is the Nebula Award nominated author of The Tower, a middle-grade horror audiobook from Recorded Books. He writes speculative fiction about outsiders — usually kids — trying to make sense of a weird world. <h3 id="medium-100-150-words">Medium (100–150 words)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#medium-100-150-words" aria-label="Anchor link for: medium-100-150-words"></a></h3> David Anaxagoras is the Nebula Award nominated author of The Tower (Recorded Books), a middle-grade horror audiobook about kids who wake in a mysterious penthouse with no memories, no adults, and no way out. His short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Worlds of Possibility, Factor Four, and elsewhere. He created and co-executive produced Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Amazon Prime Video’s award-winning coming-of-age series, for which he received a WGA award nomination. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and currently resides in Texas (but not on purpose), where he writes full time, powered by cold brew coffee, 80s vinyl, and a healthy disregard for the impossible. <h3 id="long-200-300-words">Long (200–300 words)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#long-200-300-words" aria-label="Anchor link for: long-200-300-words"></a></h3> David Anaxagoras is a Nebula Award nominated writer of strange, heartfelt stories about friendship, wonder, and survival. He is the author of The Tower, an original middle-grade mystery audiobook published by Recorded Books, and a growing body of short fiction in speculative outlets including Lightspeed, Factor Four, and Worlds of Possibility. His fiction often examines connection, care, and the resilience of outsiders in fantastical or broken worlds. David is the creator and co-executive producer of Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Amazon Studios’ first original live-action series for kids and families. The critically acclaimed show ran for three seasons and was praised by The New York Times as “smart and charming” and by Variety as “genuinely clever.” In 2016, David was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for his episode “Gortimer vs. the Relentless Rainbow of Joy,” and the series went on to receive multiple honors from the WGA, Humanitas, and the Parents’ Choice Foundation. After Gortimer, David joined the writing staff of Glitch Techs, the animated sci-fi adventure series from Nickelodeon and Netflix, which earned him recognition from the Muslim Public Affairs Council for advancing inclusive storytelling. Originally trained in child development, David worked for years as a preschool teacher before earning his MFA in screenwriting from UCLA. That background continues to inform his work, especially his belief that stories for young readers deserve literary quality, emotional honesty, and room to be weird. He has taught screenwriting at The Loft Literary Center and served multiple years on the judging committee for the Humanitas Prize in Children’s Television. In recent years, David has expanded into fiction publishing, with a focus on speculative short stories and a new series of post-apocalyptic novelettes about a boy who fixes robots in a crumbling world—stories born from a love of care, repair, and the stubborn persistence of hope. These themes echo his growing personal philosophy: that in a world shaped by systems of extraction and decay, care is resistance. David lives in Texas but will always be a Southern Californian at heart. He builds his website by hand in plain text and publishes it without ads, trackers, or cookies. His favorite font is still the green phosphor of a CRT terminal, and his favorite stories are the ones that sneak up on you with unexpected heart. <h2 id="author-photos">Author Photos<a class="zola-anchor" href="#author-photos" aria-label="Anchor link for: author-photos"></a></h2> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/c/843988511648973573">Author Photo Gallery</a> <h2 id="downloadable-press-kit">Downloadable Press Kit<a class="zola-anchor" href="#downloadable-press-kit" aria-label="Anchor link for: downloadable-press-kit"></a></h2> You can download a full ZIP file of media assets here: <a href="/downloads/media-kit.zip">Download Media Kit (.zip)</a> Includes: <ul> <li>Author bio (MD + DOCX)</li> <li>Author headshots (JPG)</li> <li>The Tower cover (JPG)</li> <li>The Tower info sheet (MD + DOCX)</li> </ul> <h2 id="contact">Contact<a class="zola-anchor" href="#contact" aria-label="Anchor link for: contact"></a></h2> <ul> <li>Email: <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxagoras.com</a></li> <li>Newsletter: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe</a></li> <li>Bluesky: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">@davidanaxagoras.com</a></li> <li>Website: <a href="/">https://davidanaxagoras.com</a></li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Visitor's Bureau</h1> Unknown — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 You’ve stumbled into the cybercave <a href="/about">David Anaxagoras</a>, writer of TV and speculative fiction. If this is your first time here, the Visitor’s Bureau is your guide to what I do, where to start reading, and how to stay in touch. <h2 id="what-i-write">What I Write<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-write" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-write"></a></h2> I’m a novelist, television writer, and short story author. I wrote mostly about outsiders, usually <a href="/works/tower">kids</a>, just trying to deal with the weird <a href="/works/birds">world</a>. Some of my stories are set in <a href="/works/gortimer">suburbia</a>. Some in a <a href="/works/ladd">rusted future</a>. My short stories often appear in magazines like <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/authors/david-anaxagoras/">Lightspeed</a> and most are free to read. I also have a side-gig and sell rare and collectible science fiction and fantasy books through my small eBay shop, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.ebay.com/usr/writingreptile">Writing Reptile Books</a>. <h2 id="explore-my-work">Explore My Work<a class="zola-anchor" href="#explore-my-work" aria-label="Anchor link for: explore-my-work"></a></h2> Here are some good places to start: <ul> <li><a href="/yearbook">Download my free 2025 Story Yearbook</a> — for a retrospective of a year in writing, with complete stories and commentary</li> <li><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/">Read this story</a> — if you’d like to read one story that best represents my work</li> <li><a href="/works">Visit my Bibliography</a> — to sample more of my fiction and tv writing</li> <li><a href="/works/tower">Learn About The Tower</a> — my Andre Norton Nebula Award finalist middle-grade horror audiobook</li> <li><a href="/about">Find out more About Me</a> — more of the usual bio stuff</li> </ul> <h2 id="want-to-keep-in-touch">Want to Keep in Touch?<a class="zola-anchor" href="#want-to-keep-in-touch" aria-label="Anchor link for: want-to-keep-in-touch"></a></h2> I send out free a monthly author newsletter with: <ul> <li>A feature essay</li> <li>News and updates on new stories and projects</li> <li>Thoughts on the writing craft</li> <li>“Behind the scenes” notes on my fiction</li> <li>A reading log of current and vintage science-fiction and fantasy short stories</li> </ul> You can <a href="/newsletter">browse pervious newsletters</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">go here to sign up</a>. Thanks for stopping by. If you like, you can return <a href="/">home</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Privacy Policy</h1> Unknown — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 This website doesn’t collect your data. It doesn’t want your data. It wouldn’t know what to do with your data if it had it. <h2 id="what-i-don-t-do">What I don’t do:<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-don-t-do" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-don-t-do"></a></h2> <ul> <li>No cookies</li> <li>No trackers</li> <li>No paywalls</li> <li>No advertisements</li> <li>No external fonts</li> <li>No surveillance</li> <li>No bullshit</li> </ul> <h2 id="what-i-do-know">What I do know:<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-do-know" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-do-know"></a></h2> Almost nothing. This is a static site with no backend. I don’t log visitors’ personal info. I don’t want to. If you email me, I’ll read it. That’s about it. <h2 id="what-i-do-use">What I do use:<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-do-use" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-do-use"></a></h2> A single script from <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goatcounter.com/">GoatCounter</a>, an open-source, privacy-first analytics tool. It tracks page visits anonymously — no cookies, no user profiles, no personal info. I use it to get a rough idea of what pages people visit. That’s it. <h2 id="external-links">External Links<a class="zola-anchor" href="#external-links" aria-label="Anchor link for: external-links"></a></h2> Links to other sites (like Beehiiv, where I host my newsletter) may load scripts, collect analytics, or serve cookies. That’s out of my hands. Browse accordingly. <h2 id="tl-dr">TL;DR<a class="zola-anchor" href="#tl-dr" aria-label="Anchor link for: tl-dr"></a></h2> This site is a conversation between you and me, not you, me and some evil mega-corporation. You are not the product here. </article> <article> <h1>In Praise of Plain Text</h1> Unknown — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 I’m an old man [waits for screams of horror to die down] and I was there when the first PCs made their way into the home. There was no Internet but you could dial in [fax machine noise] to a <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system">BBS</a> and download some <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareware">shareware</a> if you wanted. My first computer game was <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure">Colossal Cave Adventure</a>, an all-text adventure. I still dream in green <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor">phosphor</a>. My first word processor was <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordStar">WordStar</a>, and it was gorgeous: just a screen full of text. Even with all the command shortcuts listed on screen it was never the UI nightmare that is MS Word. In those early days, the plain text days, we were just hobbyists sharing stuff with each other. Then the Internet came, and for a while, it was good. And then it wasn’t. Billionaires and their mega-corporations learned to feed on us. Happy people don’t have an urgent need to buy things to feel better — so billionaires and their mega-corporations do everything in their power, through the online spaces they own and the policies they influence, to cultivate misery, hatred, and anxiety. Then they turn around and sell us a solution to the very problem they created — and they do it using targeted ads crafted by tracking our every like, share, follow, view, and purchase. I’d rather not. I’m a writer, and even if I’m not online getting surveilled on the Internet, I’m writing. For many, that means using tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. And then we’re right back to getting pummeled with forced sign-ins, questionable privacy practices, and overbearing “AI” features you can’t dodge. So here’s the thing about plain text. It lasts. It’s eternal. A <code>.txt</code> file from twenty years is as readable now as it was then — by machine or human. Ever try to open an old document only to find the program that made it no longer exists? Try exporting notes from a proprietary app sometime. Proprietary formats are where ideas go to die. Plain text doesn’t lock you in. No subscriptions. No upgrades required. It belongs to you. Forever. If the app that crated it disappears it doesn’t matter. You can still read a plain text file with your own eyes. It’s text, not binary garbage. I keep my notes in plain text files and manage them with <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://obsidian.md/">Obsidian</a>. If Obsidian disappears tomorrow, all my files still work — portable, human-readable, and untouched. I write fiction, notes, and even this blog post using <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/">Markdown</a>, a simple, intuitive plain-text formatting language you can read with your eyes. Any editor can open it. Even Word. This website is an extension of that plain text philosophy. I rebuilt it from scratch using <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.getzola.org/">Zola</a>, a static site generator, for fast, clean, surveillance-free publishing. It’s just HTML and CSS. No ads. No trackers. No cookies. No JavaScript. No bullshit. Just text. Like the Internet was supposed to be. </article> <article> <h1>About Me</h1> Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 David Anaxagoras is a Nebula Award finalist and author of <a href="/works/tower">The Tower</a> (Recorded Books), a middle-grade horror audiobook. His <a href="/works">short fiction</a> has appeared in Lightspeed, Translunar Travelers Lounge, Worlds of Possibility, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and created and co-executive produced <a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, Amazon Prime Video’s award-winning coming-of-age series for which he received a WGA award nomination. He currently resides in Texas (but not on purpose), where he writes full time, powered by cold brew coffee, 80s vinyl, and a healthy disregard for the impossible. Subscribe to his <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">newsletter</a>, visit him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a>, or <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">drop him an email</a>. