September 12

Practical Defence Against Piracy - a graphic novel / webcomic in progress
Twelve years ago I posted a project here - “DelilahDirk.com - a graphic novel, serialized online.” Then, for a decade, I kept my head down in an old-fashioned authorly manner and made two more in the same series and some other books I’m proud of. Now I’m making another comic on the internet, it’s full of pirates, it's been nominated for a Will Eisner award, and the final instalment of the most recent chapter goes up on International Talk Like A Pirate Day. [more inside]


September 10

Modern Art in Midcentury Comics
For a while I've been collecting examples of 20th century comic strips and newspaper cartoons which include parodies of Modern Art. (I got some help from ask.meta last year!) I've now posted my collection on cohost, and I will add new ones as I find them.


September 8

Scorned by every other graveyard? Welcome to Cross Bones
Today I published PlenetSlade's third paperback book (Amazon link), and it's an updated version of my 2013 e-book telling the tale of South London's Cross Bones Graveyard. This tiny patch of unconsecrated ground just south of the Thames has sheltered the remains of London's most despised citizens for over 400 years. Today, it's a shrine to our own era's outcast dead, where thousands of people a year attend the monthly vigils created by a shamanic local writer and attach their own heartfelt offerings to the site's gates. It's one of the most fascinating graveyards in London, and a vivid lesson in what the poor of this city have always had to endure. [more inside]


September 4

A Substack of My (mainly) Fantasy Writing
I've finally pulled the trigger and started a Substack! [more inside]


August 30

Verity web app
A web app that uses AI to generate quizzes and score open-form answers on whatever topics you like. [more inside]


August 26

An Abundance Of Beasts
An Abundance Of Beasts is an endless medieval bestiary generator, creating new creatures every time you look. [more inside]


August 25

Mertonon
Neural network organizational budgeting. You put down a picture of your organization as a neural network, and backpropagation will tell you where to allocate your resources. Like Project Cybersyn, only not from the 70's, prolly (hopefully, lol) not gonna get ganked by Nixon and Pinochet, based upon marginally more modern technology, and you can download the JAR for it right now.


August 21

Clone-a Lisa  
Can you paint a copy of the Mona Lisa in 60 seconds? Anything over 80% is good, 85%+ very good, and 90% may be possible if you're extremely fast and accurate. While making it I posted updates to Twitter and Mastodon (click a later post to load more of thread).


August 19

The Lucille Ball book I wrote over my maternity leave
I wanted to share the update to the book I wrote over maternity leave -- it's a real book coming out in October! [more inside]


August 18

a web app for playing Netrunner via video call
Pantograph is a web application that streamlines playing the card game Netrunner with a remote opponent using physical cards. Each player needs paper cards and a camera positioned over their play area. Once you start a video call using the app you can click on your opponent's cards to see higher resolution images. [more inside]


August 14

A song (and music video) about a satellite
I first got interested in music many years ago and played in a band but never quite learned how to write songs. I spent a lot of time learning theory but still never quite understood how to apply it but then I gradually just started writing as much as I could over the last year or two. This is my first song I've ever released and I really had to stretch to do everything! The song and production are mine but the hand printed animation is done by an artist friend of mine. [more inside]


August 12

The Phantom of the XY-Plane
Every year mathematics YouTuber 3Blue1Brown runs a contest called the Summer of Math Exposition which encourages people, who might not otherwise do so, to publish explanations on math related topics. It's the third year of the contest but the first year I actually had an idea. [more inside]


August 8

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser extended essay/review
I wrote 12,000 word piece on a recent trip to Disney's Galactic Starcruiser “Star Wars hotel”, looking at it from a game design/business/marketing perspective, with plenty of photos. My background is in designing ARGs and augmented reality games, so I was very curious to check it out before it closes next month. tl,dr: it’s extremely impressive and consciously uses a lot of ideas and mechanics from RPGs and MMOs! It's been very much misunderstood, and I'm convinced that soon as it closes, it'll be considered a lost classic.


August 6

Wander - A browser extension that helps you revisit your bookmarks
You bookmark interesting pages to check out later. But the more you bookmark, the harder it gets to find and revisit them -- if you even remember to do it. Wander surprises you with a random page that you bookmarked once upon a time. Get back to the places you love, not just the places that hook you. [more inside]


August 4

The Burning Lies: Witches, Radical Feminists, and Nazis
A short zine about about the curious life of an invented fact. Scholars peg early modern European witch-hunt deaths at 40,000, but estimates in the millions continue to circulate in feminist and Pagan communities. Where did these gross exaggerations come from, and what uses have they been put to? After reading this zine, you will know! [more inside]


July 27

The Coin Toss World Cup
"Come one! Come all! And welcome to the ultimate test of skill... That's right, live from the Independent Monetary Kingdom of Coinland, it's time once again for The Coin Toss World Cup! 8 billion players from all around the world! One solitary winner! Who will it be? Who knows! But it could be you! And it has to be someone!" The Coin Toss World Cup is an exciting game of skill and talent in which YOU could become the number one "heads-or-tailser" in the world! All you have to do is choose (and not lose)! [more inside]


July 21

We built a giant eagle pupper for Iceland's national day  
This is the fifth large scale puppet we have built, and the first one done officially as a puppet making company. Custom designed wings, a completely novel neck mechanism, and literally thousands of laser cut feathers.


July 19

Sleep Funnels
New EP about sleep. It's mostly ambient, with some intense swells. One of the tracks is procedurally generated phase music, and the others are traditionally composed. I wrote a bit about its making, if you're interested in that sort of thing. [more inside]


Big Ben word game  
A unique puzzle for each second of the day, with lots of nice touches: the background fades between day and night based on London time, there's a satisfying bonnggg sound that shakes the game when you find a long word, fireworks if you clear the grid, etc. It also features a large dictionary and generously makes sure you don't get a Q without a U next to it.


July 13

The Dark Forest  
A 6-track dungeon synth album. Dark, whimsical, and a little cinematic. [more inside]


July 5

down-river.net
AMZN has an extensive open box and used outdoor gear selection, but searching it is a mess. I built a little tool to declutter the experience: trim out all the distractions and sponsored products, random low quality brands, etc... All wheat, no chaff. [more inside]


June 21

The Trashscarf Tales
So after a short break from writing of about 20 years, I'm starting up a little story that's just for fun. It's a whimsical fantasy adventure sort of thing with lots of silly jokes and bad puns. There is a talking mustache that is actually a mycelium network. That kinda thing.


June 18

Venas Abiertas
An early pass at a psychedelic jazz tone poem set to The Miguel Zenón Quartet's Venas Abiertas off their album M​ú​sica De Las Am​é​ricas, inspired by Las venas abiertas de America Latina by Eduardo Galeano. [more inside]


May 26

Succession Quotes > Midjourney Prompts
In honor of the final Succession Sunday, thought I'd share a project I've been working on throughout the season. I take my favorite quotes from each episode and turn them into prompts in Midjourney. It gives me great delight and I'm happy to take requests if there's a pre-season 4 quote that's near and dear to your heart.


May 25

DayBrix daily minigame
I had the thought “What if a certain falling-blocks game asked you to clear today's date?” and decided to build it… in an original, legally-safe, non-infringing way. Each day of the week has its own theme (and music), and there’s an Arcade Mode.


May 24

[iOS] US Passport agency rapid(ish) redialer
People in the US waiting for passports often have to call the passport info line as their travel date approaches to move things along, but that number is swamped and on many tries plays a long recorded apology before hanging up. This iPhone/iOS shortcut lets you redial the moment that apology starts, so you can immediately try again, with a minimum of effort. [more inside]


Have You Played?
Learn about the videogames you should play and how to think about them! Have You Played is a free weekly newsletter for novices and experts alike, written by an award-winning game design and journalist. Every post starts with a simple description of exactly how the game works and what you do in it, then explores what makes it uniquely good or flawed. I've covered games including Pentiment, Season, Terra Nil, Cyberpunk 2077, Honkai: Star Rail, and many more!


