REAL WORLD | Author J. Steven Young

Displeasure Reading

by Dave King | Sep 17, 2019 | Craft, doctorow, Genre, literature, meaning, meaninglessness, murakami, REAL WORLD, Writing

Not long ago, a friend who has been reading literary novels for years recommended one to me – Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami – and gave me the Kindle version. Murakami is award-winning and well-reviewed, so I launched into the book with considerable hope.I...

Living The Dreamy Dreamland

by Kathryn Magendie | Sep 14, 2019 | Creativity, REAL WORLD, Writing, Writing life

Photo Credit: Dreamland – Alice PopkornWe writers aren’t so unique, you know. It’s not the Writer who is especially unique—though we often in our self-indulgent brilliance think it is so—it is our personalities and tics and weirdnesses that are unique. Some of us are...

Why I’ll Never Be a Mystery Writer

by Marisa de los Santos | Sep 5, 2019 | inspiration, Inspirations, marisa de los santos, REAL WORLD, Writing, Writing life

If I could be anything, if I could have any occupation in the entire world, I’d be a mystery writer.As a reader, I’ve been devouring detective fiction for over four decades. I started, as so many readers do, with Nancy Drew (her shift dresses! Her convertible!), and...

On (Not) Defending Historical Fiction

by Greer Macallister | Sep 2, 2019 | Genre, provocations, REAL WORLD, traditional publishing, Writing, Writing life

Image by thecryptI had the pleasure of attending this year’s National Book Festival in Washington, DC, and as a historical novelist, of course I gravitated to the sessions on historical fiction. Hundreds of audience members flocked to hear perspectives from Philippa...

Creating Collections in Scrivener 3

by Gwen Hernandez | Aug 31, 2019 | Collections, REAL WORLD, Scrivener, Scrivener 3, Writing

Looking for a way to view or store a group of your documents in a Scrivener project without losing their order in the Binder? If so, read on to learn about collections. Introducing Collections In Scrivener, a collection is a subset of your project’s documents that...

Foreign Language in Fiction

by Guest | Aug 30, 2019 | REAL WORLD, Writing

Please welcome author Ann Mah to Writer Unboxed today! Ann–who is based in Paris and Washington, D.C.–is the author of two novels, The Lost Vintage and Kitchen Chinese; a food memoir, Mastering the Art of French Eating; and a cookbook, Instantly French. She...

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In the fight to control magic, a new player has entered the arena. A druid of mysterious origin and unimaginable power has arrived using an ancient portal linked to Stonehenge. Colby and his friends are seeking answers as well as a means to save Colby’s father. The problem arises when Colby’s magic begins to falter. The Hashtag Magic application has become open source.

The mobile application, Hashtag Magic has inexplicably ended up on the Internet in the form of a game. While mundane humans play blissfully unaware of the real magic they are invoking, Colby is suffering the consequences. The magic to fuel the game is draining Colby’s magical core.

Colby finds himself weakened and facing battles on multiple fronts. In the fight to stop his magical drain, Colby begins losing his friends to the unknown plans of the Druid. Crippled by corruption in Hashtag Magic, Colby will need to discover his true power, confront the man who stole his father’s body, and face the Druid whose plans revolve around the past, present, and possible future yet to come.

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What if wands were alive?

For one clumsy and inexperienced mage, his life and everything he knows about wands changes when they begin talking to him. Sparkle is an ancient and powerful wand who has not chosen a bond mate in longer than recorded history. On a dare from another and much younger wand, Sparkle has chosen to bond with Dillard Muckledun. Unexpected and powerful magic is rekindled when the two eventually learn to accept what is happening to them.

There hasn’t been such a pairing of powerful magic in centuries. There are secrets and corrections to history to come.

This is the magical world told from the wand’s point of view.

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MacKenzie Dillon serves as a as a protectorate soldier in the New Republic, a new order that was created from the ravaged mind of a leader who had long ago given up his sanity. Now the New Republic is protected by a wall that keeps out everything that exists in the Wastes and keeps everything within it subjected to the severest restrictions of freedom and mental conditioning.

But MacKenzie is having flashbacks from his youth. The conditioning he has undergone is failing and with it comes a new realization that he is not what he thought he was. Confused by the change in circumstances, he takes on a role that allows him to infiltrate the resistance.

There he uncovers the real reasons behind America’s decline and the formation of the New Republic. But there’s yet more. A secret Caste called the Omega who really controls everything, the truth about the destruction of half the country and a deadly plot that has been set in motion against neighboring nations.

MacKenzie’s quest for the truth and justice is just beginning. But is the way of the resistance any better than what the nation already has?

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Displeasure Reading

Living The Dreamy Dreamland

Why I’ll Never Be a Mystery Writer

On (Not) Defending Historical Fiction

Creating Collections in Scrivener 3