Life – Ecce Sigum

Weekly Round-up, November 1, 2025

2025-11-012025-10-31 John Winkelman

This past week was calmer than most, so I completed several projects around the house and prepped for the Month of Writing. I also indulged in some retail therapy and am now the proud owner of several more books of poetry.

Reading

I have had more time to read lately, though that time has come in small, intermittent chunks rather than large, dedicated blocks. To match this, I have been reading through my back issues of genre magazines Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, New Edge Sword & Sorcery, and Dreamforge. When I have slightly larger blocks of time I dip my toes in the wonderful Invisible Work: Borges and Translation, by Efraín Kristal.

Writing

Today is the first day of The Month of Writing (formerly NaNoWriMo), and I am undoubtedly writing something at this very moment, as this post goes live.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Possession, Relic
Setting: Border Town
Genre: Slipstream

Listening

Another amazing mashup by Bill McClintock: Peter Gabriel and Sly & the Family Stone – “Thank You (Falettinme Be Your Sledgehammer)”

Interesting Links

“The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant” (Tom Moore, The Center for American Democracy)
“The Pivot” (Charlie Stross)
“Red State Workers Could Lose Out on Disability Benefits as Trump Administration Rewrites Eligibility Rules” (Eli Hager, Pro Publica)
“The Future of Science Fiction Conventions” (Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz, Our Opinions Are Correct)

Weekly Round-up, October 25, 2025

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Red Maple leaves, just turning their fall colors, in the morning sun, against a clear blue sky.

The pressures of work were somewhat lighter this week, which gave me time to catch up on several things which had been neglected. Like sleep. And cooking food for meals. And cleaning my house.

I also found time to transfer the last of my websites from the old host to Dreamhost, where maintenance is much easier than anywhere I had previously hosted this blog and SifuLee.com. I like only having to click a single button to upgrade PHP.

With the transfer complete I am taking the opportunity to change, update, and/or improve things, as both sites have been around in various forms for over twenty years. This will be an ongoing chore.

Reading

I am having a lot of fun reading through my back issues of New Edge Sword & Sorcery and DreamForge. Exactly the type of fix I need right now.

Writing

In preparation for the Month of Writing (formerly NaNoWriMo), I decided to dust off one of my old Weekly Writing Prompts from January 2024. This one had “Undead” and “Addiction” as the subjects, “Ship” as the setting, and “Magic Realism” as the genre.

No problem, right? Two years ago, I was able to knock out a story a two a day for a month, needing only a few minutes to come up with an idea which combined all four prompt points.

Apparently I am out of practice. After staring at the prompt for a week I came up with (tentatively) an idea which I will work on this weekend and next week. It involves a bit of Dante, a bit of Greek mythology, and a place somewhat, but not entirely like, New Orleans.

That’s a lot of work for a short story I haven’t even started writing yet.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Empire, Espionage
Setting: Urban
Genre: Steampunk

Listening

Chris de Burgh, “Don’t Pay the Ferryman,” from his 1982 album The Getaway. While I was planning out the short story discussed above, this song, which I have not heard in at least 30 years, popped into my head.

Interesting Links

“How Much D&D Stuff Is There Anyway? Part 4: Novels” – There were a LOT of D&D novels published from the early 1980s until now. I have probably read at least forty of them.
“Who’s Delusional, Who’s Drugged, Who’s Disinformed? It’s Hard to Tell” (Nat Wilson Turner, Naked Capitalism) – Each member of MAGA, with zero exception, is at least two of the three.

Weekly Round-up, October 18, 2025

2025-10-182025-10-18 John Winkelman

Carp at the bottom of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This was another exceptionally busy week, but relief is on the horizon. And no, I don’t mean the inevitable heat death of the universe or the more imminent fascist takeover and destruction of the United States. I have some breathing room, and I intend to spend that time breathing, and also reading and writing.

