Spoken Gibberish

Welcome!

I hosted a livestream on Tuesday to talk about Find the Blackpage, answer some questions, and gab with all you wonderful folk who could join. It was wide ranging and covered a lot of ground, and I talked a lot about what it was like to write the serial and my own ethos as a writer.

Timestamps

00:00 - We Begin! Includes a synopsis of Find The Blackpage, which you can still read for free!02:46 - Thank you for reading! No discussion of Find The Blackpage would be complete without deep gratitude to the many readers who made the process of serialization so special and rewarding. THANK YOU everyone for checking this story out and telling me you loved it!

04:54 - Questions from J. M. Allen

* 05:05 - “Does the book beast have an adorable name?” But I also talked a lot about the Beast and what it represents and why it was kind of challenging to write.

* 08:07 - “Can you tell us more about the magic system? Where did the idea come from?” Which paired with a later question by Therese Judeana about inspiration. And a digression about my attitude towards magic in this story.

* 13:33 - “Who was your favorite character to write and why?” I answer the question but also talk about my thoughts on some of the other characters

15:25 - Question from The Casual Writer

* “What was the most fun and most challenging part of writing this series?” I answered with a bit of a digression about my ethos for storytelling in any given genre. I also talk a bit about how the story evolved.

* 19:07 - This dovetails into a question from Kailani B. about writing dramatic scenes that were planned which I later had to revise as the story changed while I wrote it.

22:09 - Questions from Thérèse Judeana

* “Which Book-world was your favorite?” It’s a challenging question to answer but I still tried answering it. A bit of a digression about what World Books do and what’s interesting about them.

* There’s a digression about other ideas in this world that didn’t get to appear in the story. Click THIS LINK to see all stories in the world; and click THIS LINK to see the one I talk about specifically, called “The Backyard Battle”. Some of these are paywalled.

* 26:52 - “What would the world-book of Scoot be and would it have a beast in it?”

* This is probably my favorite question because it was a great excuse to talk about some of my interesting attitudes about the craft of writing and how much of ourselves we put in our stories.

* 29:40 - Circling back to the question about “inspiration” and talking about my goals for this first foray of mine into the genre of Fantasy. And then sidetracked answering a question from Jaime Buckley 💎 about other interpretations of the Book Beast

33:35 - What’s next for Gibberish!

* Seasons for 2026 (watch the video to learn more!)

37:00 - What’s happening IMMEDIATELY next?

* Collaboration with Leigh Parrish!

* A return to an unfinished limited serial, Wolves of the Great War

37:40 - I sign my soul away to Jaime Buckley 💎’s Fiction Cartel

39:50 - Brief digression about horror, shout out to Shaina Read who has been my gateway drug into the genre. If you’d like to see the Horror i’ve written, check out the tag HERE.

Towards the end there’s a shout out to Keith Long who recently discovered the serial I published before Blackpage, called DUEL which is behind a paywall but you can check out the index HERE.

If you’re looking for a way to start reading at Gibberish, check out my START HERE page!

The end is a bit of a midwest goodbye, so thanks for sticking with it.

God bless you, and thank you again for reading!

Thank you for being the best part of Gibberish!

Thank you Tell Me a Mystery, Thérèse Judeana, Michael S. Atkinson, S. L. Linton, Sean Thomas McDonnell, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

I’m not able to transfer this from Gibberish to PTD easily so i’m going to post this quietly to Gibberish and crosspost it to The Peasant Times-Dispatch for public consumption.

In this video I talk about:

* The Peasantly Perspective of Pope Francis

* Steven Foster shared some wisdom in the chat about what makes the way Catholics “Elect” a pope different from what we normally think of when we hear the word “Election”—read more about it in his post, Love is Diligent Election

* Brannley Miller asked about what happens in a Conclave, and I referred him to either Matt Fradd or The Pillar.

* Matt Fradd wasn’t who I was thinking of, but he had a great post eulogizing Pope Francis here.

* The Pillar had the great primer on “what happens next”, you can read about it in their post here.

We covered a lot of ground and I hope you enjoyed it.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

I wasn’t going to share this but here I am. This was a wide-ranging conversation about Gibberish, writing, substack features, and the like.

I’m so pleased with how it all went and I’m very grateful that you all could join me. Hope to do another one of these sometime soon!

Not gonna do a big write up, just enjoy the video. Still thawing out my fingers!

See you again soon everyone!

