Steven Mix's Blog

Oof. Ghost, my blog host, kept informing me I needed to change or update my theme to update the backbone software and I was like,

Granted, I make other blogs then delete them like almost weekly and pretty much never use my main blog but finally last week, I went to go update it and got blocked by a screen that said I couldn't go into my admin panel and I'd need to email support to get it fixed.

Sucks to be me.

Maybe I should use my regular blog more often.

No, scratch that, I promise I will update my blog more often.

So you want to be a writer?

Calm down, Bukowski. You must love being poor. Do you like ramen? Oh! You like words and stories. Well, that's great. Just make sure you don't want money. Like at all, because you won't have it. Oh, you have talent? Great, so does almost everyone else. I say almost everyone because sometimes people who write Twilight fan-fiction turn their work into erotic BDSM stories. Then somehow that winds up hitting the best-seller list. Other than those maddening blips which make you question if humanity should die off, talented writers seem to be a dime a dozen.

Who am I to judge though?

I bet you turn a great phrase. You might get lucky and stumble into a publishing deal with folks who recognize your talent. You can self-publish but, that is the long game. This is like playing the video game "Civilization" and grinding out turn after turn. 600 B.C. all the way to 2300 A.D. I know quite a few authors who are successful and self-publish. That's not quite right. What I mean to say is, I know quite a few authors who self-publish that haven't shot themselves in the face yet.

Don't think I haven't considered it. You spend a few years of your life pouring over a manuscript, telling yourself you are Hemingway. The reality is you gave up drinking, you don't bleed so much as bruise, and you're too fucking verbose. Just look at that sentence and marvel at what a hack I am. You'll put so much time, effort and cash into editing costs that you'll barely be able to afford toilet paper. Thank god I'm not diabetic. If the choice were to pay for insulin or die, I'd be seeing a David Bowie concert next week.

Oh and sanity? That's always in short supply.

You already know this because you're the wispy-eyed dreamer type. Most writers are, but you are guaranteed to be continuously lost in thought. When your significant other asks you what you're thinking, you will always reply "About my book." If you answer, "I'm wondering if I can write a scientific reason for a sudden change in inertia, that could counter superspeed with violent results," you would be tossed in a looney bin. I mean, you are already halfway there.

Still, want to be a writer? Me too. We're both masochistic fools drowning in a digital world that refuses to notice us. Well, I guess if you like my rambling... you know... you can buy my book.

I'm testing out the new app for my blog to see how functional this is. I might be posting more updates soon since I have a big life event occurring. Also book two is now available on Amazon. I also discounted both the ebook for book one and book two as a holiday gift to you.

Enjoy!

Deep Cuts from the Edge of Never

I'm terrible at promoting myself so, I've promised myself I'm going to knuckle down and put in the effort no matter how much it makes me cringe.

So here's the deal, Christmas is coming, and I know for a fact that my books are pretty entertaining. I'm biased but, I have it on reliable authority from some of my fanbase that my second book ended spectacularly. So if you pick up either one of my books, I promise you a good time. Let's go over the reasons why you might be on the fence.

1) I heard your book was about zombies, right? I'm not into zombies.

Yes but, they are something more. I feel like that genre is overplayed and stagnated a bit that's why I've changed the recipe. Some folks see zombies as a metaphor for consumerism because it spreads and grows and we could wind up destroying ourselves with it. My zombies are a metaphor for terrorism. They're darker, more sinister things and in my series people either hide from them and lock themselves away from the world or they run out to face it, guns blazing.

2) Is it true it isn't traditional horror?

No. It isn't traditional horror. Growing up I read a lot of fantasy and these days I read a lot of sci-fi, some of my favorite writers were Tim Powers, Anne McCaffrey, and Neal Stephenson. I use many perspectives when telling a story. It is a somewhat familiar fantasy-style of writing. This lets me start a lot of scenes with some intense action. I like to write that way because in my head I see things in either movie scenes or comic panel layouts. I can't help that.

