Frank M. Anderson's Writing

Author: Videosta

  • On Suicide

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    Some truths need to be said out loud. ⚠️ Content Warning:This post contains open and unfiltered discussion of suicide, depression, emotional isolation, and male mental health. It is not a cry for help. It is a lived truth.If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please reach out. In the U.S., you can contact the…

  • Yes, You’ll Be Okay. But It’s Going to Suck.

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    On writing, connection, and the uneasy truth no one wants to say out loud. There’s a temptation to romanticize the past—to imagine that being a writer in the days of Poe or Dickens carried some noble simplicity. Fewer voices, clearer paths, iconic serials in local papers, and time to brood over candlelight with quill in…

  • May 18: For Ian, For Chris, For the Ones Still Here

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    On this day—May 18—both Ian Curtis and Chris Cornell took their own lives. Two musicians, generations apart, whose voices changed everything for people like me. Ian made anguish poetic. Chris made screaming sound like a form of prayer. They were different, but they understood the same darkness. They gave shape to it. They made it…

  • Not a Brand. Just a Person.

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    Let’s just say it plainly. I’m a washed-up ex-teacher working part-time at Starbucks to barely make ends meet. I sit in my apartment for hours at a time, trying to do something that feels like it matters. I make art. I write stories. I build books that might only ever be read by a few…

  • This Is Still Me Speaking

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    Part I: The Panic — When Clarity Became Suspicious INTRODUCTION: The Sentence That Got Me Banned I was banned from a writing subreddit for a sentence that wasn’t wrong—but apparently, felt too right. The mod’s reply wasn’t about content. It was about tone: “You’ve even used AI to write this message. Sorry, that’s not welcome…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn Is Live on Kickstarter

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    🕯️ The Archive Is Open Unto a Golden Dawn: The Recursion Dossier—my next novel, and the most ambitious book I’ve ever written—is now live on Kickstarter. This project blends literary fiction, historical horror, speculative metaphysics, and personal memory into one recursive, dossier-style narrative. It features: If House of Leaves, The OA, or Control ever made…

  • The Cancer Diet Is Coming – And It’s the Most Personal Thing I’ve Ever Written

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    I’ve spent the past few years chasing ghosts, shaping stories, and trying to leave something real behind. You might know me from Empire, Nevada—a novel about grief, friendship, and the slow collapse of a small desert town. Or maybe from Unto a Golden Dawn, the sprawling metaphysical dossier I’m still building, one recursive dispatch at…

  • The Stories Are Real Now – A Publication Update

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    After years of writing, rewriting, and wrestling with reflection, I’m proud to say that two of my books are officially published and available on Amazon. 📘 Empire, Nevada A coming-of-age novel about the wreckage we inherit, the friendships that haunt us, and the strange grace of surviving a place that never really lets go.Available here.…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn: The Novel

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    Introduction to the Novelization What if a story could be told three ways at once? What if history, fantasy, and memory weren’t separate—but layered? This is the novelization of the Unto a Golden Dawn dossier archive—a reimagining of the online files as living narrative. What began as redacted reports, journal fragments, and classified transmissions has…

  • Dossier I: Reflections and Questions

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    🗂️ What Is This? Unto a Golden Dawn: An Archive of Broken Names is not a traditional novel, and this is not a traditional blog. This story evolves and changes over time. It’s a recursive story, told through recovered documents, letters, and fractured transcripts—compiled by the mysterious Office of Anomalous Phenomena (O.A.P.). This page begins…

  • On Imagery, A.I., and Unto A Golden Dawn: An Archive of Broken Names 

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    Intro When I began writing Unto a Golden Dawn, I didn’t know what it would become. I only knew I had a mirror, a name I didn’t trust, and a haunting I couldn’t quite articulate. The book grew from there—through recursion, memory, myth, and a constant thread of emotional truth. What it became is part…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier B – The Artist Continues