Reading

I pulled the first issue of New Edge Sword & Sorcery off the shelf and am reading my fill of, well, sword and sorcery stories. They are quite good! Widely varied in tone and voice, and all are fun. I found a couple of editing issues, but no more than in any other first issue of a magazine.

In more in-depth reading, I am a few pages into Efraín Kristal’s Invisible Work: Borges and Translation, which I picked up on a whim after reading a Metafilter thread about, well, Borges and translation. I loves me some Borges, and I love reading works in translation, so this book is my catnip.

But John, I can hear you thinking, What about all the other books you were reading a few weeks ago?

I am still reading them. They are still on the “currently reading” pile. They just are not currently at the top of the pile.

Writing

For That November Thing, I have settled on a repeat of what I did a couple of years ago, being a pile of flash fictions and short story fragments. This format seems to work for me in times of uncertainty.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Revenge, Environment
Setting: Subterranean
Genre: Procedural

Listening

The Kinks, “Destroyer,” from their 1981 album Give the People What They Want.

Interesting Links

“ICE Raids Are Only Half The Story” (Farm to Taber, YouTube) – Brief overview of how MAGA farmers are using the H2A visa as a legal form of slavery. This is an open secret among MAGA, and is so endemic that the basic assumption must be at any farmer who voted for Trump did so because they want slaves to work their farms.

Weekly Round-up, October 11, 2025

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A Cross Orb Weaver spider (Araneus diadematus) warming herself on our back porch.

This past week was quiet, locally, though the rest of the country is in deliberately-induced chaos as incontinent President Trump is in the late stages of dementia. It is safe to say that his cheese has slid almost entirely off its cracker.

Reading

I am working my way through a pile of old literary journals and other such magazines. Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet has been at the top of the stack, but I grabbed issue 1.1 of New Edge Sword and Sorcery magazine for a change of pace. Both publications are excellent, and differ enough in their offerings that I can switch back and forth to keep both fresh in my mind.

Writing

Still planning my November writing project. Stay tuned for updates.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Language, Dragons
Setting: Lost City
Genre: Lovecraftian

Listening

The Alan Parsons Project, “Eye in the Sky,” from their 1982 album Eye in the Sky.

Interesting Links

Weekly Round-up, October 4, 2025

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[A road crew preparing our street for a new layer of asphalt.]

This was another chaotic week. I put in a couple of long work days which left me too exhausted to participate in the fun things.

Reading

With dedicated reading time in short supply I am browsing through my large stack of unread literary and SFF magazines and journals. I have enough there to keep me occupied for at least a year.

Writing

Nothing new to report. Maybe after next Saturday.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Politics, Language
Setting: Border Town
Genre: Magic Realism

Listening

Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon, “Sweet Emotion,” from their 2005 album Sixty-Six Steps.

Interesting Links

A great dissection (and, I suppose, a post-mortem) of Charlie Kirk’s “debate” tactics, and also a wonderfully satisfying video of Kirk getting his ass handed to him by a Cambridge student. (01:20 YouTube video from the Rationality Rules channel) – This video demonstrates conclusively that Charlie Kirk was a minimally-talented blowhard and bully who never would have succeeded in his life without the guidance and backing of rich fascists. And that says unfortunate things about the people who think he was smart.
“Trump’s Imminent War(s) and Economic Damage as His Legitimacy Crumbles” (Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism) – Everything President Donald Trump does is an attempt to distract from the fact that he was a close personal friend of Jeffrey Epstein and frequently partook of Epstein’s wares.

Weekly Round-up, September 27, 2025

2025-09-272025-10-09 John Winkelman

[The interior of the west wall of the old church at Hermitage and Diamond, the late afternoon sun shining through the stained glass window.]

This was another intense week at work, doing the final round of bug fixes before the next big push. My brain was already fried from (gestures at everything), but now it is breaded, deep-fried, and slathered with ranch dressing.

