joemarshallauthor.bsky.social
Irish 🇮🇪 Seosamh O'Marascal, from County Laois, immigrant and emigrant, writing Irish fiction about families, social injustice, and rural life. Woodworker by day, writer by night. Unbound Book Festival board member. Featured in Past Ten.
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After thinking a bit, I understand the truth in my latest work: No matter how just your cause, if you lose sight of justice, what you'll get won't be worth having.
#writing #bookfestival #writer
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Fantastic book. Completely reshaped my understanding of the enlightenment.
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I was there! Great talk.
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After your talk Friday night, I realized my new novel has the thesis you described; the fundamental truth of the work: no matter how just your cause, if you try to fix it without justice, what you'll get won't be worth having. I'm rereading it to ensure every thread returns to this truth.
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It was very sobering; one of the saddest places I've been.
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And though I saw adults here and there, it quickly became apparent that the majority of the 50 or so headstones were of young children, most less than five years old, each having one of five surnames. It's a reminder of how bad things were before modern childhood vaccines and medicine.
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When they both defy ancient taboos to get what they want, their worlds descend into conspiracy, adultery, supernatural torment, and murder.
It is ready to read at 83,000 words.
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In the early 1950s, when the land is overrun by a plague of rabbits, Nelly Malloy seeks to escape her loveless marriage for a bit of modernity, while Michael Sheely tries to preserve his farm's traditional ways despite debt and ecological disaster.
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This is exactly what I've been thinking too. They never expect to be subject to the powers they're garnering to themselves.
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Mine does the same thing. Like, wtf cat?
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He's a character!
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Congratulations! How wonderful.
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Lightborne is excellent. Thanks for writing it, I can see why @brianlangan.bsky.social fell in love with it.
I had a short piece post recently, the ups and downs of social media told in a thin slice of family life. Check it out if you get a chance.
www.past-ten.com/single-post/...
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Thanks for the opportunity. I enjoyed writing it.
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Thank you!!!
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www.past-ten.com/single-post/...
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Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance.
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4. Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context.
5. Build community. Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload.
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2. Use aggregators and experts. Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.
3. Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.
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What now?
1. Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can't track everything - that's by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.
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Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.
The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement.
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Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.
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using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual; it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.
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I'll have a story posting on Past Ten in three days. Will send you a link when it's up. Would appreciate a share.
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Nice!!!!