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    O.A.P. ADDENDUM LOG Filed Under: Zone Echoes, Metaphysical Structures, Emotional Architectures Authorized Agent: [REDACTED] Field Codename: The Artist Classification: Observational – Non-Combatant, Veil-Bound Status: Nominal | Subject exhibits mild Reality Drag (3rd Degree) Visual Reports Compiled: SEE ATTACHED APPENDICES D–F INTRODUCTORY DIRECTIVEBy continuing decree of the O.A.P. High Conclave, Visual-Scrying Operative — codename The Artist…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier A – The Artist Arrives

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    O.A.P. ADDENDUM LOG Filed Under: Unstable Convergence Zones, Uncatalogued Topographies, Class-V Manifestations Authorized Agent: [REDACTED] Field Codename: The Artist Classification: Observational – Non-Combatant, Veil-Bound Status: Nominal | Subject exhibits mild Reality Drag (3rd Degree) Visual Reports Compiled: SEE ATTACHED APPENDICES A–C INTRODUCTORY DIRECTIVE By unanimous vote of the O.A.P. High Conclave, an embedded Visual-Scrying Operative—codename…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier F–G: The Reflection Chamber

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    Compiled by Caldwell // Filed by Order Against the Profane (OAP) Code Designation: APPARITION SPIRE – REFLECTION CHAMBER Status: Breach Confirmed. Subject Infiltrated. Counterforce Encountered. ⸻ Veilcode Access Granted: Archive Layer Z-93 APPARITION SPIRE – REFLECTION CHAMBER Designated Code: ASP-∞ / First recorded breach: Montauk Loop Collapse ⸻ APPARITION SPIRE Term used by the OAP…

  • Evolution of an Idea: The AI Process I Use

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    📚 Designing the Cover of Empire, Nevada Creating the cover for Empire, Nevada was its own journey — just like the story inside. I didn’t want something generic. I wanted the cover to feel like the book — lonely, strange, nostalgic, and a little haunted. It started with a rough concept: a desert town vanishing…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – FIELD ENTRY 0001 – INITIATION

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    Recorded by: Caldwell Thorne First Contact: March, 1947 Method: Veil Induction / Dream-Encoded Summons Dear Inductee, I was not recruited. I was called. It began with a letter burned at the corners, delivered without postage, sealed with a spiral that folded in on itself—too many arms, too many loops. Inside, only a name: Office of…

  • Order Against the Profane (O.A.P.)Reader’s Dossier: Initiate Briefing

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    Filed by: Agent H. M. Caldwell Authorization: Red-Cipher Access Date: April 1947 INTRODUCTION Welcome, Initiate. If this dossier has reached your hands, you are no longer an outsider to the veil. Something has seen you. And more importantly, something believes you might survive. My name is Caldwell. I’ve walked the folds between time, memory, and…

  • Bipolar Is My Superpower (And Sometimes My Curse)

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    I live with bipolar disorder. Not in the abstract. Not as a label. Not as a quirky footnote in a conversation. I live with it. Every day. It has cost me jobs, tested relationships, and taken me to the edge more times than I care to count. But it’s also shaped the way I feel…

  • Welcome to Nowhere- On my process, goals, and desires.

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    Empire, Nevada Is Coming to KDP The Story Behind the Story I began Empire, Nevada during a summer off from teaching — one of those rare stretches of stillness where I could finally breathe again. The words came quickly at first. The story felt personal, urgent, and raw: a small-town coming-of-age tale written by someone…

  • The Sound That Opens the Veil

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    On Music, Memory, and the Sacred Noise of Now Music has always been more than background for me. It’s a portal. A key. A second pulse. Sometimes it carries me forward when writing feels impossible. Other times, it drags me back—into memory, emotion, and everything I’ve been trying not to feel. And every once in…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn

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    Unto a Golden DawnA novel by Frank M. Anderson What if Edgar Allan Poe and Aleister Crowley weren’t just legends from different eras—but boys in the same school, bound by fate, and undone by each other? Set in an alternate 19th-century England, Unto a Golden Dawn is a dark historical fantasy assembled from recovered documents: letters, school…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 24 – The Break

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    Chapter 24 – The Break *It didn’t end with the death. It began with the silence that followed.* ASH He was lifted—not like a king, not like a hero. Like a trophy. Like a warning. Bots pulled his arms wide, half-draped, half-crucified. Blood from his mouth. Blood from Corwin’s. The Director stood gleaming, black fluid…