May 22

Preserving Worlds - Season 2
Visit virtual worlds of the past! Meet the netizens keeping them going. Let's re-wild the information superhighway! Can cyberspace be a better place? A streaming documentary series on the cultures and communities of antique virtual worlds. Every episode is standalone, so you don't need to have seen season 1. [more inside]


Who are you, Mel Kaye?  
For 40 years, since "The Story of Mel" was published (May 21st 1983), the existence of the hacking legend Mel Kaye was in doubt. Until today. We found his final resting place, which unfolds the life and work of the Mel (Melvin) Kaye (Kornitzky), who hacked a blackjack game for the LGP-30 and RPC-4000 some 70 years ago, in Glendale, Los Angeles. The article "Mel Kaye – CV" is published on the Mel's Loop project website, which is dedicated to hacker folklore research, and to the research of The Story of Mel in specific.


May 16

Known Leaders
Here's a tool to fill you in on who the leaders (you know, the important ones it the front of the band photos) of various bands are. It will also tell you about games and novels. [more inside]


Deco Deck: a new logic puzzle
My new game, Deco Deck, is now available for iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, and Mac. In Deco Deck, there's a grid of cards. Each card has one of five suits, and a number from 1-9. The goal is to link up the cards in connected groups of five, such that each group forms a valid "hand". The hands are: straight, flush, full house, five-of-a-kind, and rainbow. A rainbow is one card of each suit. Each puzzle has only one solution. There are new puzzles every day. [more inside]


Season of Skulls — my latest novel — is published today
Season of Skulls is the third book in the New Management trilogy, following on from 2020's Dead Lies Dreaming and 2022's Quantum of Nightmares. (Link points to a reading extract.) [more inside]


May 15

Sight Snap - a new game to speed up identifying notes on the staff
I built this simple browser-based matching game as a less boring way of building note recognition speed compared to the simple question and answer format found in most music theory apps. It should work on every device but will be more enjoyable on a touchscreen. [more inside]


May 11

Becoming a dad, ready or not
I'm a storyteller and standup comic in NYC, and I just posted this standup act/story about what it was like to have to prepare for my first baby while grieving my own father - and getting some surprise inspiration from my stoner mother-in-law. I'd greatly appreciate your checking it out and sharing it everywhere if you're so moved.


May 4

Back to My Dreams
For a birthday present for my wife, I commissioned two musicians to each create a pop song using lyrics generated by ChatGPT AI, album cover art generated by AI, and an AI generated music video. I made this website to present the songs to her as a surprise and explain the process of getting this project made. [more inside]


May 3

Our Backyard
This is a super low-key chill project, sharing some of the better videos I get (mostly from trail cameras) of critters in my backyard. It's mostly deer and bunnies lately.


May 1

Terminal Evening podcast/mix series
Monthly thematic mixes of music, sound and text, intended for active, immersive listening. [more inside]


April 28

FLW inspired Bird Feeder
I used Maker_Mobile's "Laser Cut Frank Lloyd Wright Window Lamp" as the starting point for this. Added a bottom tray, soda bottle to hold seeds, and a top. I can't figure out if I should put a hook in the top to hang it, or mount it on a fence pool.


April 26

Growing In My Gray (Part II)
Here's the second part of my graphic memoir: https://www.echonyc.com/~neander/GrowingInMyGrayPartII.pdf In case you want to read the first part, it's here: https://www.echonyc.com/~neander/GrowingInMyGray.pdf. Any comments welcome. Hope you enjoy it.


