youseeatortoise

youseeatortoise, 9 months ago to random

I co-wrote a cookbook for depressed people and other folks with zero spoons, only knives. It's not meant to be gourmet cooking so much as a survival guide for late stage capitalism. And you can get it for free!
https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook

youseeatortoise, 4 months ago to random

I want to thank everyone here so much for the outpouring of support that @zillanovikov , @martennorr and I have received in response to Amazon taking down the Sad Bastard Cookbook. Several different people and bots are now reviewing our case, and we hope it will be back up soon.
Just wanted to share the fantastic email that Zilla received from a massive company worth over a trillion dollars. I hope y'all enjoy it as much as we did.

youseeatortoise, 9 months ago to random

Hey #writerscommunity types! Do you have a book to promote? Do you want to be interviewed on a tiny-but-rad blog? If you have a project to plug we would love to hear about it. We post interviews every Tuesday and in our newsletter. https://nightbeatseu.ca/author-interviews/

youseeatortoise, 9 days ago to random

#WordWeavers 14May- What role do other writers have in your writing life?

A huge one. Brainstorming and crowdsourcing, beta reading, commiseration, cross-marketing, advice, etc. With more established writers, they've blurbed me and given me a leg up, which was invaluable.

youseeatortoise, 6 months ago to writing

#writing community! Do you like book boxes? Do you support Doctors Without Borders? Now you can get a book box with a special edition of Instant Classic (That No One Will Read) and a bunch of other goodies, and the proceeds benefit what's now a very urgent cause. (The Amazon books also benefit MSF—basically anything we make over our publishing cost will be donated to them.) Oh yeah, and there are 9 stories in it that are extremely good.

https://traumbooks.itch.io/instant-classic-that-nobody-will-read?fbclid=IwAR0gv3juoTGwIE50ADAXvTNnesDUICsVUPJZos4oWAVe7fZmmmhtuf6Gqq0

#publishing #books

youseeatortoise, 3 months ago to random

The Sad Bastard Cookbook hardcopy remains off Amazon, sadly. We continue to gently nudge the robots in charge of our livelihoods in the hopes that they reinstate it. In the meantime though, our buddy Rysz at tRaum books has put up a PWYC donation button for the ebook version on itch.io. We still want the ebook to be free to anyone who wants it, but if you were wondering how you can support our bastardry in the meantime, here's a way.
https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook

youseeatortoise, 3 months ago to random

Please help
@martennorr make history TikToks and survive. He's the illustrator for the Sad Bastard Cookbook, but ironically, Amazon's decision to take our book down means that he has to cut down on luxuries like food. Support us sad bastards (me and @zillanovikov as well) at: https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook

https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerprinceart/video/7332923176906689835

youseeatortoise, 3 months ago to random

#WordWeavers 2/13: What's your favorite thing about your writing space?

I have a beautiful poster that I commissioned of my cats by the phenomenally talented Nathan Nun. (https://nathannun.ca/) It hangs above my desk along with another poster by him and it gives me joy every time I see it.

youseeatortoise, 2 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 25 - How do you feel about Amazon's influence on books and publishing?

When I was growing up, we had to read dystopian fiction in high school about ubiquitous surveillance and government censorship so that we'd know how terrible Communism was and how lucky we were to live under capitalism. None of these dystopias went nearly as far as to have neo-Nazis policing warehouses while 80-year-old workers living in RVs had to pee in a bottle.

youseeatortoise, 9 days ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 314 — Has your MC ever felt as though they were reborn in the mental / emotional sense?

Maya has, twice, and not in a good way. Once when she came into her magical powers at 17, and once when she buried her real name and became Maya.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to random

#WordWeavers Apr 1. MC POV: Write a Mastodon introduction post.

Jesus fuck on a pogo stick, not another one of them social media sites. I gots a real job, ya know? The world is ending and no one else is doin' anything about it, and you expect me to waste some time on a Twitter, tweeting.