3) It's apocalyptic fiction. Is it gritty? I hate gritty.

Nope. I mean there are times where it's painful because characters need reasons to grow, but I served in the army, and I can't stand when stories get that dark and gritty. The one thing I learned from the military is: no matter how sinister shit gets or how hard your day is, you still wind up laughing. It's difficult to explain unless someone has been that close to a life like this, but you feel more alive, and you laugh harder than you ever have. The people you go on these kinds of adventures with become closer family than you have ever known. There is good comedy found in my story because when you tossed in a situation where you could suddenly wind up dead, you find yourself living that much harder, trying to squeeze more magic and life out of every moment. Trust me.

4) So then is there too many laughs? Is it cheesy?

I don't think so. When I set out to write a story, I try to do three significant things: Take very flawed characters and get the reader to fall in love with them, give the reader a big adventure and help the reader grow alongside the characters. I think I do this well.

5) What's up with all the art and music in your stories? I mean there's actual art history facts in book two.

Yea, music is a mystical thing in my life, so I've turned it into a mystical element in my books. One of the characters is loosely based on me, and I have an obsession with art history, mostly modern art, so it's his driving force of insanity in an apocalypse. Both will be a reoccurring theme throughout the series because I don't know how to escape these things in my life.

6) You sound kind of insane. Is it true these stories came from nightmares of yours?

Yes. The origin stories of the characters for book one and book two both came from nightmares. Creepy, exciting, fun, horror-filled dreams that left me gasping and cheering when I woke up.

7) I'm still on the fence.

Okay, fair enough. My first book is in ebook form on Amazon, selling for $0.69 cents. That was about the lowest I could mark it without giving it away. I'd say try to read about 2 to 3 chapters. If you don't feel like reading more after that, I understand. The only guarantee I give you with my books is my story is a wild ride that won't work out how you think it will. It won't be a typical, chasing a can of beans, zombie adventure.

Book one is available on Amazon here: Goodbye from the Edge of Never

If you've already read it, you can pick up book two here: Deep Cuts from the Edge of never

Someone on Reddit asked me how I got my desktop to look like this:

I'm going to break this down "Barney Style" so if you are a mid to high level linux user, I apologize for it being so verbose.

I modified a Conky script br_shadow was passing around on Reddit to have a more 80s theme and use the name of the current distro it was running. I also colorized the Binary Clock script in the upper left.

What you need to do first is go into the Software center (repo) and install Conky and Conky Manager.

Then download this zip here: https://sabercathost.com/9ajL/conkies.tar.gz

Unzip it and put both the scripts in the .conky directory in your home directory. If you are using the file manager, to do this and don't know how to get into hidden .directories, go to your home directory in Files and hit control+h. If you are using the terminal just unzip them to ~/.conky and you should be good.

Make sure when you unzip it that you take the scripts out of the directory they are in and deposit them directly in the .conky directory.

Fire up Conky Manager and you should see ConkyCLOCK and ConkyWhat scripts. Toggle them on and you are good to go.

Oh and you may want to go into preferences and set ConkyManager to launch at startup.

I found this wallpaper in a r/wallpapers here.

But I'd like to also recommend this wallpaper I found awhile ago. It is gorgeous with this setup. I can't figure out where I found the image from but I'd sure like to give them credit for something so striking.

I think that's it. If you have any problems with any of this, drop me a line on my email found in the sidebar of my blog. Enjoy!

An old post of mine started recirculating Facebook again so I figured I should throw it on the blog so I don't lose it forever. Plus given the current climate of protests, I'd hope some folks would consider respectful protests. Some of us gave a lot supporting the rights and freedoms that many folks take for granted in this country.

To anyone considering stomping on the American flag for some YouTube challenge, I'd like you to take a moment and look at this pic of my buddy Rob.

Rob's unit was ambushed overseas. Rob refused to give up the gun even after he was wounded.

His actions that day saved lives and eventually cost him his foot....

Then he lost his fight with PTSD and eventually took his own life.