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/p/davidanaxagoras/843991643726891147">Author Photo</a> <a href="/colophon">About this site</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Colophon</h1> Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 <a href="/privacy">Privacy Policy</a> <h2 id="copyright">Copyright<a class="zola-anchor" href="#copyright" aria-label="Anchor link for: copyright"></a></h2> This website and content copyright © David Anaxagoras 2025, 2026. All rights reserved. Use of this site’s content for training AI models, large language models, or automated data-mining systems is expressly forbidden without prior written permission. This prohibition includes but is not limited to scraping, reproducing, or incorporating text into machine learning datasets. <h2 id="plain-text-internet">Plain Text Internet<a class="zola-anchor" href="#plain-text-internet" aria-label="Anchor link for: plain-text-internet"></a></h2> This site is created with plain text. It loads fast, works offline, and should still make sense a decade from now. I’ve moved away from bloated, engagement-optimized web — the one full of dark patterns, autoplay videos, and SEO sludge. I’m tired of being a product. Maybe you are too. <h2 id="gear">Gear<a class="zola-anchor" href="#gear" aria-label="Anchor link for: gear"></a></h2> This is a list of the tools I use to create and maintain this website, write fiction, stay organized, and manage my creative business. I try to keep things lightweight, privacy-conscious, and distraction-free. I lean toward open-source, portability, affordability, and sustainability. <h3 id="online-presence-privacy">Online Presence & Privacy<a class="zola-anchor" href="#online-presence-privacy" aria-label="Anchor link for: online-presence-privacy"></a></h3> <ul> <li>Firefox Web Browser Because nuts to Chrome specifically and Google in general, that’s why.</li> <li>Private Internet Access An affordable VPN that provides privacy and security.</li> <li>DuckDuckGo My default search engine. Prioritizes privacy and doesn’t track my searches or create a filter bubble. Gives me relevant results without compromising personal data, making it an essential alternative to big tech search engines.</li> <li>Privacy Badger is a browser extension that automatically blocks invisible trackers and third-party cookies and keeps my browsing private without complicated setup. You can fine-tune settings for individual websites to make sure everything is working like you want it to. You are are in control.</li> <li>Dreamhost Website hosting and email. It’s been reliable but as I no longer use WordPress it’s overkill for my purposes and too expensive. I’m switching as soon as I find a cheaper alternative I’m happy with.</li> <li>Zola Static website generator for my personal website. You’re looking at it. Web pages are written in Markdown, and Zola translates that to <code>HTML</code>. Fast, minimalist, and plain-text friendly. No trackers, ads, cookies, or other crap. You know, the Internet as it was supposed to be.</li> <li>Apollo Theme for this website, lightly customized. readable, responsive, and quiet. Fonts are loaded locally. JavaScript is minimal. You won’t get cookie popups because my site doesn’t need to know anything about you.</li> <li>GoatCounter Open source web analytics platform. Tells me about web traffic on my site but does not track personal data.</li> <li>Beehiiv My current author newsletter platform. Free for up to 2,500 subscribers.</li> <li>Bluesky is my social platform of choice. It’s built on an open standard with strong moderation tools, and fosters a culture I value: block trolls, report bad actors, and move on. No algorithmic outrage, just conversation on your terms.</li> </ul> <h3 id="writing">Writing<a class="zola-anchor" href="#writing" aria-label="Anchor link for: writing"></a></h3> <ul> <li>Obsidian I use it for outlining, research, worldbuilding, and managing long-term writing projects as well for research, general notes and building a knowledge base. Obsidian lets you link quickly between notes with <code>[[wiki-style links]]</code>. With Obsidian, all your notes live as plain-text files on your computer. They are completely human-readable, unlike note apps that store everything in a proprietary database. Your notes belong to you. Obsidian respects that.</li> <li>Zotero + Obsidian Zotero Plugin For collecting and organizing research sources, especially for fiction projects with a historical or scientific foundation.</li> <li>Markdown A markup language for formatting text with a plain-text editor. This website is written in Markdown. I keep notes and draft stories in Markdown. It’s clean, human-readable, and plain text so it’s future-proof and portable.</li> <li>Typora A clean, distraction-free Markdown editor I use when quickly drafting smaller pieces. Buy it once and you own it—no subscription.</li> <li>The Submissions Grinder No, not that site. The other one. The Submissions Grinder is essential for short story submissions and tracking. Not pretty to look at but gets the job done.</li> </ul> <h3 id="productivity-admin">Productivity & Admin<a class="zola-anchor" href="#productivity-admin" aria-label="Anchor link for: productivity-admin"></a></h3> <ul> <li>Wave Free accounting software I use to manage bookkeeping and taxes for my loan-out corporation and side-gig.</li> <li>Obsidian Tasks Plugin For more project-oriented tracking inside my vault.</li> </ul> <h3 id="hardware-gear">Hardware & Gear<a class="zola-anchor" href="#hardware-gear" aria-label="Anchor link for: hardware-gear"></a></h3> <ul> <li>MacBook Pro (Intel), 16-inch, 2019 My main writing machine. Heck, my main everything machine. It’s old but still has plenty of fight left in it. I don’t believe in the constant upgrade cycle and filling landfills with perfectly usable electronics. I buy used when possible. This machine replaced my MacBook Pro Retina 2013 after 13 years of use.</li> <li>Western Digital 4TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive A solid reliable performer for my regular backups.</li> <li>Logitech MX Master 3S for Mac Mouse Crap. Expensive crap. But it’s one of the few mice that fits comfortably in my large-sized hand.</li> <li>Logitech H390 Wired Headset For video calls and online readings. Not thrilled with the reedy mic quality but the price was right. Searching for affordable upgrade. Still looking.</li> <li>Samsung A35 mobile phone Cheap and solid. Not happy about Android’s deep Gemini AI integration so this phone is going bye-bye as soon as I can afford a new one.</li> <li>AUKEY 20,000mAh Portable USB-C Power Bank Slim and slides easily into a laptop bag. Fairly generic but works great. Charges my devices a couple times over if needed. Handy for extended sojourns away from power outlets or if I forget to charge my phone overnight.</li> <li>Anker 521 Powerhouse 256Wh Portable Power Station My power goes out if the neighbor sneezes. This lugable power station gets me through unexpected outages, especially in the dead of night when I need to keep my CPAP running. It has 2 AC outlets, 2 USB-A, 1 USB-C, and 1 car outlet, plus a built-in light and digital power-level monitor. 5-year warranty.</li> <li>Portable Camping Fan One of the best investments I’ve ever made. Keeps me cool(ish) during power-outages and lasts a surprisingly long time on a charge. LED light, USB-C charger, super quiet.</li> </ul> <h3 id="media">Media<a class="zola-anchor" href="#media" aria-label="Anchor link for: media"></a></h3> <ul> <li>Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB Direct-Drive Professional Turntable (USB & Analog), Silver My first turntable since high school. It’s solid. I wish it had an auto-return function, though</li> <li>SMSL SA-98E 2x160W HiFi Stereo Digital Amplifier Tiny, generic, and cheap little D-class amp but packs all the power I need. Great quality.</li> <li>Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Andrew Jones Home Audio Bookshelf Loudspeakers (2) Been pumping out great sound for years. Crystal clear and amazing quality, even though the drivers look a bit undersized. A little lacking on the low-end.</li> <li>Blu-ray Discs Physical media doesn’t disappear like your favorite movie or show on streaming. It also doesn’t come with ads. But it. Keep it.</li> <li>Plex A media server for your home. Rip your Blu-rays onto a hard drive and you have your own bespoke streaming service.</li> <li>MakeMKV Creates high-quality, unencrypted digital backups of my personal Blu-rays. It preserves the original video and audio without compression, making it ideal for archiving or watching on my own devices. Simple, reliable, and essential for maintaining access to media I own in a format I control.</li> <li>Samsung SE-506CB/RSWD 6X USB 2.0 Slim Blu-ray Writer External Drive This external Blu-ray drive is nearly ten years old and still going. I use it to rip my discs onto my media server.</li> <li>Seagate Expansion 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive I use three of these to serve my media files. It’s not especially fast but seems to be fast enough to stream my movies on Plex and they wre cheap.</li> </ul> <h3 id="reading-input">Reading & Input<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-input" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-input"></a></h3> <ul> <li>Libro.fm I get my audiobooks through Libro.fm, an employee-owned platform that supports independent bookstores through a revenue-sharing model. Unlike Audible, Libro.fm lets me choose a local bookstore to benefit from every purchase. It’s transparent, ethical, and built to support booksellers and readers — not monopolies.</li> <li>Libby Library eBooks and audiobooks.</li> <li>Apple Books My main eBook reader.</li> <li>CLZ Books/CLZ Comics For cataloging my library and comic book collection.</li> </ul> <h2 id="what-i-do-not-use">What I Do Not Use<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-i-do-not-use" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-i-do-not-use"></a></h2> I choose my tools with care, based not only on functionality but also on the values and practices of the companies behind them. Some popular platforms are absent from the above list because I believe they undermine creators, spread misinformation, or otherwise contradict the kind of world I want to support. <ul> <li>Spotify Pays artists fractions of a cent per stream but has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elevate controversial figures like Joe Rogan, despite repeated concerns about harmful misinformation. I prefer platforms that more directly support artists and take public responsibility seriously.</li> <li>Substack I’ve chosen not to use Substack because they <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi-newsletters">financially support and profit from writers known for spreading Nazi idiology, bigotry, harassment, and disinformation</a>—all under the banner of “free speech.” I prefer platforms that don’t subsidize harmful rhetoric or blur the line between neutrality and complicity.</li> <li>ChatGPT, Claude, and other LLMs or “AI” Large Language Models (LLMs) require vast amounts of energy to train and run, contributing to environmental strain and carbon emissions. Additionally, they are trained on copyrighted works pirated from the Internet without the consent, attribution, or compensation of creators.