Author Archives: Mike Reeves-McMillan

About Mike Reeves-McMillan

Mike Reeves-McMillan lives in Auckland, New Zealand, the setting of his Auckland Allies contemporary urban fantasy series; and also in his head, where the weather is more reliable, and there are a lot more wizards. He also writes the Gryphon Clerks series (steampunk/magepunk), the Hand of the Trickster series (sword-and-sorcery heist capers), and short stories which have appeared in venues such as Compelling Science Fiction and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.
Jul 22

So many ordinary people became heroes in the dark days before and during WW II.

Posted on by

So many ordinary people became heroes in the dark days before and during WW II.

Originally shared by Self-Rescuing Princess Society

“They did it because it was the right thing to do, nothing more, nothing less.”

Even so, it was incredible brave. While they weren’t smuggling people out of the Germany, they were helping folks escape by smuggling their material wealth, against Nazi law. And doing it completely under the noses of the Nazi boarder guards.

Jews leaving Germany in the 1930s weren’t allowed to take their possessions, and would have had to surrender them at the boarder. But, many countries accepting refugees, like the UK, required each person to have a means of supporting themselves — money and a job. It was a terrible catch-22 for many.

By helping to smuggle their money and furs and jewels, they helped the escapees meet both of those requirements.

http://buff.ly/2uRyBbz
Jun 24

‘Ted says if Zahir hadn’t been so kind, his life would look very different.

Posted on by

‘Ted says if Zahir hadn’t been so kind, his life would look very different.

“None of my attitude would have changed,” Ted says. “I would still have the same beliefs I always did. The way they responded to this is what changed me.”‘

Via Lisa Cohen.

Originally shared by Chris Kim A

“They actually were doing more against extremism than I was,” Ted says. “I just realized all the misconceptions I had about Islam were wrong, because I didn’t know any actual Muslims.”

The next week, the congregation’s leader invited Ted to visit the mosque. In the prayer hall still marked by his bullets Ted apologized, and in front of everyone the leaders hugged him. When it came time for prayer, Ted turned to Zahir.

“He just said, ‘I want to pray with you,'” Zahir says. “I said, ‘Follow me,’ and then we bowed down. That’s when he became my brother.”

http://www.wbur.org/kindworld/2017/06/23/kind-world-40-four-bullets
Jun 05

Lisa Cohen’s share of this post reminded me of the Jewish concept of tikkun olam – basically healing the world’s…

Posted on by

Lisa Cohen’s share of this post reminded me of the Jewish concept of tikkun olam – basically healing the world’s imperfections by doing acts of kindness and goodness. I want to celebrate that in this new collection.

Originally shared by Joyce Donahue

Ballet dancer saves homeless man pushed onto train tracks. Definitely a case where strength and agility came in handy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/04/arts/dance/ballet-dancer-gray-davis-subway-rescue.html?_r=0
May 17

Basically, if you think you’re an expert you’ll continue to do things the way you know how to do them, and may even…

Posted on by

Basically, if you think you’re an expert you’ll continue to do things the way you know how to do them, and may even subtly resist any other way.

This applies to creativity in general.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Why Disruptive Innovation Requires Looking Beyond the Experts http://bit.ly/2qR9W4S

Jan 06

There are so many stories of heroism from WW II. Terrible times produce great as well as terrible people, I suppose.

Posted on by

There are so many stories of heroism from WW II. Terrible times produce great as well as terrible people, I suppose.

Originally shared by Self-Rescuing Princess Society

Sigrid Schultz – the dragon from Chicago

How have I never heard of Sigrid Schultz before? Here was a trailblazing reporter who rose to the position of chief correspondent for Central Europe, making her America’s first woman bureau chief at a foreign desk, and who refused to be silenced by the Nazis at the most dangerous time. I cannot believe that I hadn’t heard of this amazing woman until earlier this week!

She stayed in Germany throughout the 1930s and the lead-up to WW2, filing reports about concentration camps, government assaults on churches and other institutions, telling the truth about increasing persecution of Germany’s Jews, warning about dangerous alliances with other countries, and otherwise trying to convince the world of the atrocities she was witnessing, all while facing both the dangers of being a reporter on the ground and dealing with an uninterested public back home.

I think it’s natural to wonder what we’d do in these kinds of terrible challenges. I sincerely hope I would find the strength to be as fearless as Sigrid Schultz. What a truly remarkable, inspirational woman!

Read more about her life and work: https://selfrescuingprincesssociety.blogspot.com/2017/01/sigrid-schultz-dragon-from-chicago.html

Read about other amazing role models from history: https://selfrescuingprincesssociety.blogspot.com/search/label/role%20models

Support SRPS: https://selfrescuingprincesssociety.blogspot.com/p/srpss.html

Dec 24

I realised last night that writing is good for my mental health.

Posted on by

I realised last night that writing is good for my mental health.

This is a statement that a lot of writers will find odd, so let me explain.

After a bad retail experience while doing my grocery shopping amid the chaos of Christmas Eve, I felt anxious, and was considering abandoning my plans for the evening. Lately, though, I’ve found that I hold myself to the standards of the characters in my books, and they would definitely have faced the fear and gone ahead; so I did too.

Which is funny, because I’m very aware that the characters in my books are drawn out of elements of myself. So I used a part of myself to motivate myself to be better than I am.

I write noblebright fantasy, which means that my leading characters exhibit courage, perseverance, and kindness to a greater degree than most real people (though certainly there are real people like that). In using them as my model, I’m strengthening the best aspects of myself.

But it doesn’t just work that way. I’ve heard that horror writers are generally extraordinarily nice people, and I suspect that it’s because they draw out the darker parts of themselves into the light, externalise them so that they’re no longer driven by them unawares – and perhaps so that they have a clear model to steer away from, as I have one to steer towards in my more noble characters.

So, in summary: pay attention to the voices in your head. It can improve your mental health.

Dec 06

John Ward speaks wisdom. And so do these comic strips.

Posted on by

John Ward speaks wisdom. And so do these comic strips.

Making is, indeed, better than complaining. My first semipro sale was of a story I wrote because I read one and thought it could have been done much better. One of my best books has the same backstory.

Originally shared by John Ward

If you do any type of creative work, please click this link. It will help you. It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist, a writer, a programmer, or a stay-at-home parent trying to figure out some innovative way to get your kids to eat broccoli, the comics posted on the linked webpage will help you flip your point of view and see things in a new light. It’s brilliant, brilliant stuff and deserves to be shared with anyone who struggles with these issues.

Here’s the link:

http://tozozozo.tumblr.com/tagged/not%2Fbut