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  • One Cent Record Clubs and Predatory Discovery

    What’s the value of music when your life is falling apart? How did that “ten albums for a penny” deal really work? And could a kid’s mail-order music club from the 1980s have predicted today’s subscription trap? In the summer of 1983, I was a wreck. My grandfather pulled into a RadioShack parking lot and…

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  • Em Dashes and Witch Hunts With New Literary Inquisitors

    It’s 2025, and I find myself caught in an ironic 21st-century witch hunt. Only this time, the torches and pitchforks have been replaced by AI detectors and self-appointed “sleuths” sniffing out supposed machine-written prose. After months of hearing horror stories from fellow authors and academics I found my audiobook in the crosshairs of being deemed…

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  • Love My Way: The Psychedelic Furs and the Marimba That Woke Me Up

    What if one song could tell you it was okay to exist exactly as you are? What if it came from a group of straight guys who decided silence wasn’t an option? And what if that song , of all things, started with a marimba? Let’s talk about “Love My Way” by the Psychedelic Furs!…

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