</li> <li>X (formerly Twitter) I left the platform after its acquisition by Nazi-saluting Elon Musk, whose leadership has amplified hate speech, disinformation, and harassment while dismantling basic safety and moderation systems—not to mention the damage he’s done to the United States as the transphobic, anti-DEI leader of DOGE. X is no longer a platform I feel comfortable supporting or participating in.</li> <li>Meta (Facebook, Threads, etc.) Meta has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for user privacy and democratic stability—most notably through the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the company’s role in enabling the spread of disinformation and extremism. Its business model depends on surveillance and algorithmic amplification of outrage, which I prefer not to support.</li> <li>Microsoft Products Microsoft has a long history of monopolistic and anti-competitive business practices that have stifled innovation and harmed competition. More troubling, Microsoft <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/17/ice-microsoft-technology-immigration-crackdown">provides deep digital infrastructure support to DHS and ICE</a>, and the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud">IDF (Israeli Defense Force)</a>, making them complicit in mass unconstitutional domestic surveillance, the brutality of ICE’s arrests and detainment, and genocide.</li> <li>Google Products Google’s entire business model is built on surveillance capitalism—harvesting user data to build detailed behavioral profiles for targeted advertising and manipulation. Their services are designed to extract maximum user attention and personal information, and I refuse to participate in a system that treats users as products to be monetized.</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Contact</h1> Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="say-hello">Say Hello<a class="zola-anchor" href="#say-hello" aria-label="Anchor link for: say-hello"></a></h2> Got a question, a kind word, or just want to connect? I’m always glad to hear from readers and other curious wanderers. You can reach out to me via <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or send me an email at <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxagoras.com</a>. I may be slow to reply, but I do read everything! Please note: I’m not able to read or consider story pitches or creative ideas. These will be deleted unread. </article> <article> <h1>Now</h1> Unknown — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Right now I’m developing a series of post-apocalypse stories about a kid scavenger who repairs broken robots and sometimes broken people. <a href="/works/ladd">The first is due to be published in Lightspeed soon</a>. I have written a second story and am in progress on a third. I’m also outlining (and soon will be drafting) a series of five weird western novellas. My most recent short story, “<a href="https://davidanaxagoras.com/now/works/gumba">Gumba Cuddles</a>” was published in Hell Itself. I’ve been keeping a reading log and have been trying to read more vintage SF short fiction. I’m also working on The Great Stephen King Chronological (Re)Read, and am currently reading Christine. </article> <article> <h1>Anaxagology for June 2025</h1> Unknown — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Hi! Just wanted to remind everyone that <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a> audiobook is out now, and if you or your young teens are looking for your next listen for a summer road trip or lazy afternoon, I think you’ll have a fun time with this! One of my favorite GoodReads reviews said The Tower “ is full of suspense and adventure that will keep you enthralled until the ending that you won’t see coming.” If you’ve already given it a listen— thank you so much! And if you haven’t checked it out yet, I hope you’ll give it a listen. Professional reviewers or voting members of the SFWA, HWA, or other awards body, please contact me for a free review copy! <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="party-at-ground-zero-hope-or-at-least-defiance-in-the-apocalypse">Party at ground zero: Hope (or at least defiance) in the apocalypse<a class="zola-anchor" href="#party-at-ground-zero-hope-or-at-least-defiance-in-the-apocalypse" aria-label="Anchor link for: party-at-ground-zero-hope-or-at-least-defiance-in-the-apocalypse"></a></h2> This month, I’m diving back into my Gen-X apocalypse anxiety by way of the music videos that defined my high school years. <a href="/newsletter/may2025">Last month</a>, I talked about post-apocalyptic stories, particularly those set in the wastelands, and their appeal to fantasies of violence and domination. But there’s something unexpected in these music videos—a persistent thread of defiance, and dare I say, hope. Many of these videos portray a world in ruins, but the characters in them are neither warrior nor victim. They dance through the chaos, fight back with fire, or simply choose to go out on their own terms. There’s an undercurrent of resilience that feels more relevant today than ever. Let’s take a look at the videos: <h3 id="all-she-wants-to-do-is-dance-don-henley-1985">All She Wants to Do is Dance, Don Henley (1985)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#all-she-wants-to-do-is-dance-don-henley-1985" aria-label="Anchor link for: all-she-wants-to-do-is-dance-don-henley-1985"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eud5AurOxm0">All She Wants to Do is Dance</a> on YouTube. Crazy people walkin’ round with blood in their eyes And all she wants to do is dance, dance, dance Crumbled buildings. Random fires. Dirty faces. Hat-stealing urchins. Though ostensibly a critique of US involvement in Central America, the post-apocalyptic vibe of Henley’s music video is undeniable. Flames lick the screen in the foreground while Henley croons in the background. Set in a bombed-out bar, complete with illuminated dance floor, disco lights, and a jeep crashed part-way through the ceiling which dangles threateningly over the proceedings, the dancing here feels like brazen, life-affirming defiance—a celebration of survival in the face of destruction. When the single was released in 1985, SPIN’s John Leland called it a twisted “post-hedonist vision of apocalypse” and a welcomed it as a rousing departure from Henley’s mellow rock days. It’s a thundering, percussive, electric groove-that-makes-you-move thanks in large part to the grinding buzz of the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_DX7?utm_source=anaxagoras.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=anaxagology-for-june-2025">Yamaha DX7</a>, a synthesizer keyboard that would become an 80s standard. Apocalyptic, yes, but fun. <h3 id="just-another-day-oingo-boingo-1985">Just Another Day, Oingo Boingo (1985)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#just-another-day-oingo-boingo-1985" aria-label="Anchor link for: just-another-day-oingo-boingo-1985"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBAL3ZoSFIc">Just Another Day</a> on YouTube. I had a dream last night The world was set on fire And everywhere I ran There wasn’t any water The temperature increased The sky was crimson red The clouds turned into smoke And everyone was dead “Just Another Day” takes us to an apocalypse of the mind. Maybe. The band plays against a red, cloud-streaked sky on the cracked plinth of an ancient structure. Weed-choked moss-covered columns, broken and askew, threaten collapse. Unlike typical survivors of Armageddon, Danny Elfman and the band are clean and dressed in their 80s best. They seem to have landed like visiting aliens, time travelers, or gods. There’s life underground, Danny Elfman sings, and the crack under his feet glows red and threatens to rupture. Will something emerge? Will the world blow apart? Elfman wolf-howls into the blood-red sky. In the end he is left alone, supine on the plinth. His smile suggests a refusal to be defeated. That, or madness has finally overtaken him. This might be the story of The Last Man on Earth, suffering mental collapse having been left in “ a lonely place / that’s always cold.“ “Just Another Day” features a classic Oingo Boingo sound—melodic, layered, and lively. Our 80s friend, the Yamaha DX7, makes another appearance here, starting off the track with a looping arpeggio that gives the song a constant swirling edge. It threatens chaos, as if everything could blow apart at any moment. The tension never leaves us. It’s a synthy witch’s brew bubbling beneath the meaty guitar riffs, nearly subliminal at times, casting a dark spell as it threatens to boil over at any moment. While “Just Another Day” wasn’t a chart shaker, it has shown incredible resilience. The song was featured on soundtracks both back in the day (That Was Then… This is Now (1985)), and in more recent times on Netflix’s Stranger Things. A live clip of “Just Another Day” made the rounds of YouTube <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/uOj1b1ub4DQ">reaction</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/ah3vA44WE8E">videos</a> thanks to Elfman’s gut-wrenching vocals which melt into spine-tingling cries of anguish. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkUOaRwfGUg">It’s well worth a look.</a> <h3 id="dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-ultravox-1984">Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Ultravox (1984)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-ultravox-1984" aria-label="Anchor link for: dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-ultravox-1984"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSQWUZ8a2Ho">Dancing with Tears in My Eyes</a> on YouTube It’s five and I’m driving home again It’s hard to believe that it’s my last time The man on the wireless cries again It’s over, it’s over In late 1983, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/12/09/soviets-halt-strategic-arms-talks/5ec90e4c-8b95-4be0-9265-1e622f706176/">the Soviet Union put a halt to all nuclear disarmament talks</a> after the US deployed Pershing II and cruise missiles in Britain, West Germany, and Italy. The fear of nuclear annihilation reached its most literal music video expression in Ultravox’s “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes,” the story of a man who rushes home to have one last dance with his wife as the blast consumes them. Despite the nuclear target on Britain’s back, the music video depicts an impending explosion from a “reactor core overheat.” We follow a man rushing through traffic, first in his car and then, as the road becomes blocked with panicked citizens, on foot. He stops briefly to check on a woman who fell in her panic, because in the end, kindness matters. He makes it home in time for the titular dance with his wife. One bottle of spilled Champagne later, the couple wraps themselves in a white sheet and lie down on the living room floor. It’s time, Ultravox lead Midge Ure sings, it’s time but I don’t think we really care. The couple braves the end with a defiant act of creation. <h3 id="it-s-a-mistake-men-at-work-1983">It’s a Mistake, Men at Work (1983)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#it-s-a-mistake-men-at-work-1983" aria-label="Anchor link for: it-s-a-mistake-men-at-work-1983"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0AxrOUJ62E">It’s a Mistake</a> on YouTube Don’t think that we don’t know Don’t think that we’re not trying Don’t think we move too slow It’s no use after crying Saying It’s a mistake Men at Work’s “It’s a Mistake” is in competition with “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” for the most literal video interpretation mentioned here. But it serves its narrative purpose, and the video does feature some neat tricks. We open with stop-motion animated toy soldiers engaged in battle (and driving a toy tank over what is possibly a friendly), and the video quickly connects the dots from there to kids (the band in short pants and propeller beanies) engaging in war play with toy guns before they are beckoned by a sinister officer (real pistol in hand) to join the “party”. Said party consists of a handful of various officers drunk on champagne, stumbling among streamers, confetti, and balloons. It’s a war party, and it’s been going on for quite some time. “It’s a mistake,” the band’s characters protest as they are transformed by camera dissolves from working civilians to wartime soldiers marching through a desolate, burned-out forest, underscoring the way ordinary people—and especially the young—get caught in the undertow of war against their will. The video brings us finally to a missile control room. Speaking to his