The Holocaust Engine

The Holocaust Engine by David Rike and Stephen Patrick

Tag: writing

Out of nowhere?

September 4, 2020 /

One of the joys of being a writer is finding inspiration in the most unusual spaces.

My question for today: What is the most obscure thing you’ve read/seen in the past month that impacts your writing?

Here’s a few gems we’ve found in obscure places that have impacted our writing. Leave your own in the comments or feel free to comment on ours. Enjoy!

DAVID RIKE

Attack of the Mushroom People is a Japanese horror movie from the 60’s on Amazon Prime.  It’s actually good.  Mostly just a stranded-on-an-island-survival-movie.  Surprisingly smart script, you know, for a story about attacking mushroom people.

STEPHEN PATRICK

The Imjin War by @Samuel Hawley explores the Japanese invasion of Korea from 1592-98. Ostensibly, a historical piece about an obscure time period and a sliver of history that was never covered in my world history classes, Mr. Hawley builds an incredible narrative about human interactions, strategy, and drama. Based on original sources, it is filled with colorful characters, immersive settings, and page-turning scenes. Add in palace intrigue, samurai and naval combat with Geobukseon (“Turtle ships”), it filled my notebook with inspirations for several current and future projects.

What we’re reading

September 4, 2020 /

From Stephen Patrick:

blur book stack books bookshelves
a romantic setting in the bathroom
adult blur books close up

One of the best things about working with a writing partner is how we compliment each other to make us and our stories better.

Our individual reading tastes are hard to describe, but we both have a unique discipline beneath the madness. Below is a small snippet of what we are reading as The Holocaust Engine prepares to launch. Please share your own in the comments. We’d love to see where you are casting your gaze these days.

DAVID:

Every year I have a reading list with categories: classic, course study topic, recent sci fi, new author, etc.)  I just finished this year’s classic, Joyce’s Ulysses, hated it.  All high brow mainstream fiction is self-serving but Ulysses just seemed to hold its readers in contempt..After that I read Greg Bear, Hull Zero Three — which was a fantastic palate cleanser.

STEPHEN:

I love the art of discovery in reading. Each year, I split my targets among science non-fiction, history/biographical, top 10 contemporary fiction, classic fiction and “literary” classics. My stack is currently anchored by the Norton Anthology of English Literature (the 3k page powerhouse we hated in school), which gets me from Blake to Kipling to Conrad to Achebe. It sits next to my palate cleanser: Fritz Lieber’s “Our Lady of Darkness”. “The Biggest Bluff” by Maria Konnikova and “The Great Influenza” by John Barry complete the stack and keep the lights on deep into the night.

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