One of Hollywood’s most enduring images of satire is of Slim Pickens as Maj. T.J. “King Kong,” cowboy hat in one hand, h-bomb gripped in… The post Satire and Her Ugly Siblings: Parody, Irony and Sarcasm appeared first on mark a. rayner.
Continue readingTag: fiction
mark a. rayner: Non-Euclidean Emergency Medicine Show
This is a straightforward, if non-Euclidean, scene I cut from my fourth draft of Alpha Max. I thought it was fun, but it didn’t move the plot along much and I was able to cut it down to a couple of sentences in the sixth (and final) draft. You don’t
Continue readingScripturient: Killing Commendatore
I’ve been a fan of Haruki Murakami’s novels for several, recent years, and have read nine or ten of them already. Those I’ve read have all fit into the category of “magical realism”; a style of fiction that was made famous by Latin American authors like Gabriel García Márquez (you
Continue readingThings Are Good: What Fiction We Read Matters Politically
The fictional worlds we engage with can change how we think about politics and how we justify our political beliefs. According to a study published in the Cambridge University Press people who read dystopian fiction are more likely to support extreme political reactions to things. The point? Read something that
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Books To Read, or Re-Read
(Notes to myself, and anyone else who may be interested) Desert Solitaire The Monkey Wrench Gang Hayduke Lives! A Wizard Of Earthsea The Essential John Muir Essays – Thoreau Walden The Cancer Stage of Capitalism The American Empire and the Fourth World Oneness vs The 1% Faulter V for
Continue readingThings Are Good: Climaginaries: Understanding the Post-Carbon World
Fiction is an effective tool to picture how others live and what other possibilities exist for humanity. Stories like Star Trek inspire people to strive to make the imaginary real through existing science and technology, so why not do that for the transition to a fossil fuel free economy? That’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: Cli-Fi is the new Sci-Fi
If you want to understand current anxieties about the future then all you need to do is turn to science-fiction, and historically this has been true. Sci-Fi isn’t a way to predict the future but it is a way to understand what we think about the current state of humanity.
Continue readingmark a rayner: Clown Apocalypse – the first flash fiction
Years later, the survivors discovered the Bozo Virus got its start at Escola de Clown de Girona, near the end of semester. The “Esclowna” was… Continue ReadingClown Apocalypse – the first flash fiction
Continue readingmark a rayner: Wormageddon
In a playground war of worm-whipping debauchery, a boy must decide if he’s a bully or a Romeo. Continue ReadingWormageddon
Continue readingmark a rayner: More plaudits for The Fatness
NEW YORK, NY – On June 3rd, New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons announced The Fatness won in the humor category of the annual IndieReader Discovery Awards (IRDAs). The announcement was made at BookExpo America (BEA), a major publishing trade show. This is the second literary award the satirical novel has
Continue readingmark a rayner: Review: My Hands Were Clean
Tom Bradley is one of those writers who sends me running to the dictionary. That is praise and damnation at the same time, but more of the former. Because like John Fowles, who also does this to me, I’m always impressed by the precision and rightness of the word in
Continue readingmark a rayner: The void loves you
The caption is perfect if you imagine it being narrated by Werner Herzog. Herzog continues to read: “The orange sky, like the creeping shadows that threaten to engulf our fictional protagonists, is a visual clue that this never happened beyond the void of imagination.” If this cause a full-on existential
Continue readingmark a rayner: New Fiction: Wormageddon
My latest short story just appeared in The Saturday Evening Post: Less schmaltz-y, WAY more worm-y. You can find Wormageddon here.
Continue readingmark a rayner: New fiction: The Real Primo
Corvus Review just published a new short story that I’ve been noodling with for some time: The Real Primo. (pp. 59-67) If you’ve ever watched (and enjoyed) Groundhog Day, or read Friedrich Nietzsche’s difficulty concept of the Eternal Return, or have a passing familiarity with the “Eastern” concept of reincarnation,
Continue readingmark a rayner: The Procedure
Grounding the team had been difficult, but not impossible. Dr. Hansrik assured them there would be no danger, once the patient was unconscious. Prior to sedation, the patient was capable of anything. (Just ask the good folk of Peoria, Illinois, who&#…
Continue readingmark a rayner: New Fiction: Empty Space Times Two
This piece is probably the most straight-up sentimental thing I’ve ever written, but I’m quite chuffed to join the ranks of the writers who have been published by The Saturday Evening Post. (That includes, you guessed it, my literary hero, …
Continue readingA Writer's Mind: Lilian Nattel Reflects: Midnight Romeo
He pulled his fedora lower over his brow to shield his eyes from rain. Someone was watching him from the balcony, a woman, he thought. Dark robe. A hint of pale leg. A photo posted by Lilian Nattel (@a.writers.eye) on…
Continue readingA Writer's Mind: Lilian Nattel Reflects: Room Service Surprise
“Room Service!” I knocked again. No answer. No sound from within. There was no “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. I checked my instructions. Nothing about leaving the service outside the door. I checked my phone. Five minutes until my…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Shell-Shock: A novel by installments
Here is an unconventional move. I am considering publishing a novel by installments. This has been done in the past, but is not the current norm. But I am not sure if it has been done while the novel is still in the process of being written. That would…
Continue readingmark a rayner: William Shatner’s Inaugural Address
(After Winning the First Post-Two-Party Presidential Election) Friends, Americans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears. I come to bury our two-party system, not praise it. I stand before you today, not as a conqueror, not as pop icon, but as your President. …
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