My book Fighting To Win: Samurai Techniques For Your Work And Life had just come out, and I was on a TV show publicizing it. The host said, “I read your book last night. You say in it that in the martial art called aikido you “harmonize” your movements with your opponent’s movements. Can you demonstrate to me what that means?”

We were sitting about three feet apart, facing each other.  I said, “I’ll be happy to.” The host said, “Should we go over there where we have more room?” I said, “This is fine. I won’t have to get up out of this chair. Throw a punch at me as though you are mad at me and want to knock me down. Don’t hold anything back. Really throw a punch.”

The host said, “Are you sure you want me to?” He was a very big, muscular man who…

Often when works of fiction are discussed, word and/or page count comes up. When you see books on a shelf, one of the first things you’ll notice, apart from the author’s name and book title on the spine, is how thick or thin they are compared to each other. Some people like J. R. R. Tolkien enjoy reading long stories. Others prefer shorter works. What is it about length? Does it matter?

Often when you look at a book’s title page, there will often be a subtitle saying “A Novel” or something similar. “A Novella” and “A Novelette” appear to be less common. Instead perhaps you might see “A Short Novel”. Furthermore, when it comes to defining types of writers we have novelist, poet, essayist, playwright, short story writer, and screenwriter. There are no set terms that I’m aware of for writers of novellas…

Something we’ve been excited to see with this second anthology is the mixture of familiar faces, along with fresh new voices. Last week, we introduced a new author, Bryanna Wearley.

This week, we get to share a little about a returning contributor and his story for An Absurd Apocalypse. Benjamin Oneal’s submission, “A Case for Mankind” is a truly unique spin on an apocalyptic tale, and we can’t wait to share it along with all the other great stories in the upcoming anthology!