Gibberish is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join me for my next live video in the app

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

The Monthly Update Is Back! Check out past updates HERE

Keeping the ad-hoc energy in updates but talked fast unintentionally so now it’s only 16 minutes long. If you don’t want to listen to me ramble, here’s some show notes:

0:00 - It starts here, as is tradition0:18 - I am not cool0:31 - It is August my dudes0:40 - What happened in July?

* Weekly Exercises have continued on Tuesdays in The Writing Gym!

* I’ve been publishing longer fiction every other Friday in The Volume!

* Tide (July 5) - I talk about Tide briefly

* Scout Mission (July 19) - I talk about Scout Mission briefly

* I complain about writing two mini-serials

* 3:24 - You got a Letters from Armin! I talk about the experiments I’m doing by writing a low-commitment slow-running serial.

5:33 - Let’s talk about Collaborations!

* Did you know I do voice work? Check out my shingle!

* A collaboration with Chantal LaFortune and Thérèse Judeana at a publication called Aestheté: A presentation of GK Chesterton’s “The Ballad of the White Horse”.

* 6:46 - Call of the Shieldmaiden’s literary magazine, Corncrake, publishes it’s next issue TODAY, August 1!

* I have a story in this August issue!

* I’m going to submit more! Please check Corncrake out, it’s a great idea.

* 8:40 - Just wrapped up a cool triplet of audio work for Michael P. Marpaung! Go check them out at Audio Germanicus, the audio-project of his substack.

10:08 - Let’s talk about DRAFTS! (Drafts?! Drafts!)

* August 2nd - I am not ready, so it might be an expansion of a writing exercise requested by Leigh Parrish.

* August 16th & August 30th, continuations of Jonah Abbott and Wolves of the Great War

12:24 - “What am I Who are you reading?” 🎤

* Last month I unjustly left off The Casual Writer and her surprise serial, Uprooted, so I have remedied that this month. It’s a great story!

* I haven’t read a lot, but I’ve saved Marco.D.Blanco’s Magic Lantern, which he’s starting to publish!

* I’ve also saved L.L. Ford’s The Master Protocol part 1 and part 2!

14:57 - I wave my piece of paper in the microphone15:03 - I improved my ability to end podcasts!!! By about 10 minutes!15:44 - The End!

Thank you for being here for Gibberish!

God bless!

AJPM

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

The Monthly Update Is Back! Check out past updates HERE

Keeping the ad-hoc energy in updates but talked for a lot longer! If you don’t want to listen to me ramble, here’s some show notes:

0:00 - It starts here, as is tradition0:30 - A reintroduction to the Monthly Updates1:03 - What happened in June?

* Weekly Exercises have continued on Tuesdays in The Writing Gym!

* I’ve been publishing longer fiction every other Friday in The Volume!

* Brood (June 7) - I talk about Brood at 3:03

* 4:25 - Shout out to Leigh Parrish with whom I discussed drafting strategies and how I applied them (painfully) to this story.

* The Call (June 21) - I talk about The Call at 5:25

* This story is sneaking up on the coveted spot as my most popular story on Gibberish. At the time of writing, Father and Sun has 73 likes, The Call has 70. Thank you, everyone, for all the love on BOTH of these stories (and all my writing!)

* 6:50 - Shouts out to Macabre Monday and Sep-ul-chral Roots (sound it out, scoot)

* 9:00 - stiiiiilllll talkin, good grief. Get it together.

* 9:55 - June was a two-episode month for Letters from Armin!

11:18 - Let’s talk about Collaborations!

* Did you know I do voice work? Check out my shingle!

* The most recent (and most highly produced) example of my voicework is a collaboration with Chantal LaFortune and Thérèse Judeana at a publication called Aestheté: A presentation of GK Chesterton’s “The Ballad of the White Horse”.

* 14:09 - Brother Alexander (you may remember him from a guest story he published at Gibberish last summer) connected me to his friend Call of the Shieldmaiden, who runs a literary magazine called Corncrake

* Corncrake July Issue publishes today, July 1!

* I have submitted something for their August issue!

* This is a GREAT opportunity for fiction writers to reach new audiences and bring readers to Substack.

18:05 - Let’s talk about DRAFTS!

* July 5th, Part 2 of the limited serial which began with Help (I hope!)

* July 19th, Alt History Fantasy/Horror? Lots of work to do on this too!

* Serial Coming Soon???? It will be about Byron the Blackpage!

21:09 - “What am I Who are you reading?” 🎤

* Bridget Riley’s Down in the Holler concluded this past weekend, I need to catch up!

* Shouts out to Michael S. Atkinson who riffs wonderfully on my Tuesday writing exercises. (I also learned this morning that it’s his birthday! Happy Birthday, Michael!)

