Libsyn Directory

EP 378 - Multimedia Storytelling with Dominician Gennari

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Release Date: 09/06/2024

EP 389 - "Now You've Gone" with Cathy Rankin and Ken K. Mary

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Cathy Rankin and Ken Mary about Cathy's new single "Now You've Gone." On October 29, 2024, Cathy Rankin released her debut single “Now You’ve Gone,” featuring renowned musicians David Ellefson (formerly of Megadeth) Ken Mary (formerly of Alice Cooper) and John Ronson. The emotional track, inspired by deeply personal experiences, reflects on themes of love, grief, and ultimately hope. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the - Only available until the end...

EP 388 - Unconditional Boundaries with Andy Lidstone

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Andy Lidstone about the unconditional boundaries he talks about in his life coaching as the Uncondictional Coach. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . Links of Interest: Andy Lidstone is the Unconditional Coach. Andy's biggest dream it to help other people reach their goals. And HIS goal is to help people of all walks of life make their dreams into reality. He believes the best communities are the ones made up of people that build each other up and help one another reach for the...

EP 387 - Rambling Reflections From The Disappointing Aftermath

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode Mark reflects on how disappointed he is with the recent US election, and the importance of creators, artists, and writers to continue to do their work as storytellers and improving the world. This episode contains adult language, but only for a brief moment when Mark loses his cool when trying to express his anger and frustration. Links of Interest: (Book) The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of and is Licensed under...

EP 386 - Inside Every Poem, a Raging Sea of Writerly Advice with Liz Worth

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Liz Worth about her new poetry book Inside Every Poem, A Raging Sea. Mark skips the regular introductory matter to skip right to the interview. In their interview Mark and Liz talk about: How the book is about p laying with the idea of the cross-over or similarities between spell-writing and poetry The way that every line, every word counts in each of them Thoughts on what intuition really is as opposed to what many people think it is The importance of having to know the rules before you break them and how that works in both divination and writing How a lot of the poems...

EP 385 - Rambling Reflections From The Road: Go West Not So Young Man

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode, Mark shares a few thoughts from his hotel room in Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada's West Coast. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . Links of Interest: The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By

EP 384 - Rambling Reflections From The Road: World Fantasy Con 2024

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode, Mark shares a few thoughts from the hotel room at World Fantasy Con 2024 in Niagara Falls, New York. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . From Mark's extremely detailed bullet points about what he wanted to reflect on: 1) Coming to WFC. 2) The nature of relationships in the writing world/community 3) Feeling like a real writer (via recent events) 4) But also feeling like a failure - afternoon at Indigo 5) Links of Interest: The introductory, end, and bumper music for...

EP 383 - 20 Haunting Years

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this solo episode Mark talks through the logic and reasoning behind a recent book launch by sharing a little of his own experience and publication history. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at and . Mark shares the behind-the-scenes story of: Why he first self-published the book One Hand Screaming in 2004 The logistics and strategy behind making it fully returnable and why he was trying to push the envelope of publishing so early in the digital publishing revolution A little bit of his experience as a writer in those manual "mail out...

EP 382 - From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 381 - Showcasing Independent Bookstores, Publishers, And Authors with Andrew Snook

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Andrew Snook about his writing and editing work as well as Canadian Independent Publishers magazine, which is celebrating its first anniversary. Prior to the interview Mark welcomes new Patrons, shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at . In their conversation, Mark and Andrew talk about: Celebrating the first year of publishing Canadian Independent Author Andrew's first ventures self-publishing...

EP 380 - Passion Project Publishing with Brianna Wodabek

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Brianna Wodabek, Assistant Manager of Digital Marketing at HarperCollins about her lifelong love of reading, books, and writing, and her evolution in the book industry. Prior to the interview Mark welcomes new Patrons, shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at . In their conversation, Mark and Brianna talk about: How Brianna always loved reading and writing, but also knew that she wasn't...

More Episodes

Mark interviews Dominician Gennari, a writer, storyteller, composer, and musician about his multimedia book and novella opus, The War for Ascension.

Prior to the interview Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, a word from this episode's sponsor, as well as a word about a previous episode sponsor.

One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years - Kickstarter

NEWS: Please note that the Feb/March 2025 Writers Retreat at Sea from Cruising Writers has been cancelled.

During their conversation Mark and Dominician talk about:

How Dominician's creative and artistic voice started with music at about the age of 13/14
Discovering Tolkien about six or seven years later
How, when writing, Dominician was imagining the accompanying soundtrack and the way the process became inseparable
Learning from one of the most incredible music teachers
Dominician's Italian heritage and how his family would gather in the kitchen and, while cooking together, would sing works like the music from Madame Butterfly and other classical sources
How that learning is layered and added in to the other styles and genres of music that Dominician composes and plays
The way that Richard Wagner would compose music with the elaborate use of leitmotifs (musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas, or plot elements)
Dominician picking ten of the key moments in his story to hit really hard with his own compositions
The various members of the local musical community who participated in the recording
About the 2nd track, "Light of the Hydroverse"
Advice that David Farland, a mentor who worked with Dominician, offered in relation to this project
Being told by Dave Farland that Dominician reminded him of Gene Wolfe
Unpacking numerous languages in order to re-package them into the original language he created for this universe
The Kenorian greeting in the language Dominician invented which says "may serenity follow you"
Working with producers on a script adaptation of The War for Ascension but coming to irreconcilable differences that resulted in an end to that project
How Dominician connected with Dave Farland via a course he took online from Writers of the Future
Turning down what could have been millions of dollars on that cancelled Hollywood project
How people can get ahold of the accompanying soundtrack
The process that Dominician uses when writing the stories and composing the music
What's next for Dominician
And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on the idea of creating in the kitchen and the power of that type of collaboration, as well as the integrity to say no to a huge opportunity if it crosses the line of what is deemed as acceptible.

Links of Interest:

Dominician Gennari grew up in the rough western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in the 80's after his migrant parents fled war-torn Europe after WW2. As a young child, he would fantasise about imaginary creatures living in his backyard and he would dream of magical worlds.

As the years unfolded, Dominician's creative spirit flourished, giving birth to his mythical world, Númaria. This world, meticulously crafted, boasts a rich history and a complex ecosystem, providing the perfect backdrop for the vast timeline of his unfolding story called The War for Ascension.

Submerging himself in the fields of forbidden archaeology, esoteric wisdom, USAPs of the US government, and ancient warfare, a great awakening occurred as the veil of secrecy was lifted from his eyes. After learning humanity's obscured past was stranger than fiction, his desire to create a truthful and artistic message through fiction arose. This acquired knowledge segued into writing his epic fantasy series The War for Ascension and the sequential standalone series The Ascension Archive.

Having spent 3 years working alongside renowned Hollywood producers, Dominician garnered invaluable knowledge of screen craft and storytelling. But due to unforeseen events, he chose an alternative path to pursue his dream of writing wholesome fantasy stories.

Guided by fantasy author and genius, David Farland, Dominician is set to expand his grand mythology, The War for Ascension into a multimedia book and novella opus, along with accompanying soundtracks of epic music.

Dominician is also the producer of the epic industrial metal band Ark of Light, and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor and National Champion. He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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