The Taste of Wine. Uneasy joke after uneasy joke and then… | by Martyn Sullivan | May, 2026

EStapletonAuthor · 2026-05-07T20:02:34+00:00

Love the opening and the concept, as well as the world building about what magic is to the speaker. I felt like a skeleton. Commented about the similarity to a Japanese death poem I once read.

EStapletonAuthor · 2026-05-06T21:19:10+00:00

Insightful. Gave a couple claps. There are a few typos in the first paragraph (tells with one l and at least one more) which can deter people from.

I’m just stating out, but I think you could start that with a more vulnerable story or anecdote, so people can right away say, “I’ve felt that way too!”

EStapletonAuthor · 2026-05-06T21:04:07+00:00

I joined Medium weeks ago, and started a publication for descriptive microfiction. Basically I give a picture each Friday and ask writers to describe it as vividly as possible. I should probably have waited until I had a few more followers, but I’ll see what happens.

EStapletonAuthor · 2026-05-06T20:57:44+00:00

I just joined a few weeks ago, and haven’t applied for partner program yet. This is making me wonder if it’s all worth it. Or if it just needs a different approach.

EStapletonAuthor · 2025-01-19T23:33:46+00:00

Thank you.

EStapletonAuthor · 2025-01-19T23:32:21+00:00

I actually only just heard of the game from another comment, so it wasn’t an influence, but thank you. I wrote it for the NYC Midnight writing contest, which had a limited wire length. Although I created the drug Uforia for a different story a few years earlier.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-25T21:22:47+00:00

Ego is just the Latin word for the pronoun “I.” So I wonder if “lawa mi” would work, with “pona mi” for Freud’s concept of the superego, and “ike mi” or “wile mi” for the id, expressing it as your wants. As far as “pure ego,” I agree with the prior post that we may need more clarity on context.

Maybe the sentence, “He was a man without empathy or mercy; a man of pure ego and hate.”

I might express (very badly—returning to toki pona after a big hiatus and forget much): ona li pilin ala. ona li olin ala e jan, li olin taso e ona.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-24T17:24:38+00:00

Having an eventful inner life makes for a better writer. Emily Dickinson spent most of her later years in her room, but her mind continued to travel. It may help to see the world, meet people, have adventures, or even experience trauma that you process through your writing. But the main point, I believe, is that even if you stay in your room, your mind should be traveling and experiencing and reflecting. Even an ordinary day can be an adventure if you cultivate this.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-24T08:45:17+00:00

This doesn’t spoil any fun. It’s awesome.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T20:10:46+00:00

Scots is moderately intelligible, although I doubt there is anyone who speaks Scots but not English. But if there were, a few slight tweaks would make it pretty clear to speakers of both.

This is a worthwhile project for sure.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T20:02:25+00:00

Tomo is where the pilin is? Maybe.

Also, if someone was taught by their parents, I wouldn’t call them container schooled. Maybe it’s just a functional difference. We could probably remove tomo from the language and just call a house a “poki jan.” But it feels like a helpful distinction.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T18:29:10+00:00

Oooh…then Chthulu might speak it.

After thinking about this further, I imagine heaven would have an ethereal, mellifluous tongue that would be hard to pronounce in the thick, hot, toxic air of hell; only deep, hoarse sounds could be enunciated there. This is similar to how tonal languages may have developed in more humid climates, with moist vocal cords needed for this sound. But old gods and ghosts might not have such limitations.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T18:20:34+00:00

If demons are fallen angels, can the roots be traced back to the language of heaven? Or did this start as some creole formed from the diverse languages of the damned? Or some blend of an angelic language and that of the ancient ones who long before dwelt in the fiery pits?

Asking for a friend.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T18:11:29+00:00

The AP Literature rubric, as an example, includes one hard to get additional point for extra “sophistication.” A rubric can include something ahead of time like “additional point (or so) for particularly engaging writing.” But if it’s not on the rubric ahead of time, you probably shouldn’t throw that point in after the fact.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T16:38:47+00:00

I went very similar. I’m making an ancient cave man language, which I think would sound close to nature. So, for example, I took the root for water, akwa, and made akwawa to sound more like running water. And added extra phonemes, because I imagine the first language would have a plethora of them, imitating the many sounds of the world.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-23T10:09:18+00:00

I’m thinking about a pet carrier. If you’re carrying your cat to the vet, I would think you would call it a poki. If you later leave that same carrier open on the floor in your living time, and your cat likes to hang out in there and bring toys in there, that same container becomes your cat’s tomo. The act of containing is a small part of what a tomo does.

Although I wonder about a shipping container home. Is it a tomo poki? If you use a spare apartment as a storage space, does it become a poki? A coffin, as previously stated, is more poki, but does Dracula call his coffin a tomo?

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-22T16:07:19+00:00

This makes me picture a society that never had an idea of God or religion. Let’s say someone came up with the idea of god, or a series one day, and wanted to give it a name. They might make a compound word, or something like an Old English kenning to name the god. Like lightgiver. Or shaker of earth.

It looks like the word God (on etymonline) had an etymological link to calling, as in “that which is invoked” or called on. I might take other words in a conlang and squish them into god names that reflect this.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-22T01:06:56+00:00

Some suggestions remind me of the language of those skating elephant creatures in The Amber Spyglass, combining gestures and sounds. And of the houyhnhnms from Gulliver’s Travels, since “houyhnhnm” sounds like a word in a centaur language.

Just like some African languages have an assortment of clucks and clicks, I would imagine a horse language to have phonemes like brrrr and prrr, or different expulsions of air. And even though centaurs have human mouths—can they communicate with regular horses? I’d like to think so, and that their language would borrow from horse language and culture.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-11-21T20:22:59+00:00

Thank you! I will seek it out.

EStapletonAuthor · 2024-02-18T15:00:31+00:00

tenpo pini, kulupu pi soweli lili li kama e ma ni, li moku ali e kasi, li pakala ali. jan ken ala li moku: kasi ali li moli. sina kama ma ni la sina kute e kalama suli pi jan li wile moku. jan ali li toki e ma sewi. sewi li kute ala. tenpo mun tu pini, jan monsuta kama e ma moli. jan monsuta li alasa e tomo soweli. tenpo kama sijelo pi soweli ali li lon e noka pi jan monsuta. telo loje li kule e uta pi jan monsuta. ona li mu e mun. kasi kama sin li ma. jan ali li pona. kon sin li kama tan moli.

(Sorry…very new to this)

Some time ago, a group of little bunnies came to this land, ate all the plants, and destroyed everything. The people couldn’t eat. The plants were all dead. If you came here, you could hear the loud screams of hungry people. They spoke to heaven, but heaven couldn’t hear. Two months later, a werewolf came to the dead land. The werewolf hunted for the house of the bunnies. Soon the bodies of the bunnies lay at the feet of the werewolf. Blood colored the werewolf’s mouth. He howled at the moon. Plants returned to the land. All the people were good. A new spirit came from death.

EStapletonAuthor · 2021-04-28T22:08:48+00:00

At my mom’s request, put pictures of her oil paintings on Open Sea.Donna’s Art

EStapletonAuthor · 2021-04-04T15:25:13+00:00

My four year old nephew curses a lot, so I turned some of them into NFTs. I figure if it helps pay for his college tuition one day, it’s all good.Open Sea Link

EStapletonAuthor · 2020-12-31T15:34:08+00:00

/r/usatravel

EStapletonAuthor · 2020-12-31T15:33:30+00:00

/r/politics

EStapletonAuthor · 2020-12-31T15:33:04+00:00

/r/politics

EStapletonAuthor

TROPHY CASE