My New Web Series

Find out more about today’s Vocab Menace video post PHARO and PHAROS below.

In almost every interview with a writer, the interviewer will ask, “Where do the words come from?”

They’re always talking about “the muse.”

My answer is “My brain assembles factoids into narratives. Oh, and childhood trauma. Also, adult trauma. And….” Then I gesture vaguely around, alluding to all the nonsense that pervades our common experience. The news, social media, and falling down rabbit holes on Wikipedia provide plenty of raw material to construct delightful fictional conflict.

When I think about where words come from, I take a more literal approach. I own a huge Webster’s dictionary from 1939 (pictured). I forget how it came into my possession, but I’m sure it must have come from a library sale or used bookstore. This particular edition was the inspiration for Jaimie Spencer’s beloved dictionary in my apocalyptic trilogy, This Plague of Days. I had to apply duct tape to keep it from falling apart.

My kids have big vocabularies. Partly, that’s osmosis from growing up in a home packed and stacked with books. Also, we always spoke to them as if they were little adults. As babies, they were no doubt confused at times. Nonetheless, I figured they’d catch up and eventually understand my words and sense of humour.

Recently, I decided to make a video series out of my fascination with words.

It’s easy to post on social media with rabid urgency, “BUY MY BOOKS! BUY MY BOOKS!” Easy, but not effective. I’m always looking for new readers, of course. Every author is. However, I’m allergic to marketing. I do it, but I don’t enjoy it. Exploring the meanings of words and where they come from, though? That gets the happy neural juices flowing.

Vocab Menace was born.

Why call it Vocab Menace?

Words can be fun and interesting.
Your challenge each day is to slip these rare or unusual words into casual conversation as if it’s no big deal.

Imagine the satisfaction you’ll derive from all that simmering, smarmy, and artificial sense of superiority!

Where to find Vocab Menace?

Hey, man, it’s 2025. Ya gotta be everywhere! I post on Substack, Medium, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook. (I don’t post on X. Fuck that. X sucks.)

Like, subscribe, and share. All that stuff is sexy.

PLEASE NOTE: I’m away from social media next week (July 28-August 1).

I’m taking a deep dive into isolation to work on my new novel, but Vocab Menace will continue after that brief hiatus.

About today’s post: PHARO and PHAROS

In today’s video, I promoted Lighthouse Legacies by Chris Mills.

Description:

Imagine living your life perched on a tiny island, without electricity, exposed to the fury of the sea, and always at the service of the mariner. This is how lightkeepers and their families spent their lives, even up until the 1960s. We are very close to losing the last of the people who lived this isolated life and experienced the heyday of lightkeeping in Canada. Lighthouse Legacies lets us share in the memories of those who kept the lights.

These stories are presented largely in the words of the people, with context and history by author Chris Mills. Each chapter deals with an element of lighthouse life and is complemented by photos from lighthouse family collections, the Coast Guard and Mills’ own collection.

You can purchase Lighthouse Legacies directly from Nimbus publishing here. (You’ll also find it on Amazon.)

My novel, AFTER Life Inferno, is free to download until midnight tonight! It’s the first in the AFTER Life trilogy about weaponized AI escaping from a genetic engineering lab in downtown Toronto. The fate of all humanity is at stake.

(The basis of the tale was inspired by a fan’s story of how authorities are ordered to handle a lab leak!)