Hello, Poland!

I don't know why they find me so fascinating in Poland of all places, but my statistics viewer shows a rather large amount of people viewing my website from there. So...Hello, People of Poland. Thanks for stopping by.

On Editorializing

This post was going to be about what a craptacular mound of rubbish is "The Walking Dead," but I'm going to save that one for next time because this incident just took place a mere few hours ago. Well, it didn't start then but it hit its epoch that recently. I want very badly to name names and, in this case, websites, but being the professional I believe myself to be, I'll refrain and simply repost the conversation with a bit of needed context.

The article in question was about box office results for movies released this year and it contained more than a couple side-trips from Fact Town to Opinionberg.  A commenter on this particular site's Facebook page decided to disagree with the assessments of some of the films regarding their quality.  He was rather smugly advised by the article's author that while his comment was "great," this wasn't an article about opinions on movies. I wrote the following:

That may be what you intended but your opinions of the quality of the films mentioned permeates an article where it wasn't at all called for.

A day passed without any reply so I figured the writer's ego was not sufficiently bruised to warrant snark. I was wrong as the following back-and-forth indicates:

HE: Yup, that's called editorializing.

ME:It sure is.
(Then a few minutes later...) The dictionary definition for those who might be unaware:
Editorialize
"1 to let your opinions show in a piece of writing where you should only be giving facts
Inexperienced reporters are often tempted to editorialize."

(He posted a more extensive definition and accused me of cherry-picking but that comment has since been deleted)

HE: You must be fun at parties (For some reason he didn't delete this incredibly lame and tired rejoinder)

ME: I am fun at parties. I bring liquor for all the minors.
When one editorializes in an informational article, it's generally viewed as a negative or at least an unfortunate stylistic choice. It tends to weaken the overall point and shift the focus unnecessarily to the author. I am aware of the ever thinning divide between fact and opinion thanks to content writing but that's still a thing as they say. Regardless, I'm not here to attack approach, merely pointing out that denying this is an opinion piece is inaccurate. Oops gotta go. The kids need beer!

HE:  While I am inclined to agree with you, I do think it's fair to point out that a post about the biggest box office bombs without any editorializing would be a bit dry if it was just cold hard dollars and figures. Also, we're an entertainment blog, not the New York Times. (And never denied that this was an opinion piece, although calling it just that is also inaccurate.). Now please forward us your home address so we can alert the authorities to your serving of alcohol to minors!

ME: LOL!

No one ever referred to his article as strictly an opinion piece, meaning he's either oblivious to what took place or being intentionally obtuse to save face. In other words, he's an Internet Content writer. So, it ended amicably enough and he obviously realized his attempt at expanding the definition to make it serve his purposes backfired and that I was someone who knew what the hell he was talking about

Still, like so many millenials, he had to insist upon his point being valid because everybody gets a trophy.

Visual Artist John Skewes: A Class Act

Recently, my short story "Fairy Hunters" was published on the Trigger Warning: Short Fiction With Pictures website with an illustration by John Skewes that I felt perfectly captures the feeling and theme of the story.

Yesterday I received an email from his assistant offering to send me a print of the image. I was beyond impressed by that gesture. It's never happened to me before. I have received free copies of collections in which my work appeared, sometimes with the included artwork, but no artist has ever taken the time to send me a personal print of their work.

It's nice to know there are still people like John out there.

Here is the image:

Beyond Science Fiction Complete Anthology Kindle Edition featuring two Christopher Nadeau Stories!

Before it ceased publication, Beyond Science Fiction was one of two excellent e-zines published by Dayne Edmonson and illustrated by Larry Lonsby Jr. dedicated to featuring actual thought-provoking, non-by-the-numbers genre fiction. The other was Beyond Imagination, which actually wound up becoming a home for more of my work than the former.

Still, this ginormous anthology features two of what I consider my better short stories: "Open Door Policy" and the intensely person "Do-over," of which I am exceedingly proud.

$5.99 is an excellent price for a year's worth of fiction, articles and artwork. And Kindleunlimited users  get it for free!

Below is an image of the cover:

Click here to order.

Just Call me A Worthy Source for Citation.

This insightful article used one of my Movie Network articles as a reference.

What I Did When Faced with a Trump-like Sexist Diatribe from an Employer.

I won’t bother rehashing the content of Donald Trump’s leaked “hot mic” comments regarding women to a disturbingly complicit Billy Bush in 2005. Lord knows enough is currently being said about it, including at least one brilliant parody courtesy of “Saturday Night Live” and Alex Baldwin’s dead-on impression of the be-wigged Cheeto.  What’s really important to me is the fact that there are people out there, male and female, who are claiming this is normal “boys will be boys” banter and that all of us with male plumbing indulge in it.

That, dear reader, is absolute horseshit.

Of course, to hear former Eighties teen heartthrob Scott Baio tell it, there’s nothing wrong with Trump’s advocacy of sexual assault and female objectification. After all, “He talks like a guy.” And if Chachi/Bob Labla can’t tell us how life works, who’s left? Well, me for one. I’m at least as qualified as a faded TV actor whose constant stabs at relevance involve latching onto the coattails of a lunatic who’s ushered in more hatred in his followers than we’ve seen since the heyday of fascism. Since we know how Baio would have smiled and nodded appreciatively with his hands in his pockets while Trump discussed women using the “P-word,” we must return again to Billy Bush.

Bush sat there and giggled and fed into Trump’s braggadocio for ten minutes when he could have easily put a stop to it. He wasn’t a kid either. He also wasn’t recording this as part of an expose, since Billy Bush is about as much of a genuine journalist as Maury Povich. He is either a coward or he agreed with what he was hearing.

