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Category: The Slog

The Original Sin of America, Part VI: Good Night, and Good Luck

Hundreds of thousands of civilizations have existed. We know about maybe .01 percent. The most powerful at their peak all thought they were eternal empires without end.

The Original Sin of America, Part V: Lull of Paradise, Promise of Revelation

Even if Harris/Walz wins, I have begun to reckon with the idea that my country as I’ve known her is dying, if not dead already. That America cannot overcome its original sin. That the center cannot hold.

The Original Sin of America, Part IV: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

With Trump/Vance now at the head of the venomous snake that is the white supremacist project, who is in opposition? I wish it could say it is the Democratic Party but to believe that the American system is founded on the basic inequalities outlined previously necessitates a different conversation than left vs. right.

The Original Sin of America, Part III: The White Supremacist Project

Let’s unravel this racist/property bullshit, starting with the word “Aryan.” READ Part I and Part II. Now associated solely with the white supremacist project (i.e. the Aryan Brotherhood), the Proto-Indo-Iranian word was at its root an ethnic self-designation used by various peoples in Iran and India thousands of years ago, when…

The Original Sin of America, Part II: Property, Slavery and Roman Law

“Property” is not a naturally-occurring phenomenon. Some human had to invent the notion. More importantly, others had to agree to it.

The Original Sin of America, Part I

It’s racism and white supremacy. It’s misogyny and colonialism.
But really what it boils down to is property.

Welcome to a Newsletter of Curiosities!

That rattling at the door is not in your head, it’s the sound of Sam Flynn’s Cabinet of Curiosities, my new quarterly newsletter with all the book news, publishing insights, writing tips, and mini-reviews you could want. It will go out the first Friday of every third month, starting this…

SAM REVISITS: The Matrix Sequels Helped Me Unlock the Secret to Storytelling

Why is choice the single most important part of stories? Because choice reveals character. Static characters make the same choices and react the same way. That’s fine if you’re a procedural network show or sitcom (think Law & Order or Seinfeld, where the maxim of “no hugging, no learning” was…

That Aged Poorly

What began as a simple Slog update has unsurprisingly morphed into another long-winded reflection. I’m (overly) introspective by nature. I reflect (too) often. Before I can fully move forward (clears throat) in LOST parlance . . . Reason being, I am addressing some writings floating on the Internet where I…

Out of the Frying Pandemic Into the Fire

Well . . . 2020 kinda sucked didn’t it? With that belated understatement out of the way, my last post came way back in October 2020 when I celebrated the completion of the first draft of The Darkest Fate. Since then, I’ve been in the editing weeds, occasionally changing it…