Drew Crider talks

Signal-boosting for my blog posts on drewcrider.com

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Beautiful War II: The Ruin will be out this month!

Beautiful War II: The Ruin will be out this month!

Hello!  It’s been a bit since I last spoke up, and I have a long series of delays, work issues, and a pandemic or two to thank for the delay.  I previously suggested I’d have a book out in October 2019, and that quite simply did not happen.  But no(t much) more waiting!  I have a joyful announcement! I would like to announce that Beautiful War Book II: The Ruin is finally available for…

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Programming and the ProblemProofReader

The last few months have been… weird for me. To summarize, I’ve been studying programming and software development in my free time since the beginning of 2020, trying to find a way into a field I’ve always wanted to work in. I lost my pharmacy job in June due to mental health issues, and over the last few months, I’ve been frantically trying to learn how to code in python so I can get a…

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A Few Project Updates

A Few Project Updates

Hi there! It’s been a chaotic and frightening time lately, and I’d like to hopefully distract you from that chaos, maybe give you something to look forward to.

Beautiful War Book II: The Ruin is finished–long since finished, actually–and I’ve been talking with my editor and the rest of my team to get it published.  There have been pretty severe delays due to the current nationwide quarantine and…

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You Should Play Wario Land: A Video Essay I wrote an analysis of the Wario Land games! It covers Wario's origins in Super Mario Land, his best games, and how the series eventually declined and was replaced by WarioWare.

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Vampires as Allegory: A Video Essay

Vampires as Allegory: A Video Essay

I tried something new! I’ve been experimenting with video editing, and I’m pleased to introduce my new youtube channel, where I’ll post video essays about books, games, movies, and all sorts of stuff. I’ve already got a ton of footage and plenty of ideas lined up, and I intend these videos as shorter, more flexible bits of content than my rare novels.

The first of these essays is an analysis of…

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Upcoming Release: Beautiful War Book II, The Ruin

Upcoming Release: Beautiful War Book II, The Ruin

After years of writing and editing, I’m happy to announce the release of Beautiful War II: The Ruin!  This is a direct sequel to The Waste, beginning two years after the end of that story and featuring characters both old and new.  Here’s the synopsis:

In the aftermath of the Golden War, survivors are struggling to rebuild Amirand when a new threat appears over the mountains: an empire poised to…

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What's Next?

What’s Next?

Spitfire is complete, and I really enjoyed working on it!  The novel’s chapters will stay up and be freely accessible for the foreseeable future.  If you enjoy the novel, or you know someone who might, I’d truly appreciate you recommending it to others.

With that project out of the way, though, things are going to slow down a bit here.  I don’t have any other ready-to-publish novels in the…

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Spitfire Epilogue

Hallelujah

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There was no going back to the way things were.  Smiles and laughs and comfy evenings, those were behind us.  I knew that for sure by the time we both got out of the hospital in Ingram.  Whatever had happened to Dick had changed him.

He wore his leg in a cast and I drove him around, always.  We found a hotel in Ingram, far from Dick’s house, and we lived there.  Dick learned how to…

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Spitfire Chapter 24

Spitfire

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I was less clear on the basement’s layout since it wasn’t on any of the plans Skylar had found.  I got the sense the basement had been dug out after the building’s completion, and I couldn’t go crazy with grenades.  Not because of support beams or load-bearing points or anything.  Dick was down here, and I was trying to save him, not kill him.

I leaped down the stairs three at a time…

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Spitfire Chapter 23

Burn My Dread

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I never knew why, but when I was waiting for a phone call, I always felt a need to use the phone.  The call I was waiting for could come hours or days from now, so there was no harm in the interruption.  I took a seat on the hotel room bed and dialed.

I said, “Dad?”

“Barbara.”  Dad’s voice was rough, tired.  “Barbara, are you alright?”

Unexpected, but good so far.  I said, “I’m…

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Spitfire Chapter 22

It Won’t Be Long

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I saw myself in the news.  They reported me as a suspect in the Garrett investigation, last seen assaulting a cop and currently in hiding.  I figured the police had rounded up everyone they could find, and now they were sniffing for stragglers like.

They could come to this hospital, cuff me, and take me away any moment, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop them.  I couldn’t…

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Spitfire Chapter 21

Straight from the Heart

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White.  Ceiling.  Hospital.  Fuck.  I tried to sit up, and the pain was like another bullet in my gut.  My chest burned incessantly, from my collar down to my navel.  My arm was in a sling, but I couldn’t even feel it, just an arm-shaped field of agony.  The rest of me was hidden under a blanket and a hospital gown.  I pawed around with my spare hand until I found a…

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Spitfire Chapter 20

Ablaze

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I was getting sick of the body armor; it reminded me too much of Navy fatigues, though it also gave me the same sense of power.  I felt even more powerful surrounded by big guys I knew, dressed just like me, ready to kick ass together.  One last time, I told myself.  And I hoped it would be true.

Garrison’s roads were nicer than the ones in Ingram, but I could hardly appreciate them. …

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Spitfire Chapter 19

Second Degree

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“Speak of the devil,” I said as we backed toward our exit. 

Clutching the laptop to his chest, James said, “Can it.  They don’t know we’re here yet.”

The doorknob shook.  Another voice, right on the other side of the door, said, “Unlock it.”  I made out the sound of keys fumbling, then dropping to the floor.  Muttered apologies and more fumbling.  Maybe the poor cashier was on our…

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Spitfire Chapter 18

Fire and Rain

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My car drifted through traffic, barely faster than the others around me.  I was in no hurry.  I didn’t really want to see him anyway.

It was August 13th, exactly a month after my birthday, and I hadn’t even noticed until the day after.  I told myself it was just one more year—who cares?  Right.  More like I had no one around to care.  Dad hadn’t called this year, and I hadn’t…

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Spitfire Chapter 17

I Want to Hold Your Hand

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Dick’s new hideout was below an apartment building, less of a basement and more of a bunker.  As I climbed out of my car, I slipped into my suit jacket and marched up to the shabby brick building ahead.  This had been a nice place once before drug dealers flocked to the projects nearby.  The dealers were gone now, but Ingram’s citizens hadn’t gotten the message, and now…

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Spitfire Chapter 16

Make It Bun Dem

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“You sure about this, Viola?” Dick said.

Viola grinned.  “I’m sure.  You know I’m the best for this.”

“I wouldn’t even consider it otherwise,” Dick said.  “Okay.  Take care, sweetheart.”

I watched from my spot against the concrete wall, drumming my fingers on my arm, as Viola and Dick embraced and kissed each other’s cheeks.  Vi was going to infiltrate Albany.  With Silver’s…

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