Jim Stitzel

Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of Words

Excerpts from Life

My Atheism Has Been One Half of a Binary System

My Atheism Has Been One Half of a Binary System

I’ve been an atheist for some time now. I can’t provide an exact span of time because there was no singular date, no specific point, at which I suddenly said, “Oh, I’m an atheist!” That’s not really how it works when you’re deconverting from religion. It’s more...

Of Gods versus Deities

Of Gods versus Deities

I blame it on my evangelical roots, but as I contemplate my own spirituality and its glacial slide toward paganism, there’s a significant portion of my mind that wants to create a distinction between a god versus a deity. I mean, I get it: deity is just another word...

Anxiety As a Factor of Gaming

Anxiety As a Factor of Gaming

I haven't done any kind of gaming or streaming to Twitch over the last 10 days. It's the longest hiatus I've taken since I started gaming again at the beginning of January. Up until recently, I played something -- usually either Destiny 2 or ARC Raiders -- almost...

Fiction

Come This Far

Come This Far

The engines were down. Again. The Maritime Law had been adrift in space for several hours now, the latest in a series of malfunctions to the ship. Aston was at his wit’s end trying to solve the problem. “Malcolm, what’s our current position?” he called out. The...

The Key

The Key

The key didn't work. Which was confusing because he'd made the thing himself, and it had worked the first few times he'd used it. The keyhole in the back of her head hadn't changed. He was sure of that. But then, he was sure the key would still work, too, and it now...

Spawn

Spawn

The children were shocked. Literally. The bolt of electricity that ran through them should have killed them all. But these children were no ordinary children. They were the children of a demon. Their systems were overloaded, yes, but they were also turbocharged. Their...