Greetings, and thank you for visiting my page - though I would prefer you look over my work as well. I am an eighteen year old heterosexual male from Central Alberta, Canada - west of Edmonton, though I have New Zealand citizenship by descent. I am a rancher and a poultry farmer, and that is one of the main themes of my written work - the decline but perseverance of the family farm. The other is that I come from a long line of technically-minded people, and have a general scientific and engineering interest. Both are reflected in my chosen pseudonym, and yes I am rallying against some definitions in an attempt to reclaim peasant as a unifying term for rural people. Finally, I am also highly political and look at things from a socialist perspective, partly due to my lower economic status. I am an atheist, a consequentialist, and follow the Marxist understanding of dialectical materialism - no gods, spirits or "great men" sway my destiny.

I took to writing in 2008 as a way of expressing myself, first in the form of fan fiction I wrote (http://blood-wiki.org/Shogo/Expanded-Canon/) for the excellent old anime-inspired game Shogo: Mobile Armour Division (http://www.blood-wiki.org/index.php/Category:Shogo_Sub-Section), but soon decided to start playing around with my own ideas; fan fiction is an excellent way for anyone to start writing, so I highly recommend it. In general, these take three forms: romantic short stories wherein I work out some of my isolated angst, political fables or otherwise tales with opinionated subtexts, and the occasional attempt at humour. I am not one to try and write general examples of a genre, like say horror or science fiction. I like many genres, but feel that the wide array of examples of these to be found here, and elsewhere, mean that I should only write things that I feel are personally unique - or, in the case of my politics, expressing and suggesting my own ideas of life and society. I may also post the occasional essay, but my thoughts evolve and change in such a way that makes me not inclined to put things in hard print, and so I may be inclined to give them a revision system.

I am also a programmer, and am working on a few play scripts as well, and those are areas I am more interested in working with general themes or genres as the mixed media approaches of game, audio, animation or video design make them less generic. All hail to all writers though; I also would like to think that I am fairly well educated in literary traditions and history, though I find it hard to find time to read longer works: my mother agreed with the description of "unread literate", though that also fits in for my penchant for audio books (I basically only read factual articles in text form). For more on me, and the loads of other things I am working on, see: "http://icculus.org/graham/". If you find this self-description too long to read, you are probably on the wrong site. Or you think I am dull, either way, move on... One more thing, the text of the GFDL, my preferred textual license, can be found here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html#TOC1

A brief run-down on some of my tastes:

- My Favourite Fiction Authors: Arthur Conan-Doyle, Douglas Adams, Martin Cruz Smith, Grant/Naylor, George Orwell, Raymond Chandler, William Gibson, Robert A. Heinlein, Issac Asimov, H.P Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter David
- My Favourite Fiction Books: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently, Red Dwarf novels, Arkady Renko series, Philip Marlowe series, Sherlock Holmes, Animal Farm/1984, Neuromancer
- My Favourite Fact Authors: Karl Marx, Kimball Cariou, Richard Stallman, Richard Dawkins, Jared Diamond, David Kushner, Gwynne Dyer, The Associated Press
- My Favourite Fact Books: The Communist Manifesto, "Free Software, Free Society", "Guns, Germs and Steel", The Selfish Gene, The God Delusion, Masters of Doom
- My Favourite Text-Oriented Websites: Wikimedia Foundation, Wikia, TV Tropes, Archive.org, FictionPress/FanFiction.Net/Archive of Our Own,People's Voice, Phoronix, Gaming on Linux

I would like to note that I generally do not pick individual favourites, and try and be open minded towards works and themes - and I would also like to cite Warren Zevon (musician), J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), John Carmack (Doom & Quake), Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (adventure games, critic), Nick Newhard/Jay Wilson (Blood series), Craig Hubbard (Shogo), Tom Jubert (Penumbra series), Vince Desi/Steve Wik (Postal series), Warren Spector (Deus Ex), Murray Ball (Footrot Flats), Scott Adams (Dilbert), George Carlin (comedian), Ben Elton (Blackadder/Thin Blue Line), Peter Jackson (film maker), Hideaki Anno (Evangelion), Masamune Shirow/Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) and Ian Mackintosh (The Sandbaggers) as influences on me. Also, I do not need to agree with something to praise it, as long as it is honest.

And yes, I have actually read the Manifesto - more than once, and got insight from it, I am not some dumb poser. And yes, I think The God Delusion needs a better name, as there is so much more of value there than a defence of atheism. Finally, I admit that most of these I have only heard in audio book form. Audio books are a good healthy medium in their own right, allowing me to enjoy literature while multi-tasking, as well as transforming literature into a communal rather than private experience (I listen to them alongside my twin brother, so we can share commentary and reflections on them together).

Hmm, based on the Nebula award word amounts, Bond of Code is just barely still a novelette, Unconscious Desperation is a novella, my underdevelopment novel has just made it to be such and is nowhere near done, and according to Wikipedia's word count article my largest piece of fan fiction (currently unpublished) is the length of a decently meaty thriller. And here was I assuming I was writing short fiction... I guess ranting does one a lot of good if that is what you are after.

Note: I have a general policy of reading the works of those who review, favourite or subscribe to me. So, if you are desperate for readership, fire away! And remember that I always at least thank those who do so, and, on one occasion thus far, write poems about them!

RIP Peter Warman (my gido): Farmer, hunter, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather; 1923-2012

Am I to be miffed that Library Liaison has received 2300 visits while my next best before was only around 200? Test Stress has also received over 1000 hits. Hmm, if it is smut you want than fine, go ahead and ignore my rantings and musings, but I can not help but wonder about all of you out there in reader land... seriously though, thanks for reading.

After getting my letter to the editor published in the October 15-31, 2012 issue of the People's Voice, a full commentary of mine ran in the November 16-30, 2012 issue! I have a working relationship with the editor now, so expect more pieces to show up in time.

Currently Going Through: The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

Previously Going Through: Great Classic Mysteries by BBC Audio, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection, The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft, Something Wicked This Way Comes (radio play) by Ray Bradbury, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin, The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary W. Shelly, 1984 by George Orwell, Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith

English 30-1 Reads: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denamrk by William Shakespeare, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen