I couldn't have been older than 11 when I read The Flaming Heart of Danko by Maxim Gorky. And boy, did it cut me with the finest of fine glass. Even now thinking about the short story hurts somewhere deep in my soul.
And yet, I love it so ...

Danko's Flaming Heart
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 5, 2020Belle’s Best: The Films of Belinda Brandon Reaches the 150 Page Milestone!!
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Nov. 2, 2020
Let us Celebrate with bravo1102 as he celebrates a new page Milestone! Congratulations, Ms. Belinda Brandon. Congratulations, bravo1102!
Bravo writes:
“This is what I get for splitting up the numbering of the pages. One hundred and fifty pages of Belle's Best: The Films of Belinda Brandon. It's an ...
Writing More Than You Know
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, June 13, 2020
We're all aware of the classic tennet for writers and creators of all stories- write what you know in order for the story to be good.
We've explored before what it means to write what you know, and where this rule should be adhered to: at the core ...
QUACKCAST 471 - Fantasy
Ozoneocean at 12:00AM, March 24, 2020 LISTEN on our new player!
Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/drunkduck-quackcast
Or TuneinRadio - https://tunein.com/podcasts/Books–Literature/Drunkduck-Quackcast-p1150194/
Today we're having a chat about fantasy fiction! Mainly books and the fantasy writing that inspired us and that we love! Faves like Tolkien, Fritz Leiber ...
On Writing Therapists 2
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 18, 2020
Therapists are the type of character whose occupation can easily seep into their ‘off the clock’ life. It's not something that can often be helped. Psychologists don't ‘turn off’ their perception of behavioral patterns and personality analyses, the same way you can't ‘unsee’ the rabbits after you ...
On Writing Therapists 1
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 11, 2020
I've already written a bunch of articles on writing mental illness, so I figured I should write about writing therapists as well!
Oh, the woes for therapist representation in narrative works! All the stereotypes are there: from the shrink that is actually a little (or a lot) loopy and ...
Pure Evil
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 20, 2019
I've talked about villains before and how they can be very nuanced in their motivations (without those motivations being redeeming) but today, thanks to Emma Clare's Friday post, I became inspired to talk about abject, absolute, abominable villainy! The twirling mustache type, the one that is so pure ...
On Reviving an Era
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, April 6, 2019
I had a meeting the other day with a director, who asked me “how do you approach a historical era to keep true to it?” and “how do you keep from being biased?”
I fear that I eclipsed the poor guy with my soap box lectures, but that aside, I ...