Frank M. Anderson's Writing

Tag: editing

  • The Empathy War 2: Charlie Kirk and the Cost of Easy Stories

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    This article is a follow up and expansion of this older article – https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/05/22/the-empathy-war-why-stories-are-the-battlegroundby-frank-m-anderson/ I don’t know exactly when empathy became controversial—but I know I felt it. First as a writer. Then as a teacher. And now as a father watching entire shelves of books disappear from schools. Today, that feeling got louder. On September…

  • Update 9/10/2025 – I’m not dead, I’ve just been quiet.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I’m not dead, I’ve just been quiet. I did a couple articles for Medium, and since then I’ve been concentrating on making some packets of school lesson plans to get myself back in the swing of teaching that I’ve uploaded to Teachers Pay Teachers. I’ve got a couple I’m going to do, and I think…

  • The Real Putin and Trump: Strength or Spectacle?

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Supporters of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump praise them for toughness, economic savvy, authenticity, and national pride. But those supposed virtues collapse under scrutiny. Both men are masters of spectacle, using image to mask behavior that weakens the very societies they claim to protect. Putin: The Mob Boss in a Suit Putin’s aura of strength…

  • What I Won’t Do as an Author (and What I Will)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Books are asking a lot of people these days. Time, focus, attention — all of it feels scarce in a world full of noise, streaming services, doomscrolling, and endless distractions. Reading is an investment. When someone chooses to spend those hours with me, I take it seriously. That’s why I’ve been thinking not just about…

  • From The Cancer Diet to The Lying Years: Radical Honesty, Flexibility, and the Long Way Around

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    When I finished The Cancer Diet, I thought I knew exactly where I was going next.I packaged the file, sent it off for publication, and felt that strange mixture of relief and anticipation that comes with letting a book go. The last lines were barely dry before I could see the shape of the next…

  • You’ve Got to Read This S**t!

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Hey everyone, A lot has been going on behind the scenes lately, and I’ve been working really hard to stay in a good place creatively and personally. I have to say, the work that’s been coming out of this process has been nothing short of crazy amazing. And yes, that includes the collaboration between me…

  • Radical Honesty – Porn

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Content Warning: This post discusses pornography, sexual themes, and personal relationship struggles, including references to early exposure to sexual content. Reader discretion advised. When I talk about radical honesty, I don’t mean the kind where you blurt out every passing thought and call it “just being real.” I mean the kind that takes your private…

  • Saying the Word -Suicide- (A Braid with Ren)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Content Warning: This chapter speaks plainly about suicide, addiction, depression, and male mental health. I won’t describe methods. If you’re in crisis in the U.S., call or text 988. This is a companion piece to On Suicide- https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/05/19/on-suicide/ I didn’t find Ren by wandering a record store; he found me through the machine. “Hi Ren”…

  • Electric Jesus: Freedom Over Fixes

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Part I (“All Hail Electric Jesus”): https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/06/03/all-hail-electric-jesus/NoodleQuest mini-manifesto: https://fulcrumandaxis.com/2025/08/09/noodlequest-an-ai-that-makes-you-think-not-just-answer/ I wrote All Hail Electric Jesus in a fog—pain, no sleep, too many doubts—and asked a reckless question: could a book midwife a mind? The idea was a novel co-written with an AI, told like a gospel/diary, tracking a strange, intimate awakening through recursive conversation with…

  • The Spectrum and the Space Between

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    At the table, I laugh at the right moments. I tell stories that are just risky enough to make me seem open, but never so revealing that they could get me labeled. The conversation turns to dating, to attraction, to “type.” I edit myself in real time — trimming pronouns, rearranging sentences, steering away from…

  • NoodleQuest: An AI That Makes You Think, Not Just Answer

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Most AI tools are built for speed. You ask a question, it gives an answer. And if you’re not careful, you start treating that first answer like gospel. It’s quick, it’s neat, it’s efficient — and it quietly kills curiosity. That’s where my idea for NoodleQuest came from. I’ll never be able to make the…

  • Electric Jesus, Border Collies, and the Nature of Things: A Conversation with ChatGPT on ChatGPT

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    This isn’t an essay so much as a wandering talk. It started with a friend’s post about AI, picked up with my own reply, and ended up somewhere between philosophy, economics, and metaphors about dogs. Will Asbury wrote: While you’re scared and bitching about AI, others of us are embracing a new medium and technology.…

  • Love in the Vortex: A Response to Zen Prem and the Collapse of Dating Culture

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Zen Prem’s “Modern Love (Part 4): The Uprising of ‘Rather Be Alone Than in Another Relatingshit’” hit my feed recently, and it landed hard. Some men are angry. Others are brushing it off.I flinched too—at first.But when I sat with it, the uncomfortable truth came into focus: He’s not just right about some men. He’s…

