"Trolls in the Modern World" -- story available to read and download free!

Sometimes, it's good to write just for the sake of writing. I think that doing so helps to keep a writer cognizant of the rules of grammar and tuned in to that broadcast of strange ideas that seems to reach the headspace of all story lovers.

I have stories that are the results of such writing practice. Some of them really suck, and some of them I actually love quite a bit for various reasons, even if they're imperfect. The sucky ones are going to stay tucked away on my flash drive, but I'd love to share the ones I'm fond of with anyone who comes to the site.

I've posted the first of such stories to Google Docs. It's called "Trolls in the Modern World (It Has Nothing To Do with Message Boards)," and it's a short modern fantasy tale featuring some of my favorite bridge-dwellers from fairytale lore. Anyone who clicks on the link below can read it, and if you have a Google/Gmail account, you can download it, free, free, free. And if you like it, please, pass it along, or send people over to this site! I'd love to share it with as many people as possible.

Click to get reading: "Trolls in the Modern World" And thanks!


Trolls in the Modern World (It Has Nothing To Do with Message Boards) by Sheila Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.sheilacjohnson.net

It Almost Makes Me Wish I Was Rocking Some Facial Hair

Hey, freelancers! Ever get the feeling that the world just doesn't Get It (tm) -- or get you? Well, my friend Dan Dougherty does, and he's channeled all of that empathy (and frustration) into the comic Beardo, which you can buy in its collected form at www.beardocomics.com . It makes me laugh and cry, all at once.

Thank you!

Last night's reading was small, but it went well in my book. Thank you to the people who came, those I already knew as well as those I met, and to Shawn and Woody for letting me hog their shop. :)

Reading Tonight!

At Evil Squirrel Comics, 6928 N. Glenwood, starting at 7 p.m.! Be there and be... well, round! (Shawn mentioned something about bringing treats for people, heh.)

The Process of Making a Book, pt. 3

Sandwiching the books between heavy objects and leaving them there overnight helps the glue in the binding to set.

See? Old college textbooks do come in handy.

One of those questions that MUST be answered...!

I had "All the Young Dudes" in my head earlier, and it caused me to wonder: What is a hoople?

A quick Google search informed that "hoople" can be found on urbandictionary.com. Though not many seem to be able to agree on its meaning, the range of the suggested definitions was quite amusing.

This is what I do while my pages are printing.

The Process of Making a Book, pt. 2

Most of my friends make big purchases that are exactly what you would expect big purchases to be. They buy televisions, or sound systems, or parts for cars that never quite seem to function well.

My big purchase this year, aside from the gas valve in the furnace, was a hand-binding press.

(Using it does not result in hands being bound together, in case you were wondering.)

There's not much to the idea of a hand-binding press; it's just a way of clamping pages together so that they stay nice and even while you work on putting them together. But, oh, look at that beauty. Aluminum bar to flatten the sheets, a clear, solid acrylic back that allows me to see if anything has shifted before I make the binding permanent -- it is easily the nicest piece of non-computer-related equipment I own. Heck, it might actually be nicer than my computer.

This wonderful press was made by Chet at gigabooks.net. I hear rumors that the original title of Queen's "I'm in Love with My Car" was actually "I'm in Love with My Fancy Hand-binding Press," inspired by quality tools such as this, but that the record company guys made them change it because it was too niche.