foreign counterpart, lead Colin Hay as a military commander shouts “it’s a mistake” into the phone receiver as he accidentally stubs out his cigar on the Big Red Button, mistaking it for his ashtray. Whoopsie his expression says, as he covers his mouth and turns to the camera. Well, it’s just one of those things that happens, I guess! In the context of the summer of blockbuster movie <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch">WarGames (1983)</a>, a movie about a child-like computer intelligence that brings the US to the brink of nuclear war, “It’s a Mistake” expresses the pervading fear and feelings of helplessness at being at the mercy of a system beyond control and susceptible to errors, a system where the smallest mistakes can have world-ending consequences. It’s a serious subject and yet the video is full of clowning and hijinks (including a gang of umbrella-wielding grannies who show up to batter the soldiers). The video isn’t having fun in the name of war, though. It’s an absurdity, a satire that expresses exasperation at having reckless children in charge of instruments of doom. If you think this video is ridiculous, the band seems to challenge us, wait until you hear about the arms race. <h3 id="forever-young-alphaville-1984">Forever Young, Alphaville (1984)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#forever-young-alphaville-1984" aria-label="Anchor link for: forever-young-alphaville-1984"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjQXmoxiQ8">Forever Young</a> on YouTube Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst Are you gonna drop the bomb or not? Lyrically, Alphaville’s “Forever Young” is both a somber lament and desperate wish for safety against an uncertain, threatening future. At first blush it seems a bittersweet farewell to childhood, an airy synth-pop ballad destined for play at momentous occasions like proms, graduations, and possibly weddings. Yet the first verse is unquestionably an expression of nuclear anxiety— watching the skies and wondering if the bomb will drop. The video is one of the simpler concepts, consisting of a single location which appears to be an abandoned cathedral (actually the ornately Victorian interior of former Holloway Sanatorium in Surrey). Here we find a rag-tag group of survivors, huddled together asleep on the floor. They are a disparate clan—young and old and ethnically diverse. Alphaville singer Marian Gold wakes them as he croons, backed by two keyboardists (who get miraculous synth sounds from old upright pianos). They are a New Romantic Kraftwerk. Dressed in their best space-age jumpsuits, they could be a Ziggy Stardust tribute band with Bryan Ferry vocals. The wakened sleepers approach the band. Could this be a wedding party? There’s a man in frayed tux. But also a child in a dressing gown. And someone swathed in rags. They wear post-apocalypse whatever-you-can-find fashion. They look to the band expectantly, children drawn to the Pied Piper. A flash of light signals, not a nuclear blast, but the opening of a diamond portal (Youth’s like diamonds in the sun, / And diamonds are forever). Bright light pours forth as a synth pipes something resembling an electronic version of the piccolo trumpet in The Beatle’s “Penny Lane”. Cheery. Celebratory. Triumphant. The survivors enter the portal, departing for destinations unknown. Perhaps they are escaping to the promise of a better world and eternal youth. Perhaps they didn’t survive Armageddon after all and are now ascending to a higher plane. Either way, “Forever Young” comforts the damned with the promise of a better (after)life. There’s a youthful yearning for the day when this race is won. Gold’s performance is intense and pleading: Oh let it come true. <h3 id="party-at-ground-zero-fishbone-1985">Party at Ground Zero, Fishbone (1985)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#party-at-ground-zero-fishbone-1985" aria-label="Anchor link for: party-at-ground-zero-fishbone-1985"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCaFe1yamg">Party at Ground Zero</a> on YouTube Party at ground zero A “B” movie starring you And the world will turn to flowing Pink vapor stew The music video for “Party at Ground Zero” transplants Edgar Alan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” to an 80s fallout shelter as nightclub (“Atomic Underground,” buzzes the neon sign), where oversized avant-garde masks hide the faces of glitzy party guests as they arrive under the blare of air-raid sirens. Shark-masked armed guards hustle guests into the bunker six levels below the surface. It may be a concrete box, but it’s festively adorned with balloons and streamers and the bar is open and the band is swinging. And do they swing. Fishbone is bright, brash and boisterous, and they threaten to break right through the TV screen. The song’s brassy notes slip and slide around amid yelps and shouts. The bunker can barely contain the South Central LA band and their concoction of funk-rock-ska mixed with a half-dozen other musical spices. As Fishbone rocks the room, symbols representative of pervasive nuclear anxiety are projected onto the walls—including an animated skeleton and its pet bomb (which grows ever larger as the skeleton feeds it alarming headlines about the nuclear arms race). A judge (mask resembling a man in a powdered wig) presides over all, drinking blood from a champagne glass. It’s not subtle. It’s not meant to be. Fishbone are too rowdy for subtlety. There’s a late arrival—a matador with a brilliant red cape draped over one shoulder. The seconds tick toward midnight and the masks come off. First the judge, then the party-goers one-by-one, revealing themselves to be wearing another kind of mask—translucent compressive masks typically used to treat burn patients. They presage the coming nuclear fire. Finally, the matador’s mask splits open revealing the modern-era Red Death—an atomic explosion. The guests are awash in white light. When we fade back in, only their distorted negative-shadows on the walls remain. But the party cannot be stopped, and the shadows begin to wiggle and dance beneath a flowing pink vapor stew. The video is notably directed by Henry Selick, who would go on to direct stop-motion classics The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Coraline (2009). Selick got the gig after entering a nationwide contest sponsored by 3M, in association with the American Film Institute. Nicholas Cage served on the judging panel, in case you were wondering how many degrees of separation there were between him and Fishbone. The video went on to win Billboard magazine awards for Best Art Direction and Set Decoration. A fair accomplishment considering Selick was awarded a scant $28,000 budget (about $75,000 today). He clearly made the most of it. Any cheapness apparent in the production only adds to the vibe. <h3 id="the-wild-boys-duran-duran-1984">The Wild Boys, Duran Duran (1984)<a class="zola-anchor" href="#the-wild-boys-duran-duran-1984" aria-label="Anchor link for: the-wild-boys-duran-duran-1984"></a></h3> Watch <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43wsiNBwmo">The Wild Boys</a> on YouTube The wild boys are calling On their way back from the fire In August moon’s surrender to A dust cloud on the rise “The Wild Boys”, both the song and the music video that followed, rose from the nuclear ashes of director Russell Mulcahy’s attempt to adapt the William Burroughs novel of the same name into a feature film. Bassist and Duran Duran founder John Taylor explained in his book In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran, that he and lead singer/lyricist Simon Le Bon “got excited and insisted to Russell that we should be allowed to compose the title song for his movie.” The movie collapsed but the song survived, and Mulcahy had an overabundance of leftover visuals, special effects, characters and designs he could easily recycle for the video. Clearly, he left no idea untouched—the video is stuffed. This post-apocalypse was the most -apocalypse. The video had the largest budget to date, and was filmed on the cavernous 007 sound stage at Pinewood Studios. Visually, it’s richly imagined. The editing is fast paced, creating a kenetic narrative collage that skips and skitters back and forth in time. (If you were hoping <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/msPG2mKWESk">the extended ten-minute video</a> made for a more cohesive narrative…no). When the video opens, we seem to be glimpsing the tail end of the Great Collapse here, with Very British Schoolboys in a nearly empty classroom smashing their chairs and desks (and breathing fire) in a final declaration of rebellion, though the authority figures are nowhere to be seen. The world has not only already imploded, but factions have had time to outfit themselves in the lasted post-apocalyptic rags and body paint. Steel pyramids and scaffolds have risen from the detritus of society, and the world is now a wasteland of scrap metal, chains, and random bursts of flame. A lone stranger walks through a blue haze of 80s cinematography, his long, long, long cloak blowing dramatically behind him. A robot head breaths fire (there’s a lot of fire breathing) while a video screen over his shoulder appears to monitor various members of the band. A bare-chested wild boy (there’s a lot of bare-chested wild boys) with “ANIMAL” stenciled on his torso struts through the metallic wasteland. Large swaths of fabric curtains big enough to sail a windjammer fall. Fire explodes. Wild boys blast out of the walls carrying more fire. Wild boys execute punchy dance moves. It’s a lot. The band members are in various states of capture and torment. John Taylor is crucified on a car and forced to watch photos of himself, guitarist Andy Taylor is chained to a ship’s figurehead, and keyboardist Nick Rhodes is caged (but he has some electronic equipment to keep him busy). Finally, we find Le Bon in his wasteland-leather best (light armor adorns his right arm). He’s strapped to the blade of a windmill which periodically dunks his head in a pool of water as it spins. There’s a virtuoso shot of the camera locking in sync with the windmill, rotating with Le Bon so that the world turns around us. Both John Taylor and choreographer Arlene Phillips recall Le Bon nearly drowning on set. Phillips said in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/arlene-phillips-remembers-the-day-simon-223559">an interview in BirminghamLive</a>, “The windmill stopped when he was under the water and he couldn’t breathe. He was stuck there and they had to send divers in to rescue him.” (<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/simon-le-bon-you-ask-the-questions-492027.html">Le Bon denies ever being in danger</a>). Finally our wasteland hero escapes the Le Bon Dipping Machine—in real life as well as the video—braving an angry water chicken with baby T. rex arms. He’ll live to sing another day. And miraculously, the rest of the band survives as well. They tried to break us / Looks like they’ll try again. Perhaps the most radical thing about this video is that the band as protagonists are almost completely inactive. They’re trapped and awaiting rescue (with the possible exception of Roger Taylor who appears for a split second in some kind of gondola, perhaps flying some makeshift contraption). There’s an implied optimism here—in surviving the apocalypse, in the ongoing struggle to form a new society and rebuild, and the tenacity to hang in there long enough to be saved. The video ends with our heroes celebrated in a confetti-choked parade. Wild boys always shine. <h2 id="how-i-wrote-the-last-time-i-went-on-a-prowl-with-farrell-jenkins">How I wrote “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins”<a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-i-wrote-the-last-time-i-went-on-a-prowl-with-farrell-jenkins" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-i-wrote-the-last-time-i-went-on-a-prowl-with-farrell-jenkins"></a></h2> Last month I had two flash fiction pieces published, the second of which was “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins.” On the last night before he disappears, enigmatic Farrell Jenkins—a boy possibly raised by cats—takes reluctant Autumn on one final, magical prowl through the strange spaces between growing up and letting go. <blockquote> “It’s not a proper prowl unless you leave by the window,” Farrell said. “No good prowl ever started out the front door.” </blockquote> This piece had a couple of origins. Firstly, I’ve had the character of Farrell in one form or other skulking around in my head for quite a while. I’ve always been fascinated with