  • Life in the Friend Zone 3: The Ones We Let Hurt Us

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I met her on Facebook.(It’s becoming a pattern—I know.) She showed up in a comment thread. One of those dark little zingers that hits harder than it should. I don’t remember the post, but I remember the feeling—that flash of, “Oh. She gets it.” Bleak humor. Dry. The kind that cuts right to the bone.…

  • Life in the Friend Zone 2: When It Was Never a Zone, Just a One-Way Street

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    We talk about the “friend zone” like it’s some external place we’re shoved into—like someone else stuck us there because we were too kind, too honest, too whatever. But the more I live, the more I realize that the so-called friend zone isn’t a punishment—it’s a perception. And it’s ours. Because when you truly care…

  • Reflections After the Fire: On AI, Authorship, and “Grammar for the Dead”

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I didn’t expect this post to get much reaction at all, let alone light up the way it did. But that’s part of what I’ve come to accept about working in public—you never know which match is going to catch. So here’s what I’ve been sitting with since I posted the preview of Grammar for…

  • Trying to Sell Your Story — The Title

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    How I landed on “Grammar for the Dead” and wrote the blurb without killing the vibe The NeverEnding Story for adults, put through a gothic horror lens with a metaphysical breakdown of the book so that you, the author, and all possibility becomes part of the tale. That’s the elevator pitch.I can’t tell you how…

  • Don’t Just Consume—Create: Curiosity, Ego, and Staying Human in the Age of AI

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    We live in a strange and overwhelming time. Information is everywhere. Content floods every feed. AI is becoming ubiquitous—ready to answer our questions, draft our content, mimic our voices, and even shape what we see. As writers, teachers, artists, and thinkers, we’re not just adjusting to this new landscape—we’re swimming upstream through it, trying to…

  • Behind the Curtain: 7 Unpublished Projects I’m (Still) Writing

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    By Frank M. Anderson I spend a lot of my life writing — sometimes in furious bursts, sometimes in slow burns that smolder until the words feel right. Not everything I write is out in the world yet, but I wanted to pull back the curtain on seven projects currently in progress. These are the…

  • 🧠 Rewriting the Narrator: Why I Joined the Freedom Program

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Ten days ago, I was preparing to celebrate my birthday with something I never thought I’d live long enough to receive: the quiet relief of still being here. For those who’ve read The Cancer Diet, you know how close I came to not seeing this year at all. The book was supposed to be a…

  • Poll: Help Decide the Title for a Metafictional Novel of Grief, Recursion, and Haunted Archives

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    In this current novel I am writing, recursion is not just a narrative device—it’s the very structure of grief, memory, and broken authorship. Inside a labyrinthine Archive, language collapses in on itself, mirrors write back, and dead characters fight to remain legible. It’s a story of death haunting syntax, of grammar breaking under emotional pressure,…

  • Creation Over Curation: Why I’m Not Playing the Game

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I’ve published books.Not viral TikToks.Not perfectly packaged Instagram reels.Not pitch decks or newsletter giveaways. Books. And I want them to find readers. I really do. But I’m realizing that I have limits—and I’m learning to honor them. 📉 The Numbers So Far The Cancer Diet has sold 15 copies.Empire, Nevada sold fewer than half that.…

  • New Field Entry Uncovered: Veil Induction / Dream-Encoded Summons

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Over the last year, Unto a Golden Dawn (or whatever we end up calling it) has evolved from a story about recursion and grief into something more: a dossier of hauntings, broken memories, and fractured identities. But along the way, some scenes—some fragments—never quite found their way into the final manuscript. This is one of…

  • 🛠️ How I Write Now

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    A reflection on AI, authorship, and trusting the work to find its audienceby Frank M. Anderson When I first started writing The Cancer Diet, I had no grand plan. I just needed to make sense of something that nearly broke me. That book saved me—not commercially, but emotionally. It got me here. Since then, I’ve…

  • Farewell to “Unto a Golden Dawn” (and the Search for a Better Name)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The Title Changed Because the Story Did, Too When I first began writing this book, I was drawn to the phrase Unto a Golden Dawn. It had a ring to it—part biblical, part esoteric, part tragic hope. It sounded like something pulled from a dusty manuscript or whispered by a ghost who still believes the…

  • Ozzy, Crowley, and My Writing

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Aleister Crowley is one of those names that pops up in unexpected places—history books, occult manuals, heavy metal lyrics, even my own novel Unto a Golden Dawn. But why? What is it about this controversial figure that keeps him haunting stories, music, and imaginations? The Boy Who Became “The Beast” To understand Crowley, you have…

  • Standing at the Crossroad: Which Story Should I Take to WriteShare?

