Violence, Brutality, and Death: Dark Fiction and Why I Love It
Posted on 31. Mar, 2012 by Martin in Misc. Prose
I’ve been a great admirer and fan of Joanna Penn since discovering her website, The Creative Penn, in the summer of 2011. Penn is both an author and indie publisher and has enjoyed tremendous success in both fields. Soon after I discovered her, I featured her in a post called 5 Blogs Every Indie Writer [...]
CRITICIDE: Super Duper
Posted on 07. Dec, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
On a Thursday night in August of 2007, I went to a midnight viewing for the premiere of Superbad. To this day, it remains one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Like any other artistic endeavor, you can’t please all the people all of the time (regardless of what Jay Leno or Two and a Half [...]
Top 10 College Scandals of the Last Five Years
Posted on 16. Nov, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
Earlier this year, I wrote an article for Disorderly Conduct called “Top 10 College Scandals of the Last Five Years.” The initial assignment was to write about college scandals in general, as a way to capitalize on the recent spate of scandals, including the students who had sex on the rooftop of a USC building and the ill-conceived Compton Cookout, [...]
CRITICIDE: I, Criticide
Posted on 04. Nov, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
When I was writing for Criticide, my general process was I would write about the most recent movie I’d seen in theaters. But, once in a while, when it was time for a new article and I hadn’t seen any movies, I would go into editorial mode. The first editorial I wrote was called “I, Criticide,” which [...]
Top 10 Sports Figures Who Should’ve Used Steroids
Posted on 19. Oct, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
A few months back, I wrote a satirical article called “Top 10 Sports Figures Who Should’ve Used Steroids” for a blog called Pill Talk. When I pitched the idea, they loved it… but when it came time to actually write it, I realized I didn’t really know what to write. When I find myself in such [...]
CRITICIDE: Eat My Stardust!
Posted on 12. Oct, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
In the fall of 2007, I joined ranks with Criticide, a cool crew of bloggers who decided to turn the tables on film critics by reviewing film reviews. Just for kicks, the critissassins wrote under pseudonyms, such as Popcorn Peter and Salty Milkduds. I was known as Kid Licorice. In my first article for Criticide, I reviewed [...]
Found in Translation
Posted on 14. Sep, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
In June of 2008 I wrote “Found in Translation” for L.A. Voice PICO—a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization. Jared Rivera, the former Executive Director of L.A. Voice, organized a town hall meeting for the locals to discuss their concerns about violence in their community and invited me down to check it out. The town hall meeting was covered [...]
The 10 Most Daring Reality Television Shows Ever (For Reasons You Didn’t Realize!)
Posted on 01. Sep, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
In the spring of 2011, I wrote a satirical article about reality television called “The 10 Most Daring Reality Television Shows Ever (For Reasons You Didn’t Realize!)” for the website Disorderly Conduct. Check out it and have a few laughs while you’re there. And if you don’t laugh, just assume I was attempting to write a completely earnest commentary on [...]
A Self-Publisher’s Manifesto
Posted on 28. Aug, 2011 by Martin in Misc. Prose
In July of 2011, Self-Publishing Review published my article “A Self-Publisher’s Manifesto.” I’d written the article around the same time that I was preparing to publish my debut novel, Inside the Outside. The article itself came about after I’d had a lengthy chat with my pal S. Kay Murphy about the benefits of being an independent publisher. After our chat, I was [...]