wild or feral kids as characters. I also find hybrids interesting. And, I’m a cat person—I grew up with seven cat siblings. My cat Alex, named after the computer AI in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bionic.fandom.com/wiki/Doomsday_Is_Tomorrow">a Bionic Woman episode</a>, lived to be 23. It seems inevitable I’d write about a cat-boy at some point. I had attempted to introduce a proto-Farrell character in an episode of <a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a> but at that point, Amazon was pretty much dismissing all of my ideas. (Amazon has a love-hate relationship with creators. They love to hate them, har har.) I also had planned to introduce a Schrödinger’s cat/boy hybrid character in an (as yet unwritten) sequel to my novelette “ <a href="/works/death">Anything Short of Death of Death is Survivable</a>,” about a kid imprisoned by a nebula-spanning supercomputer. But this iteration of Farrell first showed up as the central character in what I thought might be a loosely-connected series of stories pretending to be a middle-grade novel which I called Ten Totally True Tales about Farrell Jenkins, a Boy Raised by Cats Probably (Told by the Kids Who Were There and Maybe Also by a Few Who Weren’t). As an experiment, I wrote a few opening paragraphs but never went much further than that after realizing I had no idea how to make the book work. I moved on to other projects. A few years later, I found myself participating in a flash fiction contest run by my writer’s group, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Writers_Group">Codex</a>. The contest runs for six weeks. Each week, writers are provided a selection of story prompts. Writers choose a prompt and have the weekend to create a maximum 750-word flash fiction story. (You may have heard of this contest as it has produced many published stories). One week I chose this prompt: Find a book you stopped reading (or any other book nearby). Open to page 72 and choose a sentence on that page. Use something in that sentence to inspire your story. As it happened I had Stephen King’s You Like It Darker lying nearby. I found this sentence: “He’s got a bottle filled with fireflies in Grandpa’s room.” Which reminded me of the firefly in the opening sentences of my abandoned book. But to preserve Farrell’s enigmatic appeal, I needed to see him through another character’s eyes. So there was Autumn, struggling diligently to do her homework while free spirit catboy Farrell crouched in a tree, talking to fireflies and doing his best to distract her. When I realized Autumn had a tube of Grape Crush lipstick rolling around her desk drawer which she didn’t yet have the courage to try, I knew she needed to go on a prowl with Farrell so she could leave childhood with a little bit of Wonder intact—and that was my story. The creative process is messy and rarely ever moves in a straight line. This was a long way to go for 765 words (I expanded a bit after the contest), but it was worth it to finally put Farrell in a story. And I hope it won’t be his last. You can read this story in the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">April 2025 (Version One) issue of Worlds of Possibility</a>. If you read and enjoy this or any of my stories, please shout about them on social media or drop me a note on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a>. Members of the SFWA can add to or upvote my stories on the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/">Nebula Reading List</a>. <h2 id="reading-log">Reading Log<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-log" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-log"></a></h2> “400 Boys” (1983) by Marc Laidlaw in Mirrorshades The Cyberpunk Anthology (1986) [<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.marclaidlaw.com/online-fiction/400-boys/">also available free on the author’s website</a>]. Savage giants (or Gods) lay waste to Fun City and Croak’s gang is forced to unite with their rivals to save all their skins. An electrifying thunderbolt of a story. Cracking, vivid, visceral prose. Wildly imaginative and very voicey. I wasn’t always sure what was happening on the first read, but I was totally along for the ride. A nightmarish vision, but with a flickering candle-flame of hope at its core. Even in the collapse of everything, a fighting spirit remains. Note: this story was adapted for Love, Death & Robots but the episode does not do it justice. Not even close. “Super-toys Last All Summer Long” (1969) by Brian Aldiss in We, Robots. Quaint in the way it’s dated. Didn’t impact me like it should, perhaps because the twist was obvious (or just well-known). Works as a study of crushing loneliness in a technological world. Questions what is real—the robot child is emotionally sincere while the humans are emotionally stunted. More delicate and nuanced than the eventual movie adaptation (A.I. Artificial Intelligence). “Far As You Can Go” (2006) by Greg van Eekhout in The Year’s Best Science Fiction - Twenty-fourth Annual Collection. Cool robot/boy buddy story as they embark on a quest to escape their crumbling hellscape and see the ocean. Love the world and the voice. Fast paced with richly drawn characters and world-building. It’s a stand-out story with a great sense of adventure and heart. The last line made me choke up. This story gave me courage to finally write my own post-apocalypse boy/robot story. “The End of the Whole Mess” (1986) by Stephen King in Wastelands — Stories of the Apocalypse (and Nightmares and Dreamscapes). A blend of “Flowers for Algernon” and “brilliant mind goes too far.” Narrated by a familiar King archetype (first-person writer). The science is implausible (King’s science is always a bit soft and wonky), and the story leans more on tone and concept than depth. It’s mostly a loving character profile of the narrator’s little brother. Nominated for a World Fantasy Award, but didn’t strike me as award-worthy. “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/10-visions-of-the-future-or-self-care-for-the-end-of-days/">Uncanny #63</a>, March 4, 2025. A hellgate has opened off the coast of California and that’s just the starting point for many potential horrific futures as viewed via a bargain-basement witch’s ball, on sale from Amazon (free shipping included). Mill’s story is a wrenching, raw, honest and fantastical ride. She has a knack for creating characters and worlds that are instantly recognizable and real—perhaps a little too real. Mills never flinches but still offers moments of grace, shows us that in the small spaces between horrors we can find gratitude, find peace, and hopefully find each other. No easy answers here, but worthwhile reminders to hold on to our humanity and to fight the darkness by loving ourselves and each other. <h2 id="featured-author-newsletter-glen-engel-cox">Featured Author Newsletter - Glen Engel-Cox<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-author-newsletter-glen-engel-cox" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-author-newsletter-glen-engel-cox"></a></h2> This month, I’m excited to introduce fellow writer Glen Engel-Cox and his free daily newsletter Book of Days. Glen Engel-Cox has published a novel, Darwin’s Daughter; a non-fiction compilation, First Impressions; and short fiction in The Daily Tomorrow, Phano, Triangulation, LatineLit, Utopia, Nature, and elsewhere. Glen grew up in Texas and has since lived and worked in California, Malaysia, Ohio, Saudi Arabia, and Washington (both state and District of Columbia), as well as traveling to 90+ other countries. Book of Days is a daily newsletter about authors and literary events, celebrating books and book people. You can subscribe to Glen’s newsletter here: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://patreon.com/gengelcox">patreon.com/gengelcox</a> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="icymi">ICYMI<a class="zola-anchor" href="#icymi" aria-label="Anchor link for: icymi"></a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. Forthcoming: “Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis” in Lightspeed. I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">(Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Now available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My most recent fiction, “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins</a>,” is available in the April 2025 (Version One) issue of World of Possibilities. Other recent fiction includes, “<a href="/works/polyphemus">The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus</a>,” “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell from the Sky</a>,“ and “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/under-a-star-bright-as-morning/">Under a Star, Bright as Morning</a>.” Visit my <a href="/works">Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works. I wrote for <a href="/works/glitch-techs">Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, <a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>,about three kids whose life is anything but normal. <h2 id="have-something-to-say">Have something to say?<a class="zola-anchor" href="#have-something-to-say" aria-label="Anchor link for: have-something-to-say"></a></h2> I’d love to hear from you. If you’re reading in your inbox, you can reply directly to this email, or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/p/my-new-post?comments=true">comment publicly on the website</a>. Say hi! Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Subscribe now</a>! You can learn more about Dave at his <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://davidanaxagoras.com/">website</a>, or follow him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com">Instagram</a>. </article> <article> <h1>Anaxagology for May 2025</h1> Unknown — Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Just a quick reminder: My novel <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a> is now available wherever audiobooks are sold. It’d make a perfect listen for those summer road-trips. Here’s one of my favorite reviews from an Amazon listener: “It’s spooky, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s creepy, it’s thrilling, it’s scary, and it’s so much fun!” I’m so grateful for the positive response so far. Seeing The Tower find its way into listeners’ ears has been such a ride, and I love hearing your thoughts. If you’re in the mood for a mix of chills, mystery, and heart, give it a listen. And if you’ve already picked it up—thank you! I’d love to know what you think—your feedback means a lot. Also, if you are a professional reviewer or a voting member of the SFWA, HWA, or other awards body, I have review copies of The Tower available. You can reply directly to this email if you’re reading in your inbox, or drop me a note at <a href="mailto:dave@davidanaxagoras.com">dave@davidanaxaoras.com</a> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="post-post-apocalypse">Post post-apocalypse<a class="zola-anchor" href="#post-post-apocalypse" aria-label="Anchor link for: post-post-apocalypse"></a></h2> I’ve been thinking about apocalypses a lot lately. No reason, aside from <gestures broadly>. As an old Gen-Xer, I’m no stranger to the post-apocalyptic wastelands. It’s part of my DNA. