-
Continue reading →: Ruminations on God and Faith in Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers
Nearly finished with Chuck Wendig’s apocalyptic tome, Wanderers, and I wanted to share a powerful exchange between two central characters (Benji, a CDC specialist, and Matthew, a broken and defeated pastor who’s lost his faith). No spoilers here, just one of those heady truths we so often find in good…
-
Continue reading →: Late to Dinner: Simon StålenhagStålenhag is a Swedish visual artist, writer, musician, and tabletop RPG designer, and it seems as though he’s been churning out his creative projects for a number of years. As with much of the cool art that’s out there*, I’m only learning about it now, hence the whole “late to…
-
Continue reading →: LaundromatIn the preface to his essay collection, Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury writes “And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. We must earn life…
-
Continue reading →: ThursdayI like to think about writing while I walk, and it’s while thinking about writing that I try to get my writing done. In fact, it’s where most of my writing’s getting done these days.
-
Continue reading →: In the SummertimeEvening, friends. Today marked the first official day of summer vacation for me. (Enjoy the adjacent, celebratory picture of Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry. )Students finished up last Thursday, and most teachers were done as of Friday. I was at the school yesterday to help facilitate professional development for some…
-
Continue reading →: Dear Writer–March 2019Each month the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild features a “Dear Writer” column, in which a writer (hence the very apt title) replies to a reader’s question. I had the opportunity to contribute to March’s column on what do with workshop advice that might lead you away from your original vision.
-
Continue reading →: Submissions Open for Barstow and Grand’s Third IssueBarstow and Grand, the Chippewa Valley’s premier literary journal, is currently accepting submissions for its third issue. What kind of stuff is B & G looking for? Poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction, and even hybrids of the genres.
-
Continue reading →: Learning Short Fiction World Building with N.K. Jemisin’s HOW LONG ‘TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTHHow Long ‘Til Black Future Month? is a solid collection of Jemisin’s short fiction spanning her career. And in each selection she delivers on her world building, much in the same way she did in The Fifth Season: inserting information as it becomes relevant to the narrative, avoiding huge info…
-
Continue reading →: Even More Cheap Reads
Back on that bargain extolling game: City of Thieves by David Benioff This is an older book, but one of my favorite reads from last year. Quick one, too. Perfect to ride out the last vestiges of winter, or save it for a summertime hammock session. Just under two bucks…
Greetings,
I’m Ryan
I’m an E-12 Data Integrationist, amateur pasty-crafter, and sporadic storyteller. I hang my hat in central Minnesota with my wife, our three children, a labradoodle, and a couple of cats.
I earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Augsburg University, and my fiction has appeared in Talking Soup, Barstow & Grand, and Volume One.
Sign up if you’d like…
…to Receive Basement Missives in your inbox.
Purdy Good 