How to Turn an Existing Short Story into a Novel

Pamela Koehne-Drube over at Novlr wrote a great framework for expanding a short story into a novel. It's like she was reading my diary.

Last Date Night in the Valley

He’d wanted to take her to a fancy restaurant in Corpus Christi, but with her last class of the day letting out at 7:30 p.m., she’d balked at the six hour round-trip just to eat raw shrimp from a champagne glass.

AI Boiled a Small Lake to Bring House of Nepenthe to Life

They say all is fair in love and self-publishing, which is why I have no trouble throwing money at anything that might remotely help me sell more books... even if "anything" occasionally means accelerating the heat death of the planet.

Objection! This Isn't Funny at All (How Pauly Shore Lied to Me About Jury Duty)

There is a small subset of people in this country who don't recognize the comedic genius of Pauly Shore's work in the 1990s, and if you happen to be in that camp, I'd like you to stop reading right now, as I don'

One Is The Loneliest Number (of POVs in a Vinestead Anthology Novel)

I know, I know... House of Nepenthe isn't even out yet, and here I am talking about Book 9 of the Vinestead Anthology. Believe me, I wish I had the marketing instinct to build up excitement for my longest and most ambitious novel ever before it hits shelves,

Do You Read Science Fiction? (And Other Icebreakers I Used Selling Books at STAPLE!)

I managed to snag a table at STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo on January 24, 2026, thus beginning three months of anxiety and ill-conceived plans to dye my hair, change my name, and flee to Mexico. It was going to be my first time ever selling my books in person,

I Spent a Year Writing Code with ChatGPT and Learned Nothing

In a world where we are judged by our results and not by what we learned along the way, AI-assisted coding seems like the perfect shortcut. But though we deliver our products faster, are we sure we're not losing something in the process? Something key to our own personal development?

The Psychology of Easter Brunch; May Contain Eggs and Nick Miller

The family and I took a little trip out to the Lost Pines Resort just east of Austin and capped off our weekend of farm animals, lazy rivers, and torrential downpours with an innocuous Easter brunch in what the resort calls their "Barn" but was more like their

On Trauma, Time, and Anaïs Nin

I've been reading non-fiction by Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin in the hopes of transporting myself back to a time I've romanticized as being the height of literary community. I love the little insights into their thinking, their processes, and their feelings. I also like seeing

House of Nepenthe Is Now Available for Kindle Preorder

House of Nepenthe by Daniel Verastiqui is now available for Kindle preorder. The eighth entry in the Vinestead Anthology releases June 2, 2026.

Cynthia Scatters The Crew

The driver’s name was Kaz, and as the newest and youngest member of the crew, Cynthia had fully expected him to cut and run as soon as the job went south, which coincidentally, was the moment she hit the roof of the McCall Tower in downtown Houston. The localized

Lock the Bathroom Door: The Monetized AI Slop Endgame Is Near

As a science fiction writer, I learned early on how to be comfortable being dead wrong about the future. I grew up in a time when books featured Evil Corporations™️that were trying to steal your data, spy on you, and influence your decision-making through well-placed propaganda. That's

Movies

How Billy Madison Could Have Won the Academic Decathalon

If I could slip back to 1995, I’d tell Little Daniel two things. One: buy NFLX and never look back. Two: quoting Billy Madison does not, in fact, constitute a personality. I cannot overstate the death grip this movie had on me. It was peak comedy, the funniest, most

Flashes From the Verse

Tenchi Teikoku

As far as user caps went, Tenchi Teikoku had one of the lowest in the area. The rumors went that its sysop, who went by the name of Kenoh, ran the board out of his basement with his own equipment and bundled T1 lines. That meant bandwidth into Tenchi was

Books

Crying in Bed, Reading in the Park, Writing Everywhere

The other night, Matador had trouble falling asleep. Something was plaguing his little eight-year-old mind, and he tossed and turned in his bed while I lay reading and crying beside him. Not openly, of course. I wasn't bawling. But tears ran down my cheeks, and the same low

Essays

Old Man Shakes Fist at Words

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a writer or because of the anxiety disorder that’s been quietly narrating my life since middle school, but I am always listening. People talk, and my brain just… grabs it. Out in public, in movies, in books, in checkout

Medically Speaking

When Getting a Shot Becomes a Revolutionary Act

A friend messaged me the other day. Let's call him Bort. No, let's call him Steve. Steve is a normal and completely real person, just like me, and we share many of the same interests, such as staying healthy, trusting science, and acknowledging the basic human

For My Political Activists

You want me to wear what?

“Uh… hi, this is Bob Newhart calling from, uh, the… well, I guess you’d call it the ‘Patriotic Apparel Compliance Office,’ if that’s still the name. Right. Good. “…Yes, yes, I got the memo. That’s why I’m calling. I, uh… well, it says here that starting

Gaming

Scenes From the Second Stranding

Spoilers for Death Stranding 2 ahead.

Movies

So did RISC architecture really change everything or what?

There’s a moment in Hackers when Dade Murphy, aka Crash Override, aka Zero Cool, is poking around Kate Libby’s laptop. He notices the specs and starts rattling them off to prove he's in the know: Dade: It has a killer refresh rate. Kate: P6 chip. Triple

Publishing

House of Nepenthe: How Long is Too Long?

I’ve been trawling through literary agent websites lately, and I’ll tell you what: each one has their own quirky little rules. Some want a guaranteed happily-ever-after. Some will accept robots, but only if they're unattractive. And still others insist that the protagonists must be a lesbian

Movies

We Know No King but the King of NYNEX Whose Name is Phreak

Last night, for maybe the thousandth time, I watched Hackers on my phone while delivering some packages in Death Stranding 2. It’s the cinematic equivalent of comfort food: dope-ass graphics, neon lighting, and dialogue that I was never cool enough to fully understand. If you’ve spent any time

Mailbag

From the Mailbag - August 2025

After more than twenty years in the (self-)publishing world—and eight consecutive New York Times bestsellers—I still get a little thrill every time I open my inbox. It’s not the awards, not the movie deals, not the lavish praise from critics that keeps me going. No, it’

Travel

Zootopia: Day Two in Portland, Our Future Home

August 5th, 2025. Portland, Oregon. Portland is two hours behind Austin, so I woke about 3:45 a.m. ready to conquer the day. Unlike previous adventures where Dom has organized a precise, value-maximizing itinerary for us, this year, I was in charge. In classic Verastiqui style, that meant one