Impotent and incontinent president Donald Trump has made a feeble attempt to name ANTIFA a terrorist organization. Being a coward, Trump will undoubtedly declare anyone who doesn’t have a MAGA hat in their profile pictures to be ANTIFA. Trump is a fine example of why presidents should be tested for late-stage syphilis before being allowed to hold office.

And to anyone who thinks “ANTIFA” is more of a threat to this country than is MAGA, I point out that MAGA is in fact the American fascist party, and therefore anything “ANTIFA” does in response to the existence of MAGA is de facto self-defense.

Reading

I am still working my way through Baudrillard’s Simulation and Simulacra. It is a slow process. Not because of the difficulty of the text, though it is challenging. My problem is a lack of dedicated time in which I can focus on learning what he has to teach. This is not a book for browsing between laying down and falling asleep.

I ordered Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem, and it should arrive in a couple of days. The excerpts I have read indicate that the information contained therein (as well as The Origins of Totalitarianism) will be especially pertinent in the days and years to come. Actually, they have been pertinent since 2016, and really since about 1980. And REALLY really, since about 1969.

Writing

With the writing event calendar filling up, I am reviewing old poems and short stories with an eye toward assembling a chapbook or two. For new writing, maybe something during November, if I can focus long enough to get my thoughts together.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Fae, Dreams
Setting: Library
Genre: Fantasy

Listening

The Serpent Power, “Endless Tunnel” from their 1967 album The Serpent Power.

Interesting Links

“The death of the corporate job.” (Alex McCann, Still Wandering)
“U.S. Military Leaders Plan to Use the Killing of Charlie Kirk to Boost Recruitment. Will It Work?” (Conor Gallagher, Naked Capitalism)

Weekly Round-up, September 20, 2025

2025-09-202025-10-09 John Winkelman

[A katydid on the rail of our porch.]

The last few months have been exceptionally chaotic, even by the standards of this already-chaotic year. I don’t recall the last time I had extended periods of so little time to myself. I don’t remember the last time my brain was so full of static.

I don’t like it.

However, with my partner out of town for a few days I found myself with some solitude and free time. I celebrated by watching Hannah Arendt, which I recommend to everyone. I have read some of Arendt‘s work, though not in at least a couple of decades. The Origins of Totalitarianism sits in my nonfiction bookcase, and I am pretty sure I have Eichmann in Jerusalem around here somewhere.

The political landscape here in the USA, particularly in the days following the death of the popular anti-intellectual influencer out in Utah, is becoming dangerous. Studying up on the banality of evil seems a good thing to do when the 47 administration seems to be following the exact same playbook used in Germany in the late 1930s.

Arendt points out that the many cogs in the machinery of evil may not be themselves malevolent, but the fact that they allow themselves to become cogs, to subsume their humanity in the larger whole of the destructive force, is an important point to recognize. This does not absolve the cogs of the responsibility of their actions, but it explains how easy it is to become a cog in the first place.

I recently read The Unaccountability Machine, which explores the ways that systems (corporations, governments, etc.) can make it impossible for the participants in those systems to act against the rules of the system. We can learn some things about authoritarian and totalitarian governments from the study of cybernetics.

Reading

I finished Notes on the Assemblage, and am now casting about for the next thing. Probably Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Writing

Still in a slump.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Aliens, Apocalypse
Setting: Lost City
Genre: Solarpunk

Listening

The Eurythmics, “Missionary Man” from their 1986 album Revenge.

Interesting Links

“Imperial tyranny, Korean humiliation” (Park Hyun, Hankyoreh)
“Arthur Sze is the new U.S. Poet Laureate.” (James Folta, LitHub)
“The Spectacle Made Flesh” (Yasha Levine, Nefarious Russians)
“Doomscrolling the Influencer Apocalypse” (Nat Wilson Turner, Naked Capitalism)

Weekly Round-up, September 13, 2025

2025-09-132025-10-09 John Winkelman

[Found in a stairwell in a downtown Grand Rapids parking garage.]

