About Me

Who am I?

I mean, that's a broad question. I'm obviously not telling you all my government name. Just know that my name is Danny, I grew up near-ish to DC (if you know, you know), and that I grew up to be one of those sad, weird adults that everyone warns you about. I don't get outside much, except when walking my dog, doing stuff with friends, or having an existential crisis. If I were to describe myself as a flavor of ice cream, I'd say that someone nefarious has seized your ice cream maker and that you should call the police immediately.

What am I doing here?

Being deeply unwell and sad, mostly. See, I made the mistake of having good choices and making smart moves. I was one of those kids who spent WAY too long playing with toys in his room while watching VHS tapes. I think my parents and teachers were desperate for me to get into something productive, because they kept telling me to get into writing. So I did...sort of. I went to college, got a Bachelor's in English, wrote a novel...and stalled. I got some jobs that had nothing to do with writing, with any writing projects happening when I got home from work. But everything changed during COVID. No shit, but seriously. Work got so intense that I decided I needed something new to keep me sane, so I enrolled in grad school. And let that be proof that being well-educated doesn't amount to making smart decisions. Granted, I DID ultimately enjoy grad school, and I learned a lot. But I enrolled with the hope that my MFA in Creative Writing would help me escape the chain of emotionally-draining, isolating, unfulfilling jobs, and so far that has not happened. What's worse, I still feel like an imposter in my daily life. So I've decided to make a Neocities page and lean further into art so that I can stop living like an imposter. Fingers crossed.

Wait a second, I'm a writer? Then why am I not published?

Lots of reasons? It's not as if every writer is published. Most likely aren't. In my case, it's because I'm easily distracted, unfocused, and easily discouraged. I've written a number of novellas, novels, and short stories, but have shelved most of them for various reasons. I wrote most of a novel between my freshman and sophomore years of undergrad, but it was a garbled mess, I pulled most of the characters and concepts fully out of my ass, I did no research, and I soon lost interest in developing it further. I wrote a complete novella during my senior year of undergrad for my Creative Writing course, and I managed to expand it into a "novel" after a few years of struggling, but...yeah, the air-quotes should be a dead giveaway that it was a novel in name only. As in, the continuity was all over the place, I packed in way too many ideas, I didn't like most of the characters, and I ended up watching a movie that more or less FELT like the novel I had written and was like, "Yeah, this was always a bad idea." I wrote several short stories, all of which ranged from "meh" to "what the fuck was I thinking," and while the writing group I showed them to at the time reacted positively, my friend and various publishers did not. My latest novel was my thesis, and my professor and advisor kept pushing me to publish the thing. And I could have. But I still wasn't happy with the novel. Don't get me wrong, it's the best writing I've ever done. But I dragged my feet getting it done, introduced the best plot threads at the end, and realized that getting it to where I wanted it to be would require EVEN MORE TIME REWORKING THE PLOT. I'll definitely come back to it at some point, because it is still part of The Emerald Age, but I need time and further practice before I'm ready to take another crack at it.

What's The Emerald Age?

The Emerald Age is the setting for my various stories. Think of it like Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Or, like, Hogwarts. Ugh. I don't like Harry Potter. Anyway, it's basically a science-fantasy dystopia where I plan to shove almost every fictional character or concept I've ever created. Think of it like a giant toybox for me to play with. I don't want to give too much away. You'll need to check out what gets posted to the Emerald Age section of the site for more info.

Why am I not just writing novels instead of posting content here?

Well, I've tried the usual novel/short story process before, and it frustrated me. But more than that, I want to write without limits. And when you write like I do, genre fiction becomes a cage. Not to mention that a novel is largely inflexible. You can't rewrite a novel without releasing a new edition. I'd rather tweak individual chapters as I'd like. I want fun and flexibility as I grow and evolve, not arbitrary limits or rules imposed by the writing establishment. Anarchical art is liberating.

What fiction or real-life events have influenced my writing?

Too much to adequately list. That said, I'm trying to draw on real-world events for much of the plot-relevant stuff. Mostly current events. Given that we live in interesting times, expect a broad critique of political systems with an emphasis on community and collective action.

A few of my favorite things.

Neon Genesis Evangelion. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (starting to get into Super Sentai as well). The Simpsons. Hellboy, and most things by Mike Mignola. The Brothers Karamazov. The works of Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Illustrated Man, and Dandelion Wine, among others). Saga (still need to read the rest of the series post-hiatus). Berserk. King of the Hill. Let the Right One In. The original Millennium Trilogy. His Dark Materials. Subnormality and Shirley Estar Goes to Heaven. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Dr. McNinja. Sonic the Hedgehog comics (Archie and Fleetway specifically). Dragonball (up to GT, not Super). Texhnolyze. Ghost in the Shell. Mushi-Shi. Better Call Saul. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and several of the sequels). Terry Pratchett's Discworld. The works of Harlan Ellison (look, he was an asshole, but he was an asshole who knew how to write). Boogiepop. Fate/Zero. Various Ken Follett novels. Much of Ruth Ozeki's work, but especially A Tale For The Time Being. 1Q84. Clerks. Reanimator. Return of the Living Dead. An American Werewolf in London. Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Homunculus. Fullmetal Alchemist. Transmetropolitan and the Netflix Castlevania series (again, I know, Warren Ellis is an asshole). His Dark Materials. Watchmen and V for Vendetta (I agree that Alan Moore doesn't always write women that well). Everything Junji Ito, especially Uzumaki. Lots of Stephen King novels, with 'Salem's Lot being the best, The Shining being pretty great, and The Dark Tower being a tabletop RPG that Stephen King wrote into a series of novels for some reason. Mission Hill. The works of Albert Camus. Helluva Boss. TomSka. Seven Samurai. Small Soldiers. Atop the Fourth Wall. From Dusk Till Dawn. And Eureka Seven, for restoring my ability to dream big.

What do I do when I'm not writing?

Reading. Watching video essays. Walking my dog. I listen to tons of music, more than I feel like listing right now. I bought tons of zords from the Power Rangers series and have started painting them in custom colors. And I've fallen off the video game scene, but I do play party games with friends at least once a week or so. Other than that, I just do daily life stuff. Nothing interesting.

Where can you find me?

You can't. I hide myself too well. But if you do want to talk to me for some reason, feel free to email me at Otothe8th@yahoo.com. I don't really expect to receive any messages, but hey, there are other weirdos out there. Maybe we all just need to find each other.