wonderingaccountant

[wonderingaccountant]

The Fragility of Sacred Institutions: Trust, Authority, and the Decay of Society

Adam Smith in his work, The Wealth of Nations, describes the need for a structure of laws that people can rely upon. Without delving too deep, if people are going to make choices, build companies, or enforce contracts there must be guiding principals that all agree upon to ensure that the risk we take isn’t going to be infringed upon by others. This is a fast and loose description of one part of…

[wonderingaccountant]

The Most Annoying Man on Earth: A Review of The Trial and Death of Socrates

I purchased Plato’s The Trial and Death of Socrates at a used book fair recently. I figured it was small enough that I could whip through it in a couple of days. Weeks later, I am still slogging my way through the words, finding wonderful bits of wisdom from a man who I am beginning to think was put to the death less for his arguments and more for his nature. The Hackett Publishing Company…

[wonderingaccountant]

A Pessimist Never Lied To Me

“…are you okay then?…” Chapter 5: I think it’s fine Isabella ran up the outside stairs, taking them two by two. She rushed down the hall overlooking the street. The phone still ringing as she held it up to her ear. Snow whipped through the air, covering the floor in a think powder as cars crawled back home. Isabella felt the panic setting in halfway home. Aubree hadn’t texted back, and she…

[wonderingaccountant]

Meditation on Authority

I recently did a book review on Paul Strathern’s Nietzsche In 90 Minutes and found myself motivated to continue a less official discourse on the subject, specifically on authority. I see this significant divide between people regarding what is accurate, and I wanted to work through my thoughts in a public way because I am embracing the internet’s culture of documenting every thought. Authority,…

[wonderingaccountant]

A Pessimist Never Lied To Me

“Sometimes…” Chapter 5: We just end up where we’re supposed to be As much as Isabella hated work, she didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now. There is something about normalcy that stops the weird from peeking through. She kept waking up all night, thinking someone was by her door. A deep fear crept up each time she eyed the floor where the door met the carpet, feeling Derrick…

[wonderingaccountant]

Condensing A Life Into Eighty-Three Pages: A Review of "Nietzsche in 90 Minutes."

Published in 1996, I picked up Paul Strathern’s Nietzsche in 90 Minutes this last weekend at a used book sale. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for these types of books. In popular culture, producers show philosophy and psychology theories without color. It can be an absolute chore to drill down and figure out what is chaff and what is wheat. For someone like myself, who is interested in these subjects…

[wonderingaccountant]

A Pessimist Never Lied To Me

“You were…” Chapter 4: Destroyed Aubree blew past the kitchen to her room, slamming the door shut. Isabella didn’t see Sofia or Derrick. She fell onto the couch, running her head through her hands. The light of the day had passed early. Falling snow illuminated by the street lights blew across the windows. Isabella wallowed in silence. Emotional exhaustion was worse than anything physical. At…

[wonderingaccountant]

“The Creeper”: A Slow-Burn Nightmare That Hooks You Till the End

The Creeper, A. M. Shine, Published 2022 Shine does some cool things that are hard with horror and thriller novels. He makes a mystery, pushes the tension, and keeps me asking for more. I had no idea what was happening and was hooked for the ride. Horror/Thriller novels, at times, are so overdone, and graphic that they ruin the suspense and the character arc. The Creeper keeps me reading, keeps…

[wonderingaccountant]

A Pessimist Never Lied To Me

“What’s the plan then?” Chapter 3: There Isn’t One Lions Park surrounded a manmade lake. Small tents of red and yellow dotted the ice. A father and son playing hooky from the daily struggle of life pulled down the canvas as the dark clouds closed in on them. Aubree gripped the steering wheel, her eyes looking out into nothing. Isabella could feel the heat that radiated off her. Madder than…

[wonderingaccountant]

Quest to Publish

Getting a form letter is pretty disappointing. I’ve gotten mostly form letters. There was one agent who wrote out a long reply, and I think that helped keep me going. Writing this blog, trying to engage more with people, and working towards publishing something feels so…wrong. I don’t know. I’ve worked hard in my life to do away with social media and advertising myself. I like to live a humble…

[wonderingaccountant]

A Pessimist Never Lied To Me

“You don’t get it; I did everything right…” Chapter 2: I Still Failed Isabella once pitied people who thought high school was the best years of their lives. Those large fish swimming in a midwestern hormonal pond couldn’t grasp how insignificant they were. Their crowning achievement was ruling the halls of intolerant ignorance. People who put her down simply for being who she was were now a…

[wonderingaccountant]

"The Circle": A Digital Dystopia That Still Haunts Us

Since this was released about ten years ago, and there is a movie, you can expect spoilers. I saw the movie some years back and had been wanting to pick up the novel. Well, I did that this month, read it over the week, and here are my thoughts. I enjoyed this novel’s details creating a social media hellscape that haunted my mind and left me with a righteous anger and drive to burn all things…

[wonderingaccountant]

A Pessimist Never Lied To Me

“Between you and me your…” Chapter 1: Life is Boring Living typically implies more than just working, eating, and sleeping. That’s what was promised, wasn’t it? Isabella believed life was more. She needed to believe that it was more. Her nails clicked atop the desk as the phone rang her custom chime. She spent an hour picking out the ringtone when she first started as an analyst. Like many…

[wonderingaccountant]

Quest to Publish

At this moment, between the three books I have completed, I have queried forty agents and several publishers. In addition, I’ve submitted three short stories for consideration in a writing contest and an online magazine. Over the past year, I’ve attended several classes and written about 400,000 words. In total, I have three completed works I feel can be viewed favorably Black Rose, Thaumaturge…

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Introducing: A Pessimist Never Lied to Me

You will never find the life you are looking for. This bastardized Gigamesh quote is the first thing I see every morning as I sit down in my cubicle. I wrote it as a reminder that I am a failure. I didn’t create the life I sought as a child. I haven’t done anything to be remembered. I completely missed every chance to strive, and I punish myself. Every day for the last five years I punished…

[wonderingaccountant]

Unpredictable, Human, and Hilarious: A Review of Jason Pargin’s "I’m Starting to Worry about this Black Box of Doom"

Pargin has a magical way of immediately gripping me with the titles of his work. In a world of one-word headers that attempt to invoke mystery, Pargin throws out titles that cause me to pause and wonder what’s inside. I’ve read several of Pargin’s books from the John Dies at The End series to Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits. I’m Starting to Worry about this Black Box of Doom is great for…

[wonderingaccountant]

Echoes of Obsession

Paul couldn’t stand to be away from her, not even after she died. -Now- Paul listened to the preacher man every Sunday morning, spitting fire about damnation and judgment. But hell wasn’t what bothered Paul. It was the silence. The nothingness waiting for him at the end of it all. An eternal void. That nothingness was a demon clinging to his back. It whispered in the quiet, gnawed at the edges…