Tales of Nocturne - A Night Fiction Sleep Podcast
Tales of Nocturne is a Night-Fiction podcast. What is that you say? Night-fiction are stories that are engaging but where the entire show is design to help one sleep. Tales of Nocturne is based on Nocturne, Planet of Eternal night surrounded by magical waltzing moons. Our tales follow the lives of those that live in that darkness and explore its mysteries. [more inside]


April 23

Banned Book Book Club  
Displays information about a book that has been banned in American schools 2021-2022, alongside a readable preview of most books (on desktop only) and a link to buy it. Reload to see another one.


April 22

Greatest newspaper correction EVER - but where's it from?
So there's this newspaper correction I first came across about 40 years ago and have had memorised ever since. It reads like this: "Instead of being arrested yesterday as we stated for kicking his wife down a flight of stairs and hurling a lighted kerosene lamp after her, Revd. James P. Wellman died unmarried four years ago." I've seen it quoted dozens of times since - most recently in July last year - but never with any attribution telling us which paper it appeared in or when. Earlier this month, I decided to find out. (Twitter thread.) (Threadreader) [more inside]


April 17

Infinite LP records from the Boston Public Library via archive.org
This LP player streams an endless loop of songs from the Boston Public Library collection on archive.org. Choose from dozens of stations or create your own stations. Discover and enjoy classic music! [more inside]


"Rhymes With 'Biscuit'" rolling-ball sculpture
Link goes to 3:30 YouTube video. Rolling-ball sculptures typically involve lifting balls via some mechanism and then letting them roll down various interesting routes. Rhymes With "Biscuit" takes a different approach; it has the balls rolling round and round without going up and down (very much).


April 10

The Dalai Dalí Dolly Folly (Super Deluxe Edition)
Do you have 5 minutes? Do you want to hear 13 songs with rhyming titles? Have I got the album for you! [more inside]


April 3

AODY Music, text-to-speech
A new music project, under the artist name AODY. Including text-to-speech vocals feature, from VoxBox. Three new albums created using this feature so far. AiODY 1, AiODY 10, and Wind Rhapsody. [more inside]


March 31

Kicked Out: gay erotic romance set at a boarding school in the '70s
The winters are long at Napier Academy, an elite boys' boarding school. And as Spaulding Stockwell turns eighteen, he couldn't be lonelier. His best friend Lawrence is pushing him away, and forget finding a girlfriend in Nowheresville, New Hampshire. But when he catches the eye of the school's charismatic star athlete, George "Ender" Endicott, his life takes an unexpected turn. As Ender's tutor, Spaulding becomes embroiled in a steamy affair that jeopardizes all he holds dear. He knows he’s playing with fire…but Ender is impossible to resist. [more inside]


March 30

Infinite Adversaries: a fighting game generated and narrated by ChatGPT
Inspired by the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series, Infinite Adversaries asks ChatGPT to generate perpetual, randomized encounters, pitting you against a never-ending army of imaginary enemies. You're given an option of weapons, and from there ChatGPT imagines an adversary, location, and a set of possible actions (along with their outcomes). As you decide what to do, ChatGPT narrates the results. If you survive, your prize is another adversary. [more inside]


March 24

Tales From The Town: Volumes 1 & 2
Tales From The Town (previously on projects: 1, 2) is my ongoing weekly story series about a small, strange town (latest episodes appear here every Saturday; earliest episodes can be found here). About half the stories follow the adventures of four siblings growing up in a weird, rambling, semi-haunted house, and the rest feature various vignettes about the other inhabitants of the town. It recently reached its 101st episode and to celebrate I've released two free anthologies of the stories from the first two years of the series. Volume 1 (Summer, then Winter) collects the first 52 (standalone) episodes, while Volume 2 (The Lodger Suite), which was an attempt at an ongoing episodic story, collects the next 40 or so. [more inside]


March 19

Let's Have Fun Why Not
Five buoyant tunes! [more inside]


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