A while back I began a side project called Vocab Menace. Besides working away on my WIP, I decided to have a little extra fun with words. Like my protagonist in This Plague of Days, I’m obsessed with dictionaries, so five times a week, I go down a rabbit hole and maybe add a little editorializing. Stephen Miller is a fascist asshole rattlecap, for instance. (Find that little rant below in Make Old-Time Insults New Again!) Enjoy them all!
Here are some of my recent video links (with scripts) on Substack:
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With trembling hands, I held a manila envelope, thick and battered from some abuse it had suffered in transit. The return address told me this was more mail forwarded through my publisher. I stood frozen on the side of the road beside my battered old mailbox. I muttered a few choice curses as if words were spells that could ease my fears.
A thick blanket of white drifts reached up to my knees. Snow quieted the world: No wind nor even birdsong, only the hard thud of my beating heart. It was as if all of nature held its breath, waiting and watching.
To my left, my neighbor’s long driveway was unplowed. Their farmhouse appeared deserted and lonely. I strained to listen for any hint of company. Nothing. No car on the road, and not another soul in sight. Mercury County, Montana, was as silent as a tomb. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching, gauging my reactions. A dangerous stranger could be watching me through a rifle scope.
When I started my Vocab Menace series, the idea was to find fun words, define them, and challenge viewers to slip those exotic or rarely used words into casual conversation.
I don’t know how many people are actually making that attempt, but I do enjoy finding these words. We use words to tell a story, but the stories behind the words are often interesting, too.
Some folks are concerned we are losing words or adding silly ones. Remember the furor over the elimination of the distinction between regardless and irregardless? I know that sticks in some people’s craws, but language is constantly evolving. It’s an organic thing that can grow in unexpected ways. You can resist, but you may as well try to empty the ocean with a sieve.
We could try to freeze our level of communication at some arbitrary stage, I suppose. With enough teaching, torture, and torment, we could all speak as if we are upperclass eighteenth-century Brits. I doubt that would fly, though.
Some lovers of the English language would clutch their pearls and retreat to their fainting couches if they knew the truth. Most newspapers are written at the sixth-grade level. That’s not a disaster. It’s meeting and reaching more readers where they are.
I am a word nerd, but I don’t beat readers over the head with my research (at least in my novels, I don’t). However, I must admit, I loved using Latin phrases in This Plague of Days.I made it work by translating said phrases and aphorisms. There was never any doubt what was meant and the use of a bit of Latin was integral to the protagonist’s character development. Jaimie Spencer is a selective mute on the spectrum with a special interest in his dictionary. When the world ends, Jaimie finds comfort in the old wisdom of Latin words.
My 1939 Webster’s was the inspiration for the dictionary Jaimie carries around the apocalypse. She’s a thick one, eh?
Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1939
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Just saw a post from The New York Times saying that Trump could rig the midterms. The governor of Texas says he “deserves” to redistrict Texas to the GOP’s advantage. From ignoring due process and habeas corpus to systematic disinformation, there are too many offenses to conscience and order to list. So, yes, the United States of America is an anocracy.
For the would-be emperor’s supporters, it must be exhausting to constantly ignore Occam’s razor and play the part of Worst Detectives in the World.
However, stay tuned and be patient. After his failure to release the Epstein files plus shooting the messenger over poor job stats, the facade is falling and the Trump structure is imploding.
That this regime won’t endure is no comfort to the casualties of chaos. We must hold on. Outlast this crisis. Stay strong, and speak the truth.
Deborah Goodwin wakes up in her tiny basement apartment in Toronto. It seems like it’s going to be just another day in her anonymous corporate job chained to a desk. But something is wrong with her cell phone. The device tells Deborah to power down and turn it back on to “reset.” But it’s not just the phone that is reset. It’s Deborah and the world.
To get peace, first there must be chaos.
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