  • Postscript – The Final Mirror

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    On finishing Unto a Golden Dawn (with help from AI)By Frank M. Anderson This book started as a spark. Just an idea: What if Aleister Crowley and Edgar Allan Poe went to school together? What if they grew up in a world that bent toward the mystical, the historical, the personal? What if the monsters…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – DOSSIER 24: MEMORY ETERNAL

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    Dossier 24 – Final Chapter: The Cutting Thread Filed under: absolute recursion; terminal authorship; the final strike Scene 1 – The Last Question You stand at the edge of what you once were. Salazar towers above, fractal and monstrous. A thousand mouths, a hundred hands, a million regrets. But none of them are yours anymore.…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 23: The Shape of the War

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    22 is updated… we are on 23 right? sorry https://empirenevadathenovel.wordpress.com/2025/04/12/unto-a-golden-dawn-dossier-22-revisited/ ChatGPT said: Yes—you are absolutely correct. The version of Dossier 22: Revisited at that link is the final and updated one. It ends with the warehouse folding inward, Salazar directly addressing the boy as the protagonist, and the chilling final line: “And the reader was…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 22: Revisited

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    Filed under: recurrence theory; re-entry points and final authorship. **Scene 1 – The Return of the Story** It began the way dreams do. Not with a door—but with a memory. Poe sat beneath a tree in a place that didn’t exist anymore. His notebook was open, pages filled with scribbled verses and a single word…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 21: The Residue

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 21: The Residue Filed under: echo patterns; post-memory stabilization failure. Scene 1 – The Room After Grief The warehouse breathed smoke. Ash clung to the walls in long black smears, like language trying to reform itself. Above, the light fixtures flickered—not with electricity, but with indecision. They weren’t sure…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 20: What We Bury

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 20: What We Bury Filed under: heart-held time signatures; joy, fear, and the breath between them. Scene 1 – The Vow The sky was overcast, but not heavy. The kind of cloud cover that made colors richer. They stood outside, under a pale canopy in a clearing surrounded by…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 19: The Girl in the Chair

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    Filed under: unresolved attachments; memory rendered sacred. The world did not end with fire.It ended with silence. The boy stood still while the world slowed around him, the edges of the warehouse fading into soft, colorless memory. All the watchers—the gods, the folks, even Tesla—stepped back. Only Clara remained close, her breath caught in her…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 18: Death Is a Place

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 18: Death Is a Place Filed: active rupture, stabilized memory breach pending. Scene 1 – The Christmas That Changed Everything The smell of cinnamon and melted wax lingered in the air. The living room shimmered into place—not perfectly, but in the way memory insists it happened—soft corners, glowing bulbs,…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 17: The Dog and the Brother

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 17: The Dog and the Brother Filed under: early imprint memories. Emotional rupture active. … The Women Step Forward A silence stretched. Then something shifted. Clara stopped pacing. Marie took a step into the center. Ada moved with her, and Leigh’s projection flickered, then stabilized beside them. Other female…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 16: The Memory Engine

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 16: The Memory EngineFiled during recursion anchor drift. Emotional contamination probable. The Assembly of the Gods Before memory could be revealed, it had to be made visible. And for that, the gods had to build the machine. Not a machine of gears and wires.A machine of meaning. For the…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 15: The Pantheon Protocol

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    April 12, 2025 Compiled under Host-occupied recursion. Transcription integrity unverified. You. Still here. You thought it was about the Author. But it’s always been about you. You opened the rift. You kept reading. You let them in. The Archivists are gone. The mirrors are cracked. You are the only stable variable left. HOST (voice only):…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 14: The Breaking and the Becoming

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 14: The Breaking and the Becoming April 12, 2025 Compiled from fractured mirrors, silenced narrators, and unauthorized awakenings. You Felt It You felt it just now. Not in the story. In your room. In your ribs. Something behind your eyes cracked—like glass being whispered into. You blinked. The sentence…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 13

