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Letter From The Founder
After the current Elon Musk twitter shenanigans (whatever your opinion on them) I thought I was going to have to collate about 20 different essay on it for this weeks Omnibus edition. I thought it would be ubiquitous. And indeed three of our mainstays have had a pop at tackling it but the inherent absurdity of it all (as you will know if you have been following the developments) is such that our writers have been driven to fiction and GIFS to fully explain, comment on and satirise it.
Don’t let a crisis go to waste, as they say.
But that aside, this week we have dozens of essays that ignore the mimetic nature of that for more personal and heartfelt explorations as well as ponderings on art, fear, belief, bookshelves and what qualities the perfect notebook possesses.
We have all of this plus poetry, visual art, podcasts, the latest instalment of Vanya’s novella and more.
All here, all for free. Enjoy and have a great weekend.
Until next week,
Live well,
Tom.
Essays
Travel Diaries #36 - Myanmar by Gavin
I missed this one of the list a few weeks ago. My apologies. It’s especially a shame because this is outstanding and deserves to be read by many. You should absolutely check this excellent bit of travel writing out immediately.
Experimenting with styles by Terry
A late change in direction means that we are going to highlight an old piece by STSC newcomer Terry here this week. Excellent recommendations and insights here for those who want to really delve into the craft of writing and improve their own practice. An excellent resource, this.
Boys to men in 800+ pages by Oleg
Turns out there is a book that teaches boys literally everything they need to know. And it has a pretty awful cover (or at least the poor kid has a pretty awful Saved By the Bell style outfit). And it’s written in Russian and is seemingly impossible to find online. This will all makes sense when you read this latest gem from Oleg.
The Plague Arrives by Yardena Schwersky
This is very brief, for reasons that are obvious once you read it. The plague gets us all in the end it seems.
Let’s see Paul Allen’s art by a. natasha joukovsky
A look at the art collection of Paul Allen (the real life tech guy, not Patrick Bateman’s nemesis from American Psycho). This is a great piece from the consistently insightful Natasha, which features many gems such as this:
If you’re tempted to dismiss this as horribly elitist then fine, lol; it will not be the first time that particular accusation’s been levied at me. But I’d wager the thrill of others’ inability to look is more a product of basic human psychology than personal moral failing.
Prison Break by Paul Publisher
Paul is absolutely on a tear right now. And it bears repeatings, even if you don’t ‘believe’ in astrology there is an absolute ton to be gleaned from these rapid fire yet nuanced filled dispatches of his. Enjoy.
On Analog Metaverse Curation 📚 by Pr0ph3t
Building a library, a physical collection of important books that you own, is a work of subcreation. Your library is an Analog Metaverse that allows you to dip into and out of a personalized set of preserved realities at your whim.
I have said this of several writers here over the weeks and months and I will say it again in regard to put friend Pr0ph3t. I need his collected works in a physical book format, pronto. There is a Pr0ph3t shaped hole in my bookshelves.
Week in Review: October 30 - November 5, 2022 by Frank Theodat
We don’t hear a great deal of Frank nowadays, which is good as it shows that he is putting in the work away from the noise to become a pulp fiction master. This latest gets into that along with his thoughts on the television anthology series which echo my sentiments exactly. And of course it wouldn’t be Frank without there being some excellent recommendations sprinkled throughout it.
Bookmark #574 by Deepansh
574 (probably more now) and not a single miss yet. Deepansh is a truly superior stylist who has completely created his own creative lane here.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost But I Sure As Hell Am by Samantha Childress
On getting lost and having no plans. This one resonated with me deeply. And of course there is the now trademark beautiful photography too. A real delight.
My Best Friend Fear by gkgaius
Though G K has been on a fiction tear as of late the essay skills are still there, as this latest shows. Although genre and formal niceties are no constraint for him it seems.
Project Updates II by DB
DB is putting in the work. You love to see it. Genuinely inspiring stuff that I suspect will make us all feel the need to up our respective games. Which is what the STSC is all about.
The End of A Draft Is the Beginning by Edward Rooster
The title alone had me nodding my head. And the links to all of the work he links within had me shaking my head in disbelief. Edward is unbelievably prolific. A true gift.
Curious Realizer - what makes a great notebook by Mark Dykeman
I enjoy these real nut and bolts looks at the tools of the trade. Unsurprisingly writers swarmed to the comment section on this one. Funny how something as seemingly simple as notebook preferences can spark such lively discussions.