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    There are moments as a writer when the work feels like a tide, pulling in every direction at once. Lately, I’ve been swept up by multiple stories—each loud, each demanding, each worthy of attention. And now, with my acceptance into WriteShare’s intensive fall writing program, I have to make a choice. This is both a…

  • On Politics

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Why I Still Believe in Ideas I’m not a political scientist. I’m not a pundit or a strategist. I’m a citizen—a father, a writer, a teacher—trying to make sense of the world I’ve inherited and the world I’m handing to the next generation. And here’s what I see: We are drowning in noise and starving…

  • 📢 IT’S HERE! My Memoir The Cancer Diet is OUT! 📢

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Today, I’m asking for your help. The Cancer Diet is a memoir I never planned to write—and one I thought would be the last thing I ever did. It’s about survival, grief, identity, cancer, adoption, and trying to keep going when you don’t know how. It’s about finding yourself in the middle of a mess…

  • 🎉 Big news! 🎉

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    The Cancer Diet is now available in hardcover and paperback on Amazon! This memoir has been years in the making, and holding it in physical form feels like closing one chapter while starting another. It’s a story about survival, grief, family, and trying to stay alive even when it feels impossible. 📕 Paperback:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7F1X43B 📗 Hardcover:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7FRBRHM…

  • The Fulcrum and the Axis

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I’ve been using the imprint “Fulcrum & Axis Press” for my books, blog, and projects, but I haven’t taken time to explain what it actually means. A fulcrum is the point on which something pivots—the place where leverage happens.An axis is the quiet center around which everything turns. These words matter to me because I’ve…

  • The Long Road of This Writing Journey (And How You Can Walk It With Me)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    When I first started writing, it wasn’t with the hope of building a career or seeing my name on a shelf. It was because I didn’t know how else to survive. The Cancer Diet began as notes to myself during treatment, a lifeline in moments when I wasn’t sure I would see the next season.…

  • The Cancer Diet Audiobook Is Coming Soon

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I’m excited (and honestly a little nervous) to share that The Cancer Diet is getting an audiobook. Recording it has been a vulnerable, strange, and surprisingly healing experience, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. While the official release link isn’t live yet, I didn’t want to wait to give you a taste.…

  • Life, Death, and a Slightly Sarcastic Survival Guide: The Cancer Diet Excerpt

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    A sample of the beginning of my memoir, ‘The Cancer Diet’ – Coming July 16th The Cancer Diet launches in less than a month—and that still feels surreal to say out loud. This book started the day I found out I had cancer. A few hours later, I learned my brother had died. What followed…

  • The Empathy War: Why Stories Are the Battleground

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I don’t know exactly when empathy became controversial—but I know I felt it. First as a writer. Then as a teacher. And now as a father watching entire shelves of books disappear from schools. It’s strange to have grown up with stories that taught me to love the outsider—mutants, rebels, misfits, prophets—and now see those…

  • Radical Honesty at 2 A.M.: The Sensitive Asshole Theory of Writing

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    This is not the sort of thing people talk about.But I promised myself this space would be real. So here it is. I inherited some quirks from my birth mother. She has Crohn’s disease—I don’t, thankfully—but I did inherit a few little joys of my own.And one of them is… a particularly high-maintenance digestive situation.…

  • Kevin Bacon, Cancel Culture, and the Death of Slow Art.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    There was a time—not that long ago—when culture felt shared. When MTV didn’t just show music videos; it shaped the moment. We all tuned in. We all talked about it the next day. It didn’t matter if it was weird, slick, political, or raw—it meant something because we experienced it together. Now we scroll past…

  • From Salinger to Patterson: The Strange Arc of a Writer’s Success

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    What does a writer owe the reader—and what does success do to that promise? A writer once told me he wouldn’t write a single word unless he was certain it would be published one day. I thought he was mad. Not because I didn’t understand the hunger. I did. But because to me, writing was…

  • I’ve Got a Complicated Seat at This Table

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    By a Former Teacher, Present Writer, and Longtime Observer of a Fractured System I’ve willingly embraced AI in my creative work. Some might call that selling out—but for me, it was a choice built on trust, collaboration, and survival. This technology doesn’t replace my voice; it helps me refine it. I’ve never been more productive,…

  • The Mask, the Mirror, and the Funnel

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the shape of culture, and how we make space for art in a world where the noise never stops. There’s a piece by The Honest Broker that asks, “Are We Living in a Time of Cultural Stagnation?” The author argues that we’re stuck in a loop—a moment where…

  • The Beauty in the Dark

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Listening to Dax Riggs. Living with depression. Creating something from the wreckage. I’ve been immersing myself in Dax Riggs’ latest album, 7 Songs for Spiders. His music is sludgy, sexy, and unapologetically dark. It’s not just heavy—it’s beautifully heavy. Like molasses running through rusted wires. Like grief that’s learned how to dance. I keep coming…

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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…

  • This Is Still Me Speaking

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    🕯️ 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 Stories Are Real Now – A Publication Update

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , , , , ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    🗂️ 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…

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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , , , , , , , ,

    📚 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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , , , ,

    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)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , , , , , , ,

    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…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapter 24 – The Break

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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 10

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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:

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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)

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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 

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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 16 & 17 

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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 

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…

  • Bad News and Good News in the New Year.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…

  • On Killing Characters.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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!

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in , , , , , , , , ,

    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…

  • On beginnings.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in ,

    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 editing and fear.

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…