This is a pic of him holding his own foot.

Rob gave everything for this country: his sanity, his life even his own flesh. He did that for rights that some of you take for granted.

Maybe you don't agree with everything this Nation has done, but have you tried to make things better for the rest of us? Do you really think stepping on that flag is improving our lives? Have you given as much as my friend and his family gave?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, maybe you should rethink setting your foot down on that flag.

We've all seen her spamming our favorite Science Fiction group. Miles of clickbait on topics about how we might be living inside of blackholes, followed by three year old headlines involving Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Today however, the evidence was mounting against Anna Ryland bot that she is an illuminati lizard overlord and today we cracked the case.

PROOFS:

1) Compare her photo to that of an actual illuminati lizard overlord below. I know, I'm scared too.

2) She is never banned! Seriously. What the fuck? Do we have admins or what? I just want to see some Star Wars stuff or read some Star Trek news. I'm fucking tired of clickbaity posts with childish jokes about "Something massive is coming out of Uranus!" There is something massive coming out of Uranus! It's Anna Ryland's shitposts! How is she protected from bans? Simple. She's illuminati.

3) Can you prove Anna Ryland ISN'T an illuminati lizard overlord? I can't either.

4) Would you leave Anna Ryland bot alone with your children? Of course not. Everyone knows the illuminati eats small children. You don't hate children do you? THEN you should clearly take an active stance against Illuminati Lizard Overlord Bots.

So in conclusion, Anna Ryland is an inside job and most of us wish that the admins would wake up and ban this spammy, clickbaity garbage so we can get back to our memes, shitposting and nerd arguments like healthy, semi-adultish sci-fi fans.

FOR THE RECORD: This is just a joke. I am not being serious. I'm just tired of the biggest Science Fiction group on Facebook being spammed by a bot.

Coping in the digital age is an amazing thing.

A few days ago I stumbled onto a guy named Jason Alvin who had been sharing his live feeds with the Facebook Science Fiction group. I couldn’t figure out why it was being shared with the group at first, and then I couldn’t take my eyes off his show.

Let me tell you; he has built a surreal and magical show.

Each episode is called “Jason is a social scientist,” and then lists a pill number. The reason being is Jason is an HIV positive fellow. He usually takes his nightly pills while broadcasting. His topics cover everything from sexuality, to beating drug addiction, to just being happy with who you are as a person. I don’t always agree with everything he says, but I feel alright with that fact by default because he isn’t hard selling anything. He made this show to cope with his trials in life, and he doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to this fact. It’s very raw, and while he is chuckling through a topic that would be uncomfortable for most, he might also setting up action figures, dancing around with a pasta strainer on his head or pounding on a keyboard.

He has a tiny set crammed into a corner with the camera facing out peering down on his home. In front of the view, he's set up toy cars, action figures, keychains and gamer memorabilia, which he happily rearranges throughout the show. He’ll bounce from upbeat topics to a suddenly somber message about missing his parents and then dash to the back of the room to cheer everyone up with an old timey melody played on an antique gramophone.

I’m not sure he realizes it, but he’s built an art installation that seems to be a genius representation of both the 20th century and the digital age.

While he’s coping, he’s helping his audience cope as well.

He’s often calling folks live on the air and chatting about all manner of topics all the while performing wild shenanigans. He might pause the conversation to set up a Star Trek action figure, themed rave complete with strobe lights, lasers and even fog from a vape pen. It’s not uncommon to find him pulling out a box of He-Man action figures while proclaiming that “After 34 years Skunkor still stinks! I swear I can smell him through the box.”

It’s refreshing to see someone being honest and someone coping with something that could give crippling depression to other folks. Most of his messages tend to be about positivity and happiness, and that underlying message is what seems to be drawing all of Jason's audience back to his Livestream.