This past week was crazy. Both not enough and too much work. And the world took a decided turn for the chaotic a couple of days ago.

Master Yen Hoa Lee, my instructor of tai chi and kung fu for the past 35 years, passed away on September 1. His obituary is here. I will write more about him when I have the emotional energy to do so.

Reading

I am re-reading Jim Harrison’s Returning to Earth, which I tend to do when someone close to me dies.

Writing

Nothing new to report. Thinking about what I will do in November.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Mutants, Kaiju
Setting: Boardroom
Genre: Noir

Listening

David Bowie, “Ricochet”, from Bowie’s 1983 album Let’s Dance.

Interesting Links

“Stablecoins could crash our economy” (Richard Murphy, Funding the Future)
“The Alliance Among Washington, Tel Aviv and Silicon Valley” (Stefano Ali Azali, Naked Capitalism) – Originally published at The Muslim Faculty, but also posted at Naked Capitalism due to likely DDOS attacks on the original site.
“The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security” (Eli Hager, ProPublica)
“You Can’t Worship God and Money: Theological Abominations in Trump’s America” (Liz Theoharis, Tom’s Dispatch)

Weekly Round-up, September 6, 2025

2025-09-062025-10-09 John Winkelman

[Our cat Poe having a stare-down with a rabbit in the early morning.]

This past week was rough, so no real update.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Environment, Colonization
Setting: Ocean
Genre: Adventure

Interesting Links

“The crash of 2026: a fiction” (John Quiggen, Crooked Timber)

Weekly Round-up, August 30, 2025

2025-08-302025-10-09 John Winkelman

[Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) on a mint blossom.]

And so ends the month of August. Cooler evenings mean better sleep, if not necessarily more sleep. That comes with retirement or other forms of unemployment. I am almost fully recovered from the travels and travails of the past several weeks, but could use another couple of decades of down-time.

Reading

Other than the slow progress through Simulacra and Simulation, I am giving my brain a break and just wandering through my shelves like one might browse the contents of a bookstore.

Writing

This week I tried to catch up on my journaling – writing down the events of the past few weeks so that in the years and decades to come, I don’t lose those memories.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Kaiju, Apocalypse
Setting: Frontier
Genre: Science Fiction

Listening

A random comment on a social media prompted an old memory to surface, and I went down a small rabbit-hole of music research.

The Cookies, “On Broadway”, from their 1954 album Presenting The Cookies.

The Crystals, “On Broadway”, from their 1962 album Twist Uptown.

The Drifters, “On Broadway”, released in 1963.

George Benson, “On Broadway”, from his 1978 album Weekend in L.A.

Gary Numan, “On Broadway”, from Numan’s live album Living Ornaments ’79.

Clem Curtis & The Foundations, “On Broadway”, released in 1984.

Interesting Links

The Phersu Atlas looks like an amazing resource for history buffs and scholars. Fully interactive. limited functionality at the free tier, but loads of information at the (reasonably priced) paid tiers. Discovered in the article “Dead States, Living Borders: Three Historical Cases of ‘State Revival’: Armenia, Vietnam, and Poland” by Lorenzo Hofstetter at Naked Capitalism.
“Legal battle erupts between Michigan school librarian, activist parent” (Kim Kozlowski, Bridge Michigan). Another baseless attack on a librarian by the cowardly neo-Nazis of Moms for Liberty. Moms for Liberty’s stated goal is to stand up for parental rights. The only parental right Moms for Liberty is really interested in is the right of conservative parents to sexually assault their own children. The reason the members of Moms for Liberty want to ban all books dealing with gender and sexuality is because they don’t want their own kids to be able to understand or describe what their parents are doing to them. Everyone who supports Moms for Liberty’s book-banning goals should immediately be reported to Child Protective Services. There are no facts which contradict this statement.