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/UlwtiOyaoo0">The Road Warrior</a> touched off an aesthetic conflagration that consumed everything from <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/M43wsiNBwmo">music videos</a> to <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Toriyama%27s_Manga_Theater">manga and comics</a> to <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/w13PracbN9Y">network television</a> and right back to <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/NpKbULrB9Z8">movies</a> again. These days it’s mostly a zombie-flavored apocalypse you see. In my day, it was nuclear war and radioactive mutants. YAMV (Your Apocalypse May Vary). Depends on the prevailing collective cultural fears and threats. What’s the appeal of the post-apocalypse? Well, aside from giving a shape to our fear, and thus allowing us to grapple with it in a more concrete form—which is slightly more therapeutic than living under a vague cloud of nightmarish anxiety and stomach-gnawing apprehension—it represents a kind of freedom. The worst has happened and we have survived. Now, there are no rules. It’s permission to indulge fantasies of violence and domination—which usually take the form of a lone, angry white dude on loan from spaghetti westerns and 70s revenge films killing a lot of zombies/radioactive mutants/infected/aliens/robots or whatever stand-in for not one of us is handy. As I said, I grew up with apocalypses in popular media and I’ve indulged this fantasy plenty. If only civilization would collapse I could finally be free and the world would be mine. No school, no parents, no job, no stress. Well, aside from the things that want to eat you—but, you know, you gotta have something to shoot/chain saw/smash with a big spiky ball on a chain to prove you’re king of the radioactive scrap heap. Oh dear, the neighborhood bully turned into a mutant! Better do him a solid and put him out of his misery. My latest WIP is a novelette set in post-apocalyptic times though it didn’t start out that way. I had the image of a boy behind a workbench in a grimy repair shop fixing someone’s robot. The world grew around that. I grabbed on to the theme of repairing is caring and started thinking a lot about what kind of world this kid was living in. I write a lot about boys because they are inherently facing the choice of what kind of man they are going to become. It’s rich ground for storytelling and also important in life. Most of us aren’t living in a post-apocalypse but we already have plenty of men eager to don their warrior garb, join ICE, and march off to round up brown “invaders”. If we have to have an apocalypse, at least we can start to imagine a better one. Or one that’s a bit more original. My post-apocalyptic future isn’t about violence and domination. The answers aren’t about who can be the strongest, biggest, baddest. That’s what gets you an apocalypse in the first place. It’s about repair, connection and reshaping the bonds of community. Repairing is caring. Here’s a sneak peek at my post-apocalypse WIP. This is still an early draft, so please excuse the rough edges. In this snippet, we catch up with Ladd, a fiercely guarded and independent boy scavenging an underground parking garage, as he tries to ditch an annoying pre-Collapse butler/nanny-bot he has inadvertently reactivated: <blockquote> “Just stay out of my way, Bits.” I shoved past him. Hopped across a pile of concrete slabs, moving fast. I could outpace a rusty old pre-Collapse robot. I ducked under a beam and squeezed through a narrow space—wasn’t really watching where I was going. Just trying to put space between me and Bits. But the structure was less stable here. When I climbed over another tangle of debris, I felt something shift. I had no time to react. Something heavy—a concrete pillar, or worse—hit my shoulder, knocking me sideways. I was seconds from becoming a permanent part of the architecture. But before I could be squashed to jelly, a hand yanked me clear. Two lamplights blinked at me in the dark. Bits shoved me against a wall and leaned in, bracing me. He put his hand gently on top of my head and pressed my face into his chest. “I advise the young master to close his eyes against the dust.” I did as he said. I heard the rumble and crunch as the building folded. Smaller bits—gravel, dirt, dust—made a soft shushing sound as it all settled into the gaps. My heart was in my throat, vibrating like a loose cooling fan. When it was over, Bits stepped back. His eyes blinked brilliant blue. A soft scan-light washed over me. “There. I see the young master is entirely unharmed. How gratifying.” He produced a tiny lint brush from his coat pocket and started brushing my shoulders in slow careful strokes. Pretty sure it was leaving more cruft than it removed. I pushed his hand away. “Stop that.” “As you wish, young sir. I—” “Endeavor to satisfy, yes. I’ve heard.” Bits stood completely still for a moment. Then— “Shall we proceed, then, to the exit?” I looked around—or tried to. Wherever I had left the cracklights, they were now buried. Maybe I wouldn’t ditch Bits just yet. “You can see in the dark?” “I am equipped both with infra-red sensors—” his eyes flashed red, “—and ultra-sonic echolocation.” His “ears” popped out and emitted a faint high-pitched whine. I just hoped we didn’t attract razor bats. “If the young master would care to follow me—” The young master would. Just this once. </blockquote> <h2 id="out-now">Out now<a class="zola-anchor" href="#out-now" aria-label="Anchor link for: out-now"></a></h2> I had two flash fiction stories published in May. The first is “The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus.” After centuries of isolation, a blinded Polyphemus struggles to heal in a world that only remembers him as a monster—until an unexpected friendship teaches him to truly see again. <blockquote> “The last time I looked at anything with this eye, all I saw were men who hated me.” </blockquote> In The Odyssey, we see the Cyclops Polyphemus as a terrifying, man-eating monster. He traps Odysseus and his crew in his cave and proceeds to devour them one by one. He was not a gracious host—it’s just terrible manners to eat your guests. Polyphemus turned up a couple hundred years later in The Cyclops by Euripides, still a one-eyed giant, but he now bumbling and oafish, full of self-pity. An object of derision. I thought it was pretty shabby treatment, even if he did occasionally consume a dinner guest or two. I was fascinated in this shift of the portrayal of Polyphemus and felt he deserved a more sympathetic examination. I cast him a lonely figure, out-of-place in the modern world. His wounded eye and his refusal to remove his bandages spoke to his unprocessed trauma. Fortunately for him, Gale from the Department of Mythical Beings isn’t ready to give up on him just yet. You can check out a review of “The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus” in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://mynachang.com/2025/05/23/flash-roundup-may-2025/">Myna Chang’s Flash Roundup for May 2025</a>. “I’m in love with the idea of a Department of Mythical Beings!…Anaxagoras succeeds on several layers in this alluring piece.” The story is free to read right now in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://factorfourmag.com/the-everlasting-wound-of-polyphemus-by-david-anaxagoras/">Factor Four Magazine</a>. Also available this month is “The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins.” On the last night before he disappears, enigmatic Farrell Jenkins—a boy possibly raised by cats—takes reluctant Autumn on one final, magical prowl through the strange spaces between growing up and letting go. <blockquote> “It’s not a proper prowl unless you leave by the window,” Farrell said. “No good prowl ever started out the front door.” </blockquote> You can read “Farrell” in the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">April 2025 (Version One) issue of</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">Worlds of Possibility</a>. I’ll have more story notes on “Farrell” next time. If you enjoyed these (or any of my stories) please share them on social media, drop me a note on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com/theanaxagoras/">Instagram</a>, or comment on my <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://davidanaxagoras.com/">website</a>. Members of the SFWA, you can add to or upvote these stories on the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/">Nebula Reading List</a>. <h2 id="reading-log">Reading log<a class="zola-anchor" href="#reading-log" aria-label="Anchor link for: reading-log"></a></h2> I’m keeping a reading log of both vintage and contemporary speculative short fiction. I thought I’d share some select stories here. I’ll note where I read them, if you’re interested. Pro tip: You can look up a speculative short story in the <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi">ISFDb</a> and get a list of magazines, anthologies and collections in which it is featured. “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison in If: Worlds of Science Fiction (Magazine) 112, March 1967. The last five humans on Earth are imprisoned and tortured by an insane supercomputer AI. Harrowing and nightmarish and more than a little cruel and sadistic. Misogynist in its treatment of the lone female character. Disturbing and effective prose and an increasingly relevant warning about AI that absolutely no one seems to be heeding. “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett in The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF. A future higher-dimensional being unintentionally sends a box of children’s toys back to our time, where they inadvertently train a couple of kids to think beyond our current understand of math and physics. The ideas here must have seemed bold at the time, but the dry expository writing was a struggle to get through. Succeeds mostly when focused from the kids’ perspective (the writing is more immediate and visceral) but quickly becomes an old white man’s science lecture as the parents’ take over the narrative. Full of dry scientist-types explaining, drinking, patronizing, drinking, philosophizing, drinking, repeat and re-repeat. An undeniably influential SF story but not well constructed. Loosely adapted as the movie The Last Mimzy which was terrible in it’s own right and if I recall correctly, added in a bunch of new-age claptrap. “Steadyboi After the Apocalypse” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/02/06/escape-pod-979-steadyboi-after-the-apocalypse/">Escape Pod</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/02/06/escape-pod-979-steadyboi-after-the-apocalypse/">#</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/02/06/escape-pod-979-steadyboi-after-the-apocalypse/">979</a>, February 6, 2025. Steadyboi is a warbot without a war, built like a tank, and ready to give up and literally crawl into a hole and deactivate after being constantly treated as a threat by humans—despite efforts to find peaceful purpose in the post-apocalypse. This is a story about finding meaning and renewal in helping others. And it’s about the necessity of trust and care in (re)building a community. Rich characterization, expertly crafted. A moving tale of holding out and holding on. “After the Rain” by P.A. Cornell in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/05/01/escape-pod-991-after-the-rain/">Escape Pod</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://escapepod.org/2025/05/01/escape-pod-991-after-the-rain/">#991</a>, May 1, 2025. A young courier rides her bike around her caring and sharing post-apocalyptic community. Her village is soon confronted with a criminal in their midst. This story has a gentle, easy, pleasant vibe that makes you want to be part of this community and ride your bike through the summer rain. Lovely. <h2 id="featured-author-newsletter-p-a-cornell">Featured author newsletter: P.A. Cornell<a class="zola-anchor" href="#featured-author-newsletter-p-a-cornell" aria-label="Anchor link for: featured-author-newsletter-p-a-cornell"></a></h2> This month, I’m excited to feature a fellow writer and her fantastic free monthly newsletter. Meet P.A. Cornell (She/Her), a Nebula, World Fantasy, and Aurora-nominated speculative fiction writer, with publications in over fifty magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed, Analog, Apex, and three “Best of the Year” anthologies. In her newsletter, you can expect updates on all her writing-related news as well as a “Story Behind the Story” feature with a look at a new story each month. Subscribers also receive occasional bonuses just because. Subscribe to P.A. Cornell’s newsletter here: <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pacornell.substack.com/">https://pacornell.substack.com/</a> <div class="button-center"> <a href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe" class="button-link">Subscribe to Anaxagology</a> </div> <h2 id="icymi">ICYMI<a class="zola-anchor" href="#icymi" aria-label="Anchor link for: icymi"></a></h2> If you’re just joining the party, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to and where you can find my work. Forthcoming: “ Five Dispatches from Conflict Zone W-924/B Regarding Post-battle Deployment of A. Thanatensis ” in Lightspeed. I am the author of the middle grade mystery horror audiobook original, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">The Tower</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798892746618/">(Recorded Books, 2025)</a>, narrated by Christopher Gebauer. Now available wherever audiobooks are sold, or check your local library. My most recent fiction, “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-april-2025-special-1612139">The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins</a>,” is available in the April 2025 (Version One) issue of World of Possibilities. Other recent fiction includes, “<a href="/works/polyphemus">The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus</a>,” “ <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell from the Sky</a>****,“ and “<a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/under-a-star-bright-as-morning/">Under a Star, Bright as Morning</a>****.” Visit my <a href="/works">Bibliography</a> for a full list of fiction and other works. I wrote for <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://davidanaxagoras.com/projects/glitch-techs/">Nickelodeon’s</a> <a href="/works/glitch-techs">Glitch Techs</a>, an animated sci-fi adventure about teens who hunt video game monsters that have broken out into the real world. I also created and co-executive produced Amazon Studio’s first live-action kids and family series, <a href="/works/gortimer">Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street</a>, about three kids whose life is anything but normal. <h2 id="have-something-to-say">Have something to say?