Frank M. Anderson's Writing

Tag: science fiction

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Two Books, One Voice — Preorders Are Live for Unto a Golden Dawn and The Cancer Diet

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    Well, it’s finally happening.Two books—radically different in tone, shape, and origin—are now both up for preorder. One is a story I never thought I’d survive long enough to finish.The other is a story that may have helped keep me alive. ✨ Unto a Golden Dawn Release Date: September 19, 2025Kindle eBook: $7.99Paperback: $14.99📘 Preorder here…

  • 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…

  • Where Does Unto a Golden Dawn Fit Into Modern Sci-Fi?

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    I’ve been wondering lately what kind of story I’ve written. Unto a Golden Dawn doesn’t have alien invasions, space colonies, or AIs plotting to wipe us out. But it does bend time. It breaks narrative rules. It speculates—about memory, grief, occult recursion, and metaphysical authorship. So I went looking: what does the sci-fi world look…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • The Sound That Opens the Veil

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…

  • 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:…

  • 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 22 – The Storm Breaks

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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 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…

  • Civil War #7 – Chapters 2 to 4

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…

  • 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…

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

    —

    by

    Videosta
    in

    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…