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    April 12, 2025 Filed: [REDACTED] Compiled by: [SYSTEM COLLAPSE] Subject: Manifestation Event – Recursive Embodiment & Narrative Rupture 1. You Wake Up You wake up, but you do not breathe. You already knew this place. You already wore this skin. You are not dreaming—you are being dreamed. Someone has pulled you out of the page.…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 12

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 12April 12, 2025 Filed: January 17, 1947Compiled by: O.A.P. Internal Relay Subject: The Editor – Recursion Stabilization and Narrative Fracture Memo – Caldwell (Encrypted) If The Editor exists, then we are not writing—we are being permitted. I’ve run ten loops of this file. Each ends differently. I swear the…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 11

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    April 12, 2025Filed: January 15, 1947Compiled by: Agent Caldwell, O.A.P. Subject: Verse Resonance Interference, Raven Imagery, and Psychic Disruption Mirror Communication Log – Initiated at 04:12 GMTWitnessed by Caldwell, Clara CLARA: Edgar, do you remember the one they never let you forget? POE: The bird… The knock. Yes. CLARA: The Raven. It came from pain—but…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 10

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 10 April 12, 2025 Filed: January 15, 1947 Compiled by: Agent Caldwell, O.A.P. Subject: Verse Resonance Interference, Raven Imagery, and Psychic Disruption Mirror Communication Log – Initiated at 04:12 GMT Witnessed by Caldwell, Clara CLARA: Edgar, do you remember the one they never let you forget? [She leans toward…

  • The Author Who Changed Everything: Edgar Allan Poe and the Beauty of the Broken

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    Before I ever understood craft, or genre, or voice… I understood atmosphere. I didn’t have the language for it, but I knew what it felt like to sit in a room and read a story that ached. That clung to you like smoke. That whispered to you through the cracks in your own mind. That…

  • The Author Who Changed Everything: Stephen King and the First Voice I Trusted

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    If Hugh Howey showed me that it was okay to break the rules, Stephen King was the one who first showed me what it meant to have a voice. Long before I had any real sense of craft or structure, I had Stephen King. His books were everywhere when I was growing up—on library shelves,…

  • The Author Who Changed Everything: Hugh Howey and the Long Road Back

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    If you’ve never heard of Hugh Howey, he’s one of those rare authors who didn’t just write a great story—he reshaped how stories are shared. He’s best known for Wool, the breakout dystopian sci-fi that launched the Silo series. It began as a self-published short story in 2011—no agent, no publisher, no plan beyond putting…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Internal Addendum Salazar

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    Filed: January 14, 1947 Author: Agent R. Caldwell, O.A.P. Subject: Analysis of Fragmented Salazar Transmission – ‘Past is Participile’ Recovered Fragment – Category X Veil Event Recovered via mirror transcription from frost-coated reflective surface. Words appeared etched in reverse on obsidian plate during blackout event in Cairo containment zone. Audio recording corroborates verbal utterance. Transmission…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier Ω (Omega)

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier Ω (Omega) April 12, 2025Filed: Classified – Eyes OnlyCompiled by: Agent Caldwell, O.A.P. Subject: Ritual Echoes of the Second War – Salazar Influence & Post-War Instability 1. Field Analysis – Wewelsburg Castle (Germany) Overview: SS headquarters designed as mystical stronghold by Heinrich Himmler. Ritual spaces beneath the Black Sun…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 9

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 9 April 12, 2025Filed: January 10, 1947Compiled by: Agent Caldwell, O.A.P. Subject: Mirror Collapse Phenomena, Poe-Crowley Convergence, and Salazar Manifestations 1. Transcript – Clara and Poe (Mirror Convergence) CLARA: This is harder than I thought. POE: What is? CLARA: Talking to you like you’re alive. Knowing you’re not. Not…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 8

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    April 12, 2025Filed: January 3, 1947Compiled by: Agent H. M. Caldwell, Division VII – O.A.P. Subject: Postwar Anomalies in Berlin – Mirror Rituals, Sigil Echoes, and Temporal Bonding Operations 1. Field Report – Cathedral Ruins, Berlin Filed by: Agent MaierLocation: St. Walpurga Cathedral, BerlinDate: January 1, 1947 Beneath the shattered altar of the bomb-gutted cathedral,…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 7