I think my favorite part about the Jason is a Social Scientist show is that folks filter in through his Livestream's chat with the same experience every time. The shock of “What the hell am I watching,” is often followed by, “You remind me of Hunter S Thompson!” and people telling him how much they are enjoying his chaos. It’s such a constant occurrence that it has become a running joke to a lot of the regulars. However, these new viewers are correct. There is a raw uncut feeling here. There is honesty. Sometimes it can be a little scary, but you can tell it is coming from a good place. Jason is genuinely concerned about being true to himself and encouraging others to do the same.

I think the man is a genius. It might very well be my favorite show. A Livestream is my favorite show? It sounds nuts. Coping in the digital age is amazing and here is a case of somebody giving the rest of us hope.

If you wish to view Jason's live feeds you can find him on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/jasonallanalvin?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

or catch his saved feeds on Youtube at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi-AKjFl6vBkeCRzEoeRZdQ

My second edition of book one Goodbye from the Edge of Never is now available!

Hooray for new book covers and a discounted price!

Here is the promo youtube, please share it if you can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HAgKMmBlkw&t=13s

The link for the $0.99 cent ebook is available here

The paperback is available here.

I hope the book gets you hyped for book two Deep Cuts from the Edge of Never!

The current release date is not set in stone but starting to look like June/July. Only a few months away.

Happy Friday everyone!

I wasn't sure if I was going to post this or not, but a good friend of mine said I should because it's good to have opposing views.

Author John Scalzi is ridiculously famous, and he recently wrote a piece on what it's like doing book tours. It's a great article, and you should check it out here first before you continue:

10 things you don't know about authors on book tours

I love Scalzi, and I think he's a great author but let me write the "unknown author's" version of this about appearances:

It’s disorienting

You will be surprised at how quiet a bookstore can be when you host a book reading. Abnormally quiet in fact. The kind of silence that could devour your brain. When someone shows up to ask you if you know where the new Scalzi book is, you'll beg them for just five minutes of conversation.

You don't have a handler.

In fact, no one cares about you whatsoever. It doesn't matter if you're hungry or thirsty. One night I stole someone's beef jerky because I couldn't afford any protein to go with my soup.

It's a grind.

Writing books, editing, not finding a readership, contemplating suicide, waking up in the morning, watching your hairline recede. It's all a grind.

You have to be "out"

Of your fucking mind to want this life. Everyone else is more successful than you, but still, you're trying to write because, well you don't have a good reason. Sanitation workers make more money than you do.

Many authors are also working while they tour.

That's probably true, but they aren't you or I. I couldn't get a book tour if I won the lottery tomorrow. I'll keep writing though, mostly because I'm out of my mind. (See above.)

The author is worried no one will show up.

That's true but, that's what happens all the time. So, it's not so much of a worry anymore as it is a living nightmare that never ends.

Your author is coated in hand sanitizer.

I guess maybe Scalzi is. I'd coat myself in hot Cheetos and dance through Times Square if it earned me more readers.

We like that you want to give us gifts but...

No! NO! GIVE ME GIFTS! Are you kidding? I'll take a fucking piece of gum! My bones are brittle from eating so much ramen. If you gave me a pinecone, I would love that pinecone. I would cherish that pinecone. I would say, "Thank you for my pinecone. This is the best pinecone ever!" I might even eat that pinecone because I haven't got a nickel for another packet of ramen but, that would still be my favorite pinecone.

We're probably not going to hang out with you outside of the event.

I would. I would enjoy golfing with you or drinking with you if you bought my book. If you told me you were on a quest to become a vampire, I'd go searching for vampires with you. No fucks are given here.

We are really going to make it work to make it worth your while to come see us.

That's true for all authors big and small. Just some of us don't have the marketing power of the Big 5 behind us, but GOD DAMNED will I make an effort to entertain folks if they decide to show up at my events. I can read a book while juggling and walking on a 3-foot high wooden ball like a bear at an olde timey circus. I'm not kidding, I can do this, and I would do this if it sold me books!

So, while it's great that big authors get this kind of support and Jon Scalzi HAS done a ton for the community, and he's donated a lot of money to charity, if you find yourself at a local bookstore, don't forget to support some of us little guys too.