On Mimesis, Thick Desires, and the Four Layers of Happiness by Luke Burgis
This is an excerpt from my lecture at Notre Dame's Mendoza School of Business. And it is just as insightful and thought provoking as regular readers of Luke’s work will have come to expect. The 4 Levels of happiness articulated something that I think is extremely beneficial for all of us to ponder.
the spectrum of belief, part one by kimia
On magic and memory. This serves as a great introduction to newcomer Kimia. Drop by and say hello once you’ve given this evocative trip down memory lane a read.
The Risks You Don’t See - the Dark Matter of Risk by Stephanie Losi
Resilience is a skill you can practice and hone and the steps contained within this will help you to develop this. Very important and useful work here.
"Weird" Saved My Life by I'm The Canary
The title is a fantastic hook and believe me the real life story within delivers on it. Inspiring stuff here.
So you wanna quit Twitter (and start using Substack) - a tell all guide. by Alex Dobrenko
Of course the words are good but its the Geocities era gifs throughout that elevate this one. Wild.
The Musicality by Charles Schifano
On the musicality of prose and the idea of style versus substance with examples drawn from The Great Gatsby. An absolute joy to read as always.
The Path to Success by Thomas J Bevan
Now to some this may be obvious but I felt that this needed to be addressed. If one person has a moment of realisation from reading this then I have done my job here.
Fiction/Poetry
Vinnie walked (Super short story) by Kieran Majury
I said it last week and I’ll say it again this week- Kieran truly has a gift for the rhythms of dialogue. Compulsively readable, this.
A Little Elon Gated by Craig Burgess
He started out as a value adder and now he has evolved into a short fiction writing satirist. And a good one too. A hilarious and extremely fun to read offering from our man from Barnsley.
The Terminal Tweet by Clint
As with Craig, Clint was clearly moved by recent social media world events to pen a biting bit of satire. That this is his first ever attempt at fiction (so I’m lead to believe) is genuine astonishing.
The Debut Project: Chapter the second by Vanya Bagaev
This must be how Victorians felt when Dickens dropped the latest instalment of a novel in his periodical. The fact that this is subtitled ‘Chapter the second’ only aids with giving that impression. I love the tone of this story so far and the world that Vanya is creating. CAn’t wait for the next installment.
( by James Maynard
Yes ‘(’ is the title of this poem. And no it didn’t make a lick of sense to me at first either. But this particular puzzle is worth taking the time to solve. Another real innovation from the uniquely talented James.
The Sailor’s Lot by Adam Kozak
The absolute technical control and mastery in this poem is truly something to behold. Plus, personally I have always had a thing for seafaring poems and stories so this one particularly stood out for me among Adam’s impressive and growing oeuvre.
Pear No. 7 by Shiny Designs
Podcasts
The Thursday Audio, Part 3 by Craig Burgess
The Wednesday Audio appearing on a Thursday is a disgrace. I hope that next week there will be a Tuesday audio to make up for this tardiness.
(I suspect what he’s doing is satire though. Multilayered in’t it?)
TJB Film Recommendation
Tokyo Drifter (1966)
D. Seijun Suzuki
W. Kōhan Kawauchi
S. Tetsuya Watari, Chieko Matsubara, Tamio Kawachi
I think I like French New Wave stuff as long as it isn’t French. I don’t know why that is exactly.
But take that same energy, that same irreverence, that same idea that a film is a film and it can at times tell you so and put it in the hands of a young director of a different stripe and you can often end up with something special.
(The early Wong Kar Wai springs to mind in this regard and I will be recommending one of his films in the coming weeks)
And so it is with the madcap, comic-come-to-life 60’s Yakuza cult classic Tokyo Drifter.
The standouts are the incredible set design and the great music (the hero diagetically singing his own theme tune as he heads off to kill some mobsters might be one of the coolest moments in cinematic history). Personally I don’t care that it doesn’t make sense and am happy to just bask in the vibe and the visuals.
A unique experience and sub 90 minutes too.
Enjoy.
Thanks as always for reading/listening and thanks in advance for pressing all of those various buttons at the bottom which help the Omnibus spread further.
Also unless something unforetold happens at the 11th hour (again) I can confirm that Craig and I will be recording a new episode of the Tragedies of Modernity podcast tonight at 8pm GMT. We’ll host it and record it live from the STSC community and then post it via this Substack tomorrow.
If you want to join us live and listen in and post questions/comments/heckles in the podcast channel chat you are more than welcome. You simply have to sign up to the community first.
I look forward to seeing you over at the Social Club.
Cheers!
As always, thank you for including my artwork, it's wonderful to be in such good company.
> This must be how Victorians felt when Dickens dropped the latest instalment of a novel in his periodical.
Thanks a lot sir, I am endlessly flattered. Feeling ‘slightly’ unworthy of such praise tho, haha