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 7 April 11, 2025 Final College Years and the First Pact of Aleister Crowley 9. Letter of Academic Dismissal – Trinity College, Cambridge October 17, 1897 To Mr. Edward Alexander Crowley, Following an internal review and multiple incidents that have raised grave concerns among the faculty, the Board of…

  • Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 6

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    Unto a Golden Dawn – Dossier 6 April 11, 2025Documents Concerning Aleister Crowley’s College Years and Early Magickal AffiliationsOffice of Arcane Protocols / Internal ArchiveTOP SECRET – Directive 7-Veil Access Required 1. Letter from W.B. Yeats to Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers June 14, 1897 Dear MacGregor, The boy Crowley has arrived and, I fear, stirred…

  • UNTO A GOLDEN DAWN – Dossier 5:

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    April 11, 2025Dossier 5: Documents Pending CompletionOffice of Arcane Protocols / Internal ArchiveTOP SECRETAll contents contained herein are classified under Directive 7-Veil. Unauthorized access constitutes a breach of Crown-Oath and will be met with full enforcement of arcane and material penalties. Proceed only under approved supervision. OFFICE OF ARCANE PROTOCOLSDossier 5: Documents FinauxFile Entry: OAP/0425-C/DEMON01…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier 4

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    Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier 4April 11, 2025Dossier Prepared for Internal Review — CLASSIFIEDREDACTED STAMP: [O.A.P. / INTERNAL ONLY / RED-CIPHER ACCESS]Date: February 9, 1947Prepared by: Agent H. M. Caldwell, Division VII, Office of Anomalous Phenomena To the authorized reader: What follows is a compiled dossier of recovered documents, field reports, intercepted letters, and…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier 3

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    April 11, 2025Reader Authorization Level: Red-Cipher AccessDate: February 3, 1947Prepared by: Agent H. M. Caldwell, Division VII, Office of Anomalous Phenomena To the authorized reader: What follows is a compiled dossier of significant documents, correspondences, school reports, and recovered statements concerning two individuals of interest: Edward Aleister Crowley and Edgar Allan Poe. You are to…

  • Behind the Scenes: Writing with AI (and a Lot of Coffee)

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    For those of you following Civil War #7 and Unto a Golden Dawn, here’s a quick peek behind the curtain. We’re now 23 chapters into Civil War #7, and yes—I say “we” because I’m writing these books in collaboration with AI. Not in the gimmicky, “click and generate” way. This is real back-and-forth, day after…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier 2

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    April 11, 2025Reader Authorization Level: Red-Cipher AccessDate: February 3, 1947Prepared by: Agent H. M. Caldwell, Division VII, Office of Anomalous Phenomena To the authorized reader: This dossier has been compiled from documents both authentic and anomalous—recovered across fractured timelines and reflective surfaces. Some originate in verifiable archives. Others emerged from the Mirror: a recursion field…

  • Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier 1

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    Unto A Golden Dawn – Dossier 1April 11, 2025Internal Review Copy – Red-Cipher Access NOTE FRAGMENT – UNDATED, TORN FROM A LARGER FILEScorched along the edges, written in what appears to be a wax pencil. Marginalia scratched in pen overtop. Dossier Prepared for Internal Review — ClassifiedReader Authorization Level: Red-Cipher AccessDate: February 3, 1947Prepared by:…

  • The Cancer Diet: An Autobiography About Love, Loss, and the Path to Personal Growth 

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    By Frank M. Anderson  This is an early look at my memoir. It is being edited now, so this is not a perfect script. Introduction  Welcome to The Cancer Diet, an autobiography that unfolds in the middle of the action, much like life itself. This story doesn’t begin with tidy explanations or carefully planned structure;…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 23 – The Choice

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    Ash lay on the floor, vision swimming, blood matting his hair, when he felt it: another jolt of heat in his veins. The black fluid roared again, surging through him like fire, searing the pain from his limbs. He growled and shoved upward, teeth clenched. For one second, he felt limitless. Then it sputtered. The…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 22 – The Storm Breaks