* Once I get Down in the Holler down, I’ll be looking at S.E. Reid’s Freelance and Fishmaids!

* Because I was riffing off the top of my head, I unjustly left off The Casual Writer and her surprise serial, Uprooted, which has been really interesting and really fun! Worth checking out if you are interested in mystery, family trees, or old leather-bound books smelling of rich mahogany.

23:22 - I wave my piece of paper in the microphone23:30 - It’s over, just a technicality at this point. I’m bad at ending podcasts.23:59 - The End!

Thank you for being here for Gibberish!

God bless!

AJPM

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

The Monthly Update Is Back! Check out past updates HERE

But because I am a mess, it’s kind of an unprofessional ramble. I haven’t been able to get my act together about these monthly updates, so I just ad-hoc’d talking to you about my plans!

If you don’t want to listen to me ramble, here’s some show notes:

0:00 - It starts here, obviously0:08 - What exactly is this thing0:45 - It’s June, what’ve we missed1:08 - Since the last update, the GWC began and ended, with E.B. Howard as the champion for GWC ‘24!1:45 - Let’s take an inventory of what’s going on

* Weekly writing exercises, they’re coming back, whoops

* I started doing longer fiction every other Friday

* Shephard of the Sky

* Help

2:56 - Let’s talk about DRAFTS

* Probably the next one is another Surveyor Corps story like Dust to Dust

* Horror? Historical Fiction? Fantasy? Alternate-History Fantasy story?

* Sequel to Help

* Macabre Monday’s “Sepulchral Roots” shared world

* All these stories are what I was talking about in this note

* Keep an eye out, every other friday!

* Post-Op Analysis for the Gibberish Writing Competition, also coming

5:39 - What’s Scheduled?

* Letters from Armin! Next episode drops June 8th

* For more, check out The Index section of Gibberish!

* Flash Fiction Friday prompts continue!

6:22 - Substack MBA/Strategy Podcast??? 👀8:00 - What am I reading?

* Not as much as I’d like!

* Bridget Riley’s Down in the Holler is one thing I have been keeping up with!

8:42 - What have I not done that I still want to do?

* Story Time readings of my longer fiction!

* The longer fiction is stored in The Volume section of Gibberish

* Gibberish Anthology

9:20 - I don’t know how to end podcasts

* Stay tuned every other friday for longer fiction!

* Stay tuned every tuesday for writing exercises, you can find them in The Writing Gym section of Gibberish

* My favorite recent one was called The Cataclysm

10:23 - Did any of you listen this far? What do you think? Like any of these drafts coming down the pipeline?10:35 - Thanks for sticking with me!10:52 - The End

Thank you for being here for Gibberish! I am excited for all June has in store!

God bless!

AJPM

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for visiting the new “Podcast” feature, where I will be reading my stories from The Volume for your listening pleasure!

Today’s story was prompted last year by a “Let’s Write Together” prompt from Fictionistas.

Story begins at 0:00Story ends at 6:08, after which I share some background behind the story and share some thoughts on what I hope you get out of it.

In this, I mention the low-key Surveyor Corps series. Click Here to read Surveyor Corps stories!

You can read along here, until this story goes behind a paywall too!

This is the fourth narrated story, which means the first story, “The Night World”, will go behind a paywall. Because this is the first one to get paywalled, I’ll give you three more days to listen to it! It will go behind a paywall on 4/23. If you would like unlimited access to my old stories and every episode of Spoken Gibberish, please consider a paid subscription!

Thank you again for your support!

Gibberish is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

AJPM

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for visiting the new “Podcast” feature, where I will be reading my stories from The Volume for your listening pleasure!

Today’s story was prompted last year by this note from Nishant Jain.

Story begins at 0:00Story ends at 3:11, after which I share some background behind the story and share some thoughts on what I hope you get out of it.

You can read along here, until this story goes behind a paywall too!

If you would like unlimited access to my old stories and every episode of Spoken Gibberish, please consider a paid subscription!

Thank you again for your support!

Gibberish is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

AJPM

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for visiting the new “Podcast” feature, where I will be reading my stories from The Volume for your listening pleasure!

Today’s story comes from a Fictionistas prompt challenge from last year, called Telephobia.

Story begins at 0:00Story ends at 5:29, after which I share some background behind the story and inspirations behind the people and places therein!

You can read along here, until this story goes behind a paywall too!

If you would like unlimited access to my old stories and every episode of Spoken Gibberish, please consider a paid subscription!

Thank you again for your support!

Gibberish is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

AJPM

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gibberish.substack.com/subscribe