Category Archives: Sample Essays

Some examples of essays written for APA zines. Yes, I’m that old.

Free From Before Free To: Late Night Thoughts

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Gene Stewart

I grew up poor but never wanted for anything, so it’s always puzzled me why I feel such gnawing anger and outrage. It hits me now, at age 54, that I got this way not because I was oppressed, although … Continue reading →

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Nightmare Days on Autumn’s Cusp: A Miscellany

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Gene Stewart

There are days when love is not enough, when you need justice, too.  Those are the hopeless days when it’s best to hole up in solitude so you don’t hurt or kill anyone you might later regret having hurt or … Continue reading →

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Regarding the GOP

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Gene Stewart

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each: 1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to … Continue reading →

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Why “Beige, Not Blue” Is So Deeply Offensive

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Gene Stewart

Censors demonize certain words in order to restrict your freedom of speech, thought, and behavior. No word has any special quality that places it beyond the pall of “polite” societal discourse. Politesse is rooted in the notion of cleaning shit … Continue reading →

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Ghosts, Okay, But Ghost Clothing?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Gene Stewart

This was a famous point raised by a Scottish professor when asked his objection to thinking ghosts are real. All he said was: Ghost clothing. Clothes are not alive and don’t die, so how can they produce a ghost? That … Continue reading →

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It’s (not) the Thought that Counts, It’s the Stuff

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Gene Stewart

“[Fighting piracy is] becoming a full time job. There’s literally scores of sites containing pirated copies of my ebooks, and every time I get a DMCA notice served on one another springs up. It’s getting to the point where it’s … Continue reading →

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Not Ideas

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Gene Stewart

it’s not your ideas ideas are a dime a dozen and unimportant. stop worrying about them. they are for trick fiction, for toy wind up stories. emphasizing or even noticing the “idea” is the most peurile skiffery imaginable. focusing on … Continue reading →

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Me and Bullies

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Gene Stewart

I have a skill at invective and a talent for contumely. I’ve had those since I was a kid because although I knew how to fight and was something of a roughneck as a younger kid, (did tumbling and gymnastics … Continue reading →

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A Ficta Mystica Rumination

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Gene Stewart

I’m glad to have discovered my Ficta Mystica sub-strata as the basis of most of what I write because it frees me to trope from dark to light without changing my approach to fiction. Encountering the Other and blundering into … Continue reading →

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The Scope and Structure of Our Ignorance

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Gene Stewart

Please go read the introduction to Slow Learner by Thomas Pynchon, whence these excerpts that may be useful or interesting to writers are taken. Reading any and all Pynchon fiction is important, too. /// “…Our common nightmare The Bomb … … Continue reading →

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