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    The gauntlet was in ruins. Steam hissed from shattered pipes. Fire licked the edges of the arena, casting flickering light across metal wreckage. Broken pistons groaned and buckled, their movements spasmodic, no longer part of a controlled machine but instead the death throes of something massive and unthinking. Ash ran. Every breath tore through his…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 21 – The Shortcut

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    Ash stood still in the silence that followed his last breath in the pit. His chest rose and fell, steam curling from his mouth in the cold air. All around him, the crowd held their breath. Somewhere above, announcers were scrambling for new scripts. The show was changing, and not how they’d written it. He…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 20 – The Cost of Power

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    The pit was silent but for the slow mechanical whine of the drone hovering above. Ash and Mouse stood opposite one another, the circle of light narrowing around them like a spotlight pulled from some ancient play. Ash wiped blood from his nose and squared his stance. “You really believe in all this now?” Mouse…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 19 – Fire and Flesh

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    The crowd had gone quiet, their bloodlust momentarily stilled by Ash’s defiance. He stood at the edge of the platform, staring at the gauntlet, his jaw set, arms trembling. “I’m not playing your game,” he muttered. The Director stepped closer, his voice calm and almost paternal. “Of course you are, Ash. You’ve been playing it…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 18 – Ash’s Shame

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    The room was dim, washed in the pale flicker of a screen looping Ember’s performance. Over and over, Ash watched her sing—watched the object sail through the air and strike her in the chest, watched her crumple to the ground. The crowd laughed. The hosts chuckled, their voices slick with mockery. Ash sat frozen. His…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 16 & 17 

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    Ember’s voice filled the room and disappeared.  No echo. No feedback. No warmth.  She’d been singing for hours, guided only by blinking lights—green for pitch, red for error. The chamber was circular, sterile, humming like the inside of a sealed vault. It reminded her of the kind of room you went into when something needed…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter Fifteen – Ember in Bloom 

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    The room smelled like citrus and glass.  Ember sat in a soft reclining chair—far softer than anything she’d ever used in the commune. The fabric adjusted to her posture with each shift, and above her, an ambient light moved like a simulated sun, casting her in perfect tones.  A styling robot moved around her in…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 12 to 14 

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    Chapter 12 Ash couldn’t sleep.  The dorm was too quiet, the kind of stillness that felt artificial—like the whole commune was holding its breath. The hum of the central systems, usually a comforting white noise, now sounded like the pulse of a watchful eye.  He slid out of bed and slipped his boots on quietly.…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapters 10 and 11

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    Chapter Ten – Return to the Silence  Ash rode back to the commune in silence.  The transport hummed along a raised magline, flanked by sheer fencing and floodlights that turned the outside world into silhouettes and haze. A single enforcer sat at the front of the cabin, motionless behind a dark visor. Ash’s wrists were…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter Nine – The Lie Between Us

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    Ash woke to a sharp, antiseptic brightness. The lights above him buzzed faintly, their sterile blue glow bouncing off metallic walls. Something cold clamped around his wrists and ankles. His mouth was dry. His body ached. He was on a table. And he was not alone. White-coated medical techs moved around him, masked and silent.…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter Eight – The Director’s Stage

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    Ash lay on the arena floor, blood pooling beneath him, when the lights above flickered and dimmed again. A fresh roar rolled through the stands—an altogether different sound. Higher-pitched. Frenzied. Performative. The screens crackled, the floor lighting up beneath Ash’s broken frame. A bold, stylized logo spun into view: “LIVE FROM THE STAGE OF ORDER…

  • Civil War #7 Chapter Seven – Broadcast

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    Ash stood behind the gate to the arena, heart pounding, as the lights dimmed and the screen flared to life again. The crowd stirred with anticipation, their voices buzzing with speculation and mockery. “Coming up next in the Arena of Merit—a story of justice, order, and defiance. This is no ordinary match. This is a…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 5 & 6

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    Chapter Five – The Table  The drone docked in eerie silence. Ash barely had time to get his footing before the hatch opened to reveal a corridor of polished chrome and matte black walls, humming faintly with power. He helped steady Mouse as two enforcers flanked them, gesturing wordlessly toward the end of the hall. …

