How are writers made? Are they born? Are they raised? Or are these questions not worth posing because talent and craft are red herrings? We could imagine an imperfect world where writers are mere props of the powers that be. We could imagine that there are no rules to writing and everything is a wild, dangerous game of power. But that sounds too cynical. Let us ask tangible questions, rather than lurk in the dark. I will do away with abstractions and approach this concretely

In revisiting The Man in the High Castle , I stumbled on the idea that alternate history as a genre is not merely about rewriting history for the sake of speculation. Although we are interested in PKD's wild imagination, his novel actually wants us to turn inward and question the Real. Instead, I think alternate history is about finding yourself already written into History. This is because, whether we are conscious of it or not, History ordains us with its power and our enti

My name is Dmitri Akers. I am 27-years-old, which is closer to middle age than it is to youth. And I believe that we should do away with the label of 'emerging artist' because, for one, it sounds infantilising and, secondly, I have felt like one for far too long. I have been writing since I can remember, and never reached a stage of development I would call 'professional', nor 'established'. I have always feared being read, or being rejected. This comes from my anxiety and lo

I met someone special once. It seems like some beautiful Beatnik story, about bums congregating to exchange jokes and sad stories, but it...

" War is War ," L'Ordine Nuovo , Jan.1921 War is war, and he who embarks on that adventure must feel the full force of the beast that he...

I am beginning an impromptu, casual lecture series about Ezra Pound's Cantos . In this episode, I focus on the first canto, the beginning...

I love George Sterling, and so should you. Especially if you are a fan of horror, or weird fiction, or even early forms of "fantasy" a la...

Writing poetry in 2025 is not what it used to be. The distinctions between vague self-expression, emotional outpouring, social media...

As some may know, I recently shifted from formal poetry and weird verse, to short fiction. When my very first short story, "When Mount...

John Keats, a male poet of the Romantic period, is not always equated with feminism. Often, more than not, Keats is seen as a figurehead...

For the special issue of Skull & Laurel Magazine 002 , I wrote about the myth of Daedalus and the labyrinth. At its centre lay the...

I wrote a horror story on Mr Punch. Yes, that  Mr Punch! From those Punch and Judy puppet shows by the seashore. The beach is the last...

by Dmitri Akers Last year, I hit a milestone. I published my second short story ever. My first short story about my ancestral lands...