<a class="zola-anchor" href="#have-something-to-say" aria-label="Anchor link for: have-something-to-say"></a></h2> I’d love to hear from you. If you’re reading in your inbox, you can reply directly to this email, or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/p/my-new-post?comments=true">comment publicly on the website</a>. Say hi! Anaxagology is a free monthly(ish) newsletter from author and speculative fiction writer David Anaxagoras featuring essays, previews of works in progress, behind-the-scenes story notes, reading logs, and the occasional giveaway. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://anaxagoras.beehiiv.com/subscribe">Subscribe now</a>! You can learn more about Dave at his <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://davidanaxagoras.com/">website</a>, or follow him on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://bsky.app/profile/davidanaxagoras.com">Bluesky</a> or <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.instagram.com">Instagram</a>. </article> <article> <h1>The Everlasting Wound of Polyphemus</h1> Unknown — Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="some-wounds-never-heal">Some wounds never heal<a class="zola-anchor" href="#some-wounds-never-heal" aria-label="Anchor link for: some-wounds-never-heal"></a></h2> <blockquote> I could not resist this story….Anaxagoras succeeds on several layers in this alluring piece. <cite>— Myna Chang*, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://mynachang.com/2025/05/23/flash-roundup-may-2025/">Flash Roundup, May 2025</a></cite> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> “The last time I looked at anything with this eye, all I saw were men who hated me. I forged the thunderbolt of Zeus! I built the walls of Mycenae!” “Is that why you won't take your blindfold off? So you don’t have to see yourself in their faces? In their fear?” “All they see is a monster.” “I don't, Poly.” “Bah!” he said and stalked away. </div> In Factor Four Magazine, Issue 47 (May 2025). <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://factorfourmag.com/the-everlasting-wound-of-polyphemus-by-david-anaxagoras/">Read</a> </article> <article> <h1>The Last Time I Went on a Prowl with Farrell Jenkins</h1> Unknown — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="hold-on-to-wonder">Hold on to Wonder<a class="zola-anchor" href="#hold-on-to-wonder" aria-label="Anchor link for: hold-on-to-wonder"></a></h2> <blockquote> Offering a reminder that magic still exists in the world, regardless of how old you get or serious your demeanor…It’s a lovely story. <cite>— Charles Payseur, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://locusmag.com/2025/08/diabolical-plots-zooscape-and-worlds-of-possibility-version-one-reviews-by-charles-payseur/">Locus Magazine</a></cite> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> Farrell holds his cupped hands under his mouth and flashes of green reflect on his pale chin. That’s how I know he’s holding a firefly. I’m trying to get my history paper done, the one I was supposed to be working on all week but didn’t start until tonight, but it’s hard to ignore a boy on a thickamore mumbling to a bug outside your window. </div> Read the full story free in <a href="/yearbook">The 2025 Story Yearbook</a> First published in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.juliarios.com/introducing-the-april-2025-issues-of-worlds-of-possibility/">Worlds of Possibility, April 2025</a> (Version One). Reprinted in <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.juliarios.com/a-gift-to-end-2025-worlds-of-possibility-volume-2/">Worlds of Possibility, Volume 2</a>, December 2025. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.juliarios.com/a-gift-to-end-2025-worlds-of-possibility-volume-2/">Download</a> Watch a live reading on <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://youtu.be/3s-GskX8Duw?t=2484">Story Hour (YouTube)</a> </article> <article> <h1>The Tower</h1> Unknown — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 A 2026 Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist! <h2 id="praise-for-the-tower">Praise for The Tower<a class="zola-anchor" href="#praise-for-the-tower" aria-label="Anchor link for: praise-for-the-tower"></a></h2> <blockquote> ★★★★★ An enthralling work of middle grade horror…A challenge to put down. I read the whole thing within a day. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8497679758">Beth Cato, Author/Goodreads</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> ★★★★★ It’s spooky, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s creepy, it’s thrilling, it’s scary, and it’s so much fun! <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1D86N2KWTI4B5/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0D5JVWWJY">Amazon Reviewer</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> ★★★★★ Great characters and characterization, a deep and disturbing mystery, and good narration make this a winner. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7378254239">M.E. Garber, Author/Goodreads</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> ★★★★★ The book is full of suspense and adventure that will keep you enthralled until the ending that you won’t see coming. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7376133900">Leah Orr, Author/Goodreads</a></cite> </blockquote> <h2 id="synopsis">Synopsis<a class="zola-anchor" href="#synopsis" aria-label="Anchor link for: synopsis"></a></h2> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://pixelfed.social/p/davidanaxagoras/845013101170977037">Cover image</a> When 12-year-old Kolby wakes up on the polished concrete floor of an empty white room, he has no memory, no clothes, and no idea where he is. Kolby soon discovers he’s one of a dozen kids living in an extravagant penthouse atop the tallest tower in the city. Adults are nowhere to be found and, like Kolby, all the kids are missing their memories. The kids in the tower spend their time scaling the climbing wall, riding the winding waterslide into an Olympic-sized swimming pool, or playing video games on the 105-inch 8K video screen. A mysterious “manifesting room” magically provides food and rewards. They have virtually everything a kid could want. Except a way out. <ul> <li>Check out <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BiRnhEmprk">The Tower audiobook trailer on YouTube</a></li> <li>I wrote about <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-david-anaxagoras-talks-about-the-tower/?utm_source=anaxagoras.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=anaxagology-for-july-2025">My Favorite Bit of writing The Tower</a> on Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog.</li> <li><a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/06/09/move-over-middle-grade-take-two-by-guest-bloggers-christina-chatel-and-marcia-kochel/?utm_source=anaxagoras.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=anaxagology-for-july-2025">The Tower was featured in a post</a> on the School Library Journal’s website .</li> </ul> <h2 id="order-the-tower-from-your-favorite-seller-now">Order The Tower From Your Favorite Seller Now!<a class="zola-anchor" href="#order-the-tower-from-your-favorite-seller-now" aria-label="Anchor link for: order-the-tower-from-your-favorite-seller-now"></a></h2> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-The-Tower/dp/B0D5JVWWJY">Amazon</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-tower-david-anaxagoras/1145642534">Barnes & Noble</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-tower/id1748018779">Apple Books</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/the-tower-99">Kobo</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798892746618-the-tower">Libro.fm</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/9798892746618">Audiobooks.com</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/David_Anaxagoras_The_Tower?id=AQAAAEDS_kK-gM">Google Play</a> </article> <article> <h1>Three Birds That Came Out of Grayson Huff and a Bunch More That Fell From the Sky</h1> Unknown — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="one-kiss-changes-everything">One Kiss Changes Everything<a class="zola-anchor" href="#one-kiss-changes-everything" aria-label="Anchor link for: one-kiss-changes-everything"></a></h2> <blockquote> Nicely strange story. <cite>— Sam Tomaino, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=20688">SFRevu</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> Nothing if not inventive…successfully conveying a wistful sense of the loss of innocence. Recommended. <cite>— Mike Bickerdike, Tangent Online</cite> </blockquote> <div class=excerpt> I lifted my t-shirt. The wren hopped into my hand and rich red blood pooled in the cup of my navel, then trickled over, making a thin red trail into my waistband. The wren skipped to the top button of my jeans and dipped its beak in my blood. “Ew! Vampire bird!” Isa noted. “Stop that,” I said to the wren. I inspected my navel. It seemed fine. Aside from the blood, you couldn’t tell a bird had just pushed through. I snatched up the wren and wiped at the blood, and it kind of just smeared around on my pale belly turning it pink. </div> In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/dec-2024-issue-175/">Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 175</a>, December 2024. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-and-a-bunch-more-that-fell-from-the-sky/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/fj/podcast/three-birds-that-came-out-of-grayson-huff-get-hyped/id375802058?i=1000681710197">Listen</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/december-2024-issue-175/">Buy</a> </article> <article> <h1>All the Things We Can't Outrun</h1> Unknown — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="racing-from-one-disaster-to-another">Racing from One Disaster to Another<a class="zola-anchor" href="#racing-from-one-disaster-to-another" aria-label="Anchor link for: racing-from-one-disaster-to-another"></a></h2> <div class="excerpt"> I am hoping bad for the Magic Sword Ladies to come, hoping so hard my stomach aches, when the new critters, the should-be-dead things, the not-raccoon things, start peeling up off the road. They are flat and floppy like an empty glove, so they take turns blowing into each other’s snouts and inflating themselves like furry balloons and then they shovel up their squished-out insides with their broken jaws and fill themselves full again. </div> In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://frombeyondpress.com/product/xanax-hamster-december-2024/">Xanax Hamster, Vol. 1, Issue 2, (December 2024)</a>. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://frombeyondpress.com/product/xanax-hamster-december-2024/">Buy</a> </article> <article> <h1>Under a Star, Bright as Morning</h1> Unknown — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="birthing-a-new-god-don-t-forget-your-garbage-bag-rain-poncho">Birthing a new God? Don’t forget your garbage-bag rain poncho.<a class="zola-anchor" href="#birthing-a-new-god-don-t-forget-your-garbage-bag-rain-poncho" aria-label="Anchor link for: birthing-a-new-god-don-t-forget-your-garbage-bag-rain-poncho"></a></h2> <blockquote> I did not expect the end to play out the way it did. A satisfying, full-circle piece. <cite>— Myna Chang, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://mynachang.com/2024/04/26/flash-roundup-april-2024/">Flash Roundup, April 2024</a></cite> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> Jo drives urgently as they race toward the star, not sure how far to go, racing because the baby is coming tonight, now, and He (a He, of course) is supposed to be born under the star, that’s how the story goes. The story, the new story and the old, begins with a visitor, a messenger. Molly had just logged out for the day when the monk knocked on her door. </div> In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/apr-2024-issue-166/">Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 167</a>, April 2024. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/under-a-star-bright-as-morning/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-anaxagoras-under-a-star-bright-as-morning/id375802058?i=1000652100021">Listen</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/april-2024-issue-167/">Buy</a> </article> <article> <h1>We Shall Not Be Bitter at the End of the World</h1> Unknown — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="cherry-cola-shish-kebabs-bigfoot">Cherry Cola. Shish KeBabs. Bigfoot.<a class="zola-anchor" href="#cherry-cola-shish-kebabs-bigfoot" aria-label="Anchor link for: cherry-cola-shish-kebabs-bigfoot"></a></h2> <blockquote> Dreamy and strange…It’s quite poignant and well done. <cite>— Mike Bickerdike, <a href="#">Tangent Online</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> Wonderfully bizarre” <cite>—Sam Tomaino, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=20413">SFRevu</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> Cute, amusing and a little strange. It made me laugh. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://cathysreadingbonanza.wordpress.com/2024/01/17/coming-to-you-at-the-speed-of-light/">Cathy’s Reading Bonanza</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> The narrative voice is an absolute delight. <cite>— <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.tarvolon.com/2024/03/04/february-2024-round-up-and-short-fiction-miscellany/">Tarvolon.com</a></cite> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> Dad says the gravity will hit us long before Wormwood physically does, and already the moon is cracking and reality is getting pushed and pulled and squeezed and twisted (like taffy, Mom explains, but I’ve never really had taffy because Mom always says it is bad for my teeth and I’m thinking instead when I used to stretch and pull different colors of modeling clay together and each color became a thin band, then many thin bands, then eventually blended all together into itself). That’s what’s happening now. Everything we know is getting all mixed together. Even time, because it’s all one thing with space, Dad says, and I said I know that already because I watch science on YouTube. Amelia Earhart was here last night but I missed her because I had already gone to bed and apparently there are still bedtimes at the end of the world, which sucks. </div> In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/">Lightspeed Magazine, issue 164</a>, January 2024. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-shall-not-be-bitter-at-the-end-of-the-world/id375802058?i=1000643445220">Listen</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/january-2024-issue-164/">Buy</a> </article> <article> <h1>The Boy Who Ran from His Faerie Heart</h1> Unknown — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="a-heart-shared-shall-never-diminish">A Heart Shared Shall Never Diminish<a class="zola-anchor" href="#a-heart-shared-shall-never-diminish" aria-label="Anchor link for: a-heart-shared-shall-never-diminish"></a></h2> <blockquote> Both an imaginative fantasy and an intimate psychological portrait. <cite>— Victoria Silverwolf, <a href="#">Tangent Online</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> A nicely written love story. <cite>— Sam Tomaino, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=20290">SFRevu</a></cite> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> Here is a boy, barely thirteen, broken, lying in the road, twisted metal around him, twisted metal in him. Here is his heart, pierced by the shrapnel of the truck, a truck no longer, now a confusion of tangled wire and torn steel and glass pebbles. The boy’s name is Sheridan. He will live a few minutes more. </div> In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/august-2023-issue-159/">Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 159</a>, August 2023. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-boy-who-ran-from-his-faerie-heart/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/august-2023-issue-159/">Buy</a> </article> <article> <h1>Your Dasher Has Accidentally Awakened the Crawling Chaos by Gazing into the Loathsome Geometry of the Taco Pup Mega-muncher Meal Box</h1> Unknown — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="your-dasher-astrid-is-having-a-tough-night">Your Dasher, Astrid, Is Having a Tough Night<a class="zola-anchor" href="#your-dasher-astrid-is-having-a-tough-night" aria-label="Anchor link for: your-dasher-astrid-is-having-a-tough-night"></a></h2> Longlisted for the HWA Bram Stoker Award <div class="excerpt"> We are very sorry that malodorous bat-winged night-gaunts greedily captured and consumed your Large Cajun-spice Curly Fries, though it is a mystery how they did this considering their detestable, malignant faces have no mouths. Nevertheless, this is not the experience we wish our customers to have. </div> In The Dread Machine, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.thedreadmachine.com/product/issue-3-1-paperback/">Issue 3.1</a> and <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.thedreadmachine.com/your-dasher-has-accidentally-awakened-the-crawling-chaos/">online</a> February 8, 2023. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.thedreadmachine.com/your-dasher-has-accidentally-awakened-the-crawling-chaos/">Read</a> </article> <article> <h1>Anything Short of Death is Survivable</h1> Unknown — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="nice-girls-die-fast">Nice Girls Die Fast<a class="zola-anchor" href="#nice-girls-die-fast" aria-label="Anchor link for: nice-girls-die-fast"></a></h2> <blockquote> It’s a tense, action-packed story about the resilience of hope, and it’s a wonderful read! <cite>— Charles Payseur, <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://quicksipreviews.blogspot.com/2021/08/quick-sips-08132021.html#more">Quick Sip Reviews</a></cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> Full of action set in an imaginative future. <cite>— Kevin P Hallett, <a href="#">Tangent Online</a></cite> </blockquote> <div class="excerpt"> Olive feared she might vomit which would be a really dumb and dangerous thing to do since her mouth was sealed off (along with the rest of her skin) against the vacuum of space. Basically, her insides had nowhere to go. She swallowed hard. Only little kids got space sick and she wasn’t a little kid, she was fourteen. As soon as the hatch had opened and she went rushing out into the empty, Olive’s skin crystalized—just like it was supposed to. </div> In <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/issues/aug-2021-issue-135/">Lightspeed Magazine, Issue No. 135</a>, August 2021. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/anything-short-of-death-is-survivable/">Read</a> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ebooks/august-2021-issue-135/">Buy</a> </article> <article> <h1>Glitch Techs</h1> Unknown — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000 MPAC Media Award Honoree <h2 id="now-streaming-only-on-netflix">Now Streaming Only on Netflix<a class="zola-anchor" href="#now-streaming-only-on-netflix" aria-label="Anchor link for: now-streaming-only-on-netflix"></a></h2> <blockquote> Glitch Techs is well-paced, sharply animated, and nicely suited to both gamers and the occasional VR dabbler. <cite>—Emily Ashby, Common Sense Media</cite> </blockquote> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80221337">Watch Now</a> </article> <article> <h1>Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street</h1> Unknown — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000 <h2 id="friendship-adventure-magic">Friendship. Adventure. Magic.<a class="zola-anchor" href="#friendship-adventure-magic" aria-label="Anchor link for: friendship-adventure-magic"></a></h2> <blockquote> This adult found himself gobbling the four episodes Amazon sent as if I were raiding my kids’ Halloween candy. <cite>—James Poniewozik, Time</cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> An inventive and terrific kids’ show that grown-ups may want to watch as well. <cite>—David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle</cite> </blockquote> <blockquote> Gortimer is charming, endearing, a little magical and a lot wonderful. <cite>—Ann Oldenburg, Parent’s Choice</cite> </blockquote> Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street is an award-winning TV series created by <a href="/about">David Anaxagoras</a> that follows Gortimer and his two best friends, Ranger and Mel, as they face the challenges of growing up on Normal Street—a seemingly ordinary suburb that has a hint of something magical just beneath the surface. The trio set out to end a jinx while helping the unluckiest kid on Normal Street, solve a mystery before a spooky spirit turns them into ghost stories, find a fabled lost treasure, and outsmart fate after some advice from a fortune teller. <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08B48S27P/">Watch Now on Amazon</a> <h2 id="awards">Awards<a class="zola-anchor" href="#awards" aria-label="Anchor link for: awards"></a></h2> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="http://kidscreen.com/">Kidscreen</a> 2017 <ul> <li>Winner — Best Non-animated or Mixed Series</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_Writers_Guild_of_America_Awards">WGA Award</a> 2017 <ul> <li>Winner — Laurie Parres, “Mel vs. the Night Mare of Normal Street,”Outstanding Children’s Script — Episodic and Specials</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.dga.org/Awards/Annual.aspx#childrens">DGA Award</a> 2017 <ul> <li>Nominee — Alethea Jones, “Gortimer and the Jacks of All Trades,” Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170704224853/https://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=34864&StepNum=1&award=aw">Parents Choice Foundation Awards</a> 2017 <ul> <li>Winner — Gold Award</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68th_Writers_Guild_of_America_Awards">WGA Award</a> 2016 Outstanding Children’s Script — Episodic and Specials <ul> <li>Winner — Gretchen Enders & Aminta Goyel, “Gortimer, Ranger, Mel and the Endless Night”</li> <li>Nominee — David Anaxagoras and Luke Matheny, “Gortimer vs. the Relentless Rainbow of Joy”</li> <li>Nominee — Laurie Parres, “Ranger vs. the Fabled Flower of Normal Street”</li> <li>Nominee — Garrett Frawley & Brian Turner, “Gortimer and the Surprise Signature”</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.dga.org/Awards/Annual.aspx#childrens">DGA Award</a> 2016 <ul> <li>Nominee — Sasie Sealy, “Gortimer and the Vengeful Violinist,” Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://www.humanitasprize.org/prize-winners">Humanitas Prize</a> 2016 <ul> <li>Winner — Garrett Frawley & Brian Turner, “Gortimer and the Surprise Signature”</li> <li>Finalist — Gretchen Enders, “Ranger and the Legend of Pendragon’s Gavel”</li> </ul> Parents Choice Foundation Awards 2016 <ul> <li>Winner — <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160318152702/http://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=33989&StepNum=1&award=aw">Gold Award</a></li> </ul> Parents Choice Foundation Awards 2015 <ul> <li>Winner — <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160203124900/http://www.parents-choice.org/product.cfm?product_id=33120&StepNum=1&award=aw">Silver Honor</a></li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37th_Young_Artist_Awards#Best_Performance_in_a_TV_Series">Young Artist Awards</a> 2015 <ul> <li>Winner — Sloane Siegel, Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Leading Young Actor</li> </ul> <a rel="noreferrer external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Cinematography#2010s">Daytime Emmy Awards 2015</a> <ul> <li>Nominee — Eduardo Mayen, Outstanding Single Camera Photography</li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Miss Spyder</h1> Unknown — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 00:00:00 +0000 <div class="excerpt"> You sit in class and you are nine years old. Your hair is so blond it’s white. So is your skin. That’s why they call you Ghost. Your name really is Griffin, like the myth, but no one knows that except your teacher. She is called Miss Spyder. </div> In Flesh & Blood 10, July 2002. Out of print. </article> </main></body></html>

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