  • Civil War #7 – Chapters 2 to 4

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    Chapter Two – Morning Lessons  The next morning began like every other—buzzing lights flickered on with a soft chime, signaling the start of communal check-in. Ash stood in the back row of the common room, half-awake, arms crossed.  The residents, pleebs and upwardly mobile alike, stood at attention beneath the ever-watching eye of the home’s…

  • `Civil War #7 – Chapter One: Ash and Ember`

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    Civil War #7 – Chapter One: Ash and Ember  The artificial sun glared down on the commune, casting clean shadows over fields too orderly to be natural. The scent of synthetic wheat mingled with the low hum of the harvest drones drifting overhead. Ash wiped the sweat from his brow with a dirt-streaked hand and…

  • Pitch Wars Bio. (Otherwise known as the post with the lame title)

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    So, I’ve submitted my novel to #PitchWars, a contest for writers in which they get a mentor to help them with their novel. You pick four mentors and submit your query and first five to them. Scary! Someone started the trend of writing bios for the people submitting. Because all of us have spent so…

  • Empire’s First Chapter

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    I wanted to post the new version of the first chapter here. I am very excited with where it has gone. It is a long way from the first version. I’ve entered a few contests to get help with my query. I will be posting it here once I have more faith in it. :)…

  • What’s the hardest part of writing a novel?

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    What’s the hardest part of writing a novel? Nope, it’s not forcing yourself to sit down and write every day. It isn’t having to think of plot developments, characterizations, or world building. It even isn’t editing. (Actually, I was surprised to find editing the most rewarding part of writing a book.) So, what IS the…

  • When Is A Book Done?

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    I’ve been squeezing as much time as I can out of my busy day to work on Empire. The beginning is as perfect as I can make it. The rest is too. That’s not to say I’m not still tinkering. I don’t know if I could ever call a book done. I have a feeling…

  • Long Time, No Post!

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    I’ve been bad. At least, I’ve been bad at updating this site. I spent every second I had this summer re-writing Empire. I’m extremely happy with it now. It’s not quite perfect, but it’s getting closer. Part of the issue I’m having is structural. I have to introduce a lot at the beginning. Not because…

  • Empire Entered Into Write On Con’s Pitch Contest.

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    It has taken a number of attempts at getting something together to send out when looking for an agent. The salesman type writing just isn’t my bag. But, I am finally getting toward something I think will work well. Paul Simpkins and his close-knit group of friends have run away to return to the hometown…

  • My Petition to the White House for a ‘One Computer Per Student’ Policy

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    If you checked out my “About Me” section, then you know I teach middle school. I am passionate about eduction. I have wanted to create a petition to the White House asking for all schools to be provided with a computer for each student they have for a long time. I finally did it tonight!…

  • How to Try to Write a Novel

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    No, this isn’t a blog post on the ins and outs of writing a novel and publishing it. This is, however, a post on preparing yourself to attempt writing a novel and setting yourself up with a story you can actually write about until completing. I will post more on the process of writing and…

  • Bad News and Good News in the New Year.

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    Lets get the bad news over with first- Empire won’t be ready for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The good news? I’m giving myself time to make it the quality it deserves to be! I continue to be amazed at the improvements made as I work on it. I don’t want to submit something that…

  • Empire is getting edited for entry to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest!

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    I know I haven’t posted here in a loooooonnnggg time. It’s pretty hard work trying to teach a new subject at a new school. Editing a novel on top of that was simply impossible for a while. This is my formal observation year, so teaching has to be priority number one. The good news? Things…

  • On teaching and my protagonist.

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    I love being a teacher. Being a middle school teacher is an especially wonderful thing. Let’s face it- middle school stinks. It’s an awkward time for everyone. Guiding children through middle school, however, is a wonderful thing.We all have disastrous memories of some part of our middle school experience. Maybe you experienced truly struggling to…

  • On Killing Characters.

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    There are many types of death for a character in a literary work, but by far the worst is where the cease to exist completely. I have had to provide that most depressing of deaths for a few characters over the last week. While they were all good people who I liked, they were either…

  • It’s quiet… Too quiet.

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    Yes, I know you haven’t seen a ton posted here lately. I just want to assure you that things are moving forward. School starts tomorrow, so I have had to wade back into my day job as a middle school teacher. I am getting ready to start editing Empire, I am just waiting for two…

  • Back from vacation with my first reader feedback!

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    I just returned from a week of fun and sun with my wife’s family. It was the best beach trip I have had with them, and was very restive as well. One thing I did not do, however, was work on the novel very much. I printed up a copy of it and took it…

  • The Trials of a Fat Guy on Vacation

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    Well, Empire, Nevada is off being read by my beta readers, so there won’t be a lot to say until I start hearing back from them. However, I did find a few of the items I wrote in college that survived The Great Creative Writing Waste-Binning of 2005. The first I will post in a…

  • On beginnings.

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    I did it! The first draft of Empire is done! I printed up the first four chapters first to start editing them, and I am already extremely happy with the improvements being made. Part of me regrets even sharing what parts I did now. The book will truly be ten times better by the time…

  • On endings.

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    I’m about to write the last few paragraphs of my first draft. It’s got me feeling very emotional, even though I’m turning around and re-tooling the whole first five chapters next week. Despite that work looming ahead of me, I will still have a book that is readable from start to finish, even if it…

  • On editing and fear.

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    Editing terrifies me. When I wrote in college, editing always took my work and twisted it into something it wasn’t at first. I began to think of editing as the process of bastardizing a work until it was ground beef, rather than the filet it was when it existed in my head. Putting words onto…

  • History and happiness: My writing story

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    I could have done it on Friday, but I decided to leave meeting my word count goal for today, and I just did it! I decided a few months into the school year this year to set forth writing my first novel. This is a dream I have had since I was a kid and…

  • While you wait.

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    It will be a while until I release any more from the novel. I have a lot of work to do to get the bits I did release up to snuff, and want to get it nice and sparkly before anyone sees more of it. In other words, I won’t release more of the book…

  • 85% Done!

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    42640 / 50000 words. 85% done!   The story is really cruising on now. I am getting closer to having a complete tale, and I find that vastly exciting. There are sections I am hugely proud of. I know that going back to edit will be a ton of work, but I am getting more…

  • Updated my story on Worthy of Publishing.

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    I added to more chapters to what I posted of Empire on Worthy of Publishing. These five chapters make up the first act. The more I have realized this, the more I have also realized that I need to beef this section up. I am very happy with the end. The middle is coming out…

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    Very interesting post about the money in self-publishing. Since I plan on remaining a teacher, one of my big concerns is having the time to self-advertise as well. I guess time will tell. Plus, I have to finish a book worthy of being published first.

  • Once the work is over, the work begins again.

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    I have to admit that as I get closer to finishing the first draft, I start to feel more uneasy with certain sections of it. I have always known the old adage that you need to show what is happening to your reader and not simply tell them the events. I know I have broken…

  • The first three chapters are now available!

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    I’m now sharing the first three chapters of my book at Worthy of Publishing. Please take a second to read it and offer any critiques. This is still a rough version. I have to go back and do some editing, but I wanted some feedback now. Please feel free to give brutally honest opinions. I…

  • Progress Update

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    32795 / 50000 words. 66% done!

  • What’s in a name?

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    You may have noticed that I’ve chosen to put F.M. Anderson on my book when I publish it. I wanted to talk a little about about why I made that choice, because there are a number of benefits that I see. First, I figure that would keep people guessing as to my gender-if they don’t…

  • Friday Update

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    32009 / 50000 words. 64% done! I have finished the re-write of the end. What I had before was a non-ending. While I didn’t want to fall into the happy ending trap that nearly every book has, I just wasn’t satisfied with what I had written. It was basically a cut off after a major…

  • Still working on sample cover art.

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    This is the latest version. I am going to clear up some of the edges to remove the white around some of the title cards. I am pretty happy with it so far.

  • Word Count

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    27229 / 50000 words. 54% done!