While complaining to my wife about the fact that Bush is a wus of the highest order, she asked me if I would have stopped Trump’s offensive comments. When I told I would have, she chuckled lightly and said, “Come on. Really?”

Then I told her about my own similar experience with a former boss who was an attorney and a rabid, sexist twerp. He never went as far as Trump but he started the first time we sat down together discussing women in a derogatory way. I told him I was uncomfortable with it and that there were women in the office and I wasn’t interested in having this conversation, especially in the workplace. He looked at me as if I’d grown a horn in the middle of my face. Later on when speaking with the female co-worker and personal friend who had recommended me for the job (it involved writing) he asked her if I was gay because of what I’d said to him. After all, what kind of guy would pass up the opportunity to discuss boobs and butts no matter where he was?

She said, “No. He just doesn’t choose to discuss women’s body parts at work. He’s a decent MAN.”

Needless to say, he was taken aback. My wife, upon hearing this, looked at me as if seeing me for the first time, her face bright, her eyes and mouth equally wide with joy.  She told me I was her hero and, coming from someone who’d been surrounded by sexism all her life, that meant the world.

You see, I get that objectification happens. And it happens on both sides. It can be relatively harmless and it should be expected because we are, at our core, biological entities designed to procreate.  But much like with racism, when someone has the power and wields it in the name of denigrating another human being and sees it as their earned and born into right, that person is loathsome and beneath contempt as well as undeserving of even more power.

Latest Short Story Publication.

Just a quick update about "Fairy Hunters," the story that answers the question: "What's the redneck wearing?" After a minor delay, the story has now been published on the Trigger Warning site and I must say I love the artwork that accompanies this strange tale of mine.

Check out here for free!

Postscript to Graham Whiting Post.

In the interest of fairness, I searched for and found a follow-up piece by Acorn School Headmaster Graham Whiting, whose blanket commentary on works of dark fantasy being read by children sparked some negative response online. I wrote about it as well. Unlike most of my fellow genre fans, I was probably one of the few who saw the validity in his argument despite its superior-minded tone.

Mr. Whiting wrote a response to the articles that called him an ass which can be read here.  he comes off far more reasonable this time around.

Work-related rant. Scroll down or endure. Your choice:

Working at Library1, the smaller of the two libraries, where donations of books are accepted but there's only a small, dedicated group of seniors who go through them. In comes a guy who asks me where the donations should be brought. I ask him if it's a large amount and he advises me there are ten boxes. That's not exactly a shitload, especially if you're used  to Library2, so I grab a cart and go outside to help him since the security guy who'd normally do it isn't in today.

 Once outside and next to the van, I meet the guy's wife, who advises me in a cavalier manner that her mom just died. I express my condolences and she says, "Yeah, it's a bummer. So, she was an avid reader and we're trying to get rid of all her old books.” She laughs.

 Laughs.

 

So, eight boxes later I’m unloading the cart, thinking there could only be a few boxes left. As I emerge from the back with a now empty cart, I see that she has grabbed a librarian to help her find me because apparently I took too long to unload the cart into the tiny space allowed.  She then asks if we have more than one cart which, because I am already overheated and annoyed, doesn't immediately send up a red flag.

 Back outside, it slowly dawns me on that the cart is filling up again and they do indeed have a shitload of boxes left in their van. We are now at fifteen boxes and no end in sight. At this point, picturing the facial expression of my co-worker who also heads up the all-volunteer Friends of the Library group, I tell her this second round is as much as we can take.

 Is the woman gracious and grateful that we took half of her enormous payload? Have you been to America? If so, don’t ask silly questions.




 

 The woman flies into a hysterical fit, giving me her life story and telling me how she has to drive X amount of people to some-place and yadda-yadda and how the bookstore she tried directed her to a dumpster and the other nearby library wasn’t accepting donations, etc. But for some reason, because we accepted a large amount, we were supposed to accommodate an entire van full of boxed books.

 Try as I might to not let this set the tone for my day, it was within the first thirty minutes and that makes it nearly impossible.

I would say it's a real bummer, but apparently that word is reserved for serious inconveniences like the deaths of our parents.

 

Rant ended.

Short Story "Fairy Hunters" Publication Delayed.

Recently I posted about my short story "Fairy Hunters" being slated for a Labor Day Weekend publication on Trigger Warning. I have recently received word that it will now, "likely appear some time during the week of Sept. 26 - 30 or possibly during the first week of October."

So, don't fret none. You'll find out what the redneck is wearing and why it matters soon enough!

A Trip Down (Recent) Memory Lane Courtesy of Richard Bowes.

This morning, awesome author Richard Bowes reposted the interview I conducted with him in 2013 on my Facebook page. Not only was I honored originally that he consented to an interview for my first issue, I am also honored that he remembered and, in his usual class act way, made sure I knew he did.

Then I started going through those old issues and feeling a tad melancholy. I miss the days of compiling those (I think) wonderful issues by (factually speaking) wonderful authors, each with his or her own vision of the darkness inside themselves and their fellow humans. It was hectic and stressful and sometimes the rewards were few and far between.

And I'd do it all over again without changing much at all. That includes apparently driving away an acquaintance who found the act of publishing their spouse's twisted work so objectionable that they felt comfortable confronting me via Facebook before dropping me and summarily ignoring me afterwards.

The magazines are still available to be read and I sincerely believe you'd be doing yourself a favor by doing so.

*Addendum*

After rereading my first editorial, I can honestly say I set the tone for what I was doing exactly as I'd hoped. You can read it here.