I always get loads of spam comments on this blog. Most of them get picked up and trashed by the Akismet plugin, but sometimes I need to check first. I just had a bunch of spam comments from someone that was trying to pimp their LiveJournal page about yeast infections. Really? .
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Books By Alan
Click on book covers for reviews, previews and purchase options.
RealmShift
A race against time and the Devil
"RealmShift is phenomenal. If it’s not already on your bookshelf it should be."
MageSign
Believe in the blood 
"a gritty tale of blood rituals, mystery, and mysticism… grabs hold of the reader and doesn’t let go"
The Darkest Shade Of Grey
You can tell the story.
"...stunning supernatural noir..."
Ghost Of The Black
"Everything about it is bang on"
Write The Fight Right
“The best way for a writer to learn what’s really involved in brawling, short of going down the pub and starting something.”
Weird
It just gets weirder all the time
Whatever
I read this today and had to laugh. According to Language Log the Marist Institute of Public Opinion has released poll results that reveal the words and phrases that Americans find most annoying. The results were: whatever – 47% you know – 25% it is what it is – 11% anyway – 7% at...
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Seriously, don’t fuck with the community
I’ve just been catching up on this situation, so I’m a bit behind on time, but I wanted to add my voice to the outrage. It seems we have a plagiarist in our midst. Now, I can’t even begin to imagine the point of plagiarism. Are some people so insecure that they want to...
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The surname book meme
I picked this up after spotting it at Cate Gardener’s blog and Aaron Polson’s blog. It goes like this: From the biggest bookcase you have, pick out one book whose author’s last name starts with each letter of your last name. If you have no books by an author whose last name starts with...
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The Word to be archived at the National Library of Australia
I’m sitting here a little bit stunned at the moment. Apparently I have cultural significance to my country. A few days ago I got an email from the Digital Archiving Section of the National Library of Australia. At the top of the email it said: Request for permission to archive The Word : the...
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Brimstone Press releases Eye Of Fire ezine
As a member of the Australian Horror Writers’ Association, I got sent the first issue of Brimstone Press’s Eye Of Fire ezine automatically today. Brimstone Press is a great Aussie publisher that concentrates on the darker side of things, so they obviously get my vote. They started producing Black magazine, but distribution costs forced...
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Ultraviolence is the only defence against zombies
We already knew, from the infallible source of George Romero, that ultraviolence is the only defence against zombies. Well, now it’s been mathematically proven. My good friend (and invaluable IT support guru) James pointed me in the direction of this article in The Register. Professor Robert Smith? of Ottawa University, an infectious-diseases specialist, has...
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Coraline the movie – review
I’m a massive Neil Gaiman fan but I should start here by saying that I haven’t read the book of Coraline yet. I’d read and reread the Sandman comics as a kid (I bought them as they were published) and have since collected the trade paperbacks as well to read them again. I just...
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The Esperanto Twitter storm
My friends on Twitter @keikomushi and @IronMan1176 were having a conversation and languages came up. IronMan said he was studying a bit of Spanish before bed. Keiko said: “I tried to learn Esperanto a few times, but I have always had trouble with languages.” I opened my virtual mouth and caused a bit of...
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All spammers are scum
Yooo.. I kno it has nothing to do with what you wrote, but have you ever heard of http://www.scumscumscumbastard/ringtones.php . They seems to promise free ringtones PS. Dont be an ass, this is NOT spam Yes it fucking is, you scumbag. We all know that spammers are some of the lowest, parasitic, bottom-feeding bastards...
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Blog book tour Day 5
Today sees us at the halfway point of the book tour and so far it’s all going swimmingly. Thanks to everyone that’s been following along and those that are hosting me along the way. Some of the timing is a bit up and down, but that’s what happens when you have posts hosted in...
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Catholics shoehorn relevance into Gore’s plan
I read about this in the Sydney Morning Herald today and it gave me quite a chuckle over my cereal. The Catholic Church, along with pretty much every other religion, is no stranger to desperately shoehorning “facts” into things to keep their dogma relevant. Anyone that’s ever read the Bible knows that it takes...
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Black magic versus prayer in Islamic Indonesia
Talk about appealing to the lowest common denominator. I was both amused and disappointed when I read about this in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald. It’s one of those strange crossovers between real life and fantasy novels. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation (with around 237 million people) and it has the largest...
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The Call Of Cthulhu by H P Lovecraft – review
I first read some of H P Lovecraft’s short stories back in my mid teens. Me and friends even played some Call Of Cthulhu role playing game, investigating weird phenomena while trying to hold onto our sanity points. Ever since those days the intergalactic horror fiction of Lovecraft has had a special place in...
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Millionth word scam exposed
Remember at the end of May I posted about the Global Language Monitor celebrating the immient arrival of the one millionth word in the English language? At the time I questioned the accuracy of their studies. In fact, my exact words were, “Personally, I think it’s all bollocks.” As the comments in that thread...
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The Word
Welcome to the website of author Alan Baxter.
I write dark fantasy, sci fi and horror, ride a motorcycle and love my dog. I also teach Kung Fu, hence the Warrior Scribe tag above. A friend once referred to me that way and I liked it, so it stuck. Learn all about me and my work by clicking About Alan just below the header.
Our world is built on language and storytelling. Without stories, we are nothing.
The Word is a place to learn more about me, my stories and the words of others. Click the links along the top for all kinds of stuff, search the sidebars for loads of other stuff, click on book covers for reviews and previews, enjoy the blog and don't be shy to share your words, in comments or send me an email:
alan [at]alanbaxteronline[dot]com
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