Oh, it's run by anarchists you say. Well, that'll work out even better.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to random

#wordweavers Mar 31: For a giveaway, what swag would you love to offer with your book?

I've made a bunch of swag as promo. There are resin fish with hearts in them, postcards from various locations in the book, stickers, and a bunch of election pins. I have some pickle charms and postcards for the cookbook as well. By the way if anyone wants any Cascade swag, I'll mail them to you in exchange for reviews or other hype.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to random

#WordWeavers Apr 20
Do you plan out your themes or allow them to develop as you write?

Bold of you to suggest I plan anything.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to random

#Writerscoffeeclub Apr 1: What's your favourite easter egg in your own work and/or another work of fiction?

One of my favourite scenes in Cascade is Ian, Jonah, Sujay, and Eric debating the plot of the latest Night Beats episode—which included some very crude stereotypes and cliché plots. There's a reference in there to the awesome podcast Métis In Space that I hope, if they ever read it, they enjoy.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to photography

This was pretty incredible. #eclipse #photography

youseeatortoise, 22 days ago to random

#WordWeavers May 1 - Introduce your setting as if it's a character in your story.

Her slate-grey expanse has been transformed; through the pavement, shoots of unruly, screaming hair burst from her skin. She adorns herself in dead animals; dead men, too. She's restless, churning. She is dying, and she knows it, but she still cups her hands to create shelter where she can. She sucks the last gasps of oxygen through the broken teeth of her skyline.

youseeatortoise, 2 months ago to random

#WordWeavers Mar 18 - Does your MC have a food they associate with home? What?

Fish. He hates it, and home.

youseeatortoise, 3 hours ago to random

#writersCoffeeClub 23 May: What gets in the way of your writing?

Chronic illness and pain. Work. My own brain, often. The duty to constantly be marketing.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to writing

Y'ALL!

We're back in print, baby!

https://www.amazon.ca/Sad-Bastard-Cookbook-Food-Make/dp/3949666303

#writing #books #cookbooks

youseeatortoise, 3 hours ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 323 - What's a piece of advice for writers that you listened to and are glad for?

A first draft just needs to exist.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 266 — What are your favorite blogs or websites for writers? Share them for others to see.

I'll focus on one: Slacktivist's Left Behind analysis. I have learned more about literary analysis and craft from reading these than from any number of classes: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2015/11/05/left-behind-index-the-whole-thing/

youseeatortoise, 2 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 3
Are there any books which should be banned, or is book banning always wrong?

No book written by a human should be banned. (Which doesn't mean a right to be published, sold, or stocked in libraries.) Responsible publishers should add historical context or commentary to evil but significant works.

Something like the AI-written foraging for mushrooms or diabetes cookbook should be purged off platforms though.

youseeatortoise, 13 days ago to random

#pennedpossibilities 310 — MC or SC POV: What was your favourite day or holiday when you were a child?

Jonah absolutely loved Christmas. Not the ones celebrated by his foster family—those were inevitably a disappointment. But the ones on TV, full of rich crimson and gold, thick blankets of snow, sparkling white lights, and the smell of pine. He dreamed of giving is daughter that experience, but it never quite shook out that way.

youseeatortoise, 1 month ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 3/8: Do you prefer to write protagonist-driven stories or ensembles? Why?

Ensembles (at least in novels), because I'm constantly pushing back against the Great Man Theory of history and the Hero's Journey model of literature. Nothing significant is ever accomplished by individuals alone; I am more interested in the women who keep the supply lines moving than the generals who command the armies.

youseeatortoise, 25 days ago to random

#pennedPossibilities 298: Do any of your characters have a disability?

Ian, most visibly—his hands were broken in prison and never healed properly. Losing magic for him counts as an even greater disability.

Blythe almost certainly has PTSD (well, so does everyone, but most obviously Blythe) but psychiatrists are in short supply.