The Community Spotlight is back, this time featuring your favorite people, reviews, threads and user groups.
Have you ever wondered where a particular community member got their name? Do you find yourself speculating about what’s going in the site’s more secretive user groups? Perhaps you just want a chance to read a thoughtful community made thread or user review without having to find it yourself. If so, then we humbly invite you to check out our newly resurrected Escapist Community Spotlight: You nominate them, we highlight them.
This week The Escapist would like to highlight an active forum reviewer, BlueInkAlchemist. Called “Josh” by some, Blue is a thirty-three and two-thirds year old writer of long-form fiction, ranging from flash pieces of about 1000 words to novellas and novels. He’s also a pretty active gamer, a sucker for travel to new places, an erstwhile musician, and occasionally tries new foods and cocktails made from scratch.
If you’ve peeked your head into the User Review forum lately, you’ve probably seen his name around. As one user said, “He still delivers quality work fairly frequently and I have no idea how he balances that with inching ever closer to becoming a published author.” Blue recently released an an ‘urban fantasy detective yarn’ called Cold Iron which you can read about here.
We had the opportunity to ask him a few questions, and here’s how he answered:
What inspired your username?
The ancient practice of alchemy (changing one thing to another) plus the medium of blue ink (the color in my Waterman fountain pen). The idea is that through writing, I turn that ink into gold. Or at the very least, cash money.
Describe your perfect breakfast.
Waffles with strawberry compote, biscuits and gravy, bacon that’s slightly crispy but not burnt, and a mug of milky tea.
How long have you been a member of The Escapist, and what brought you here?
I’ve been a member since 2008. I was originally brought (as were many) by Zero Punctuation, and found a decent community and an outlet to present some of my non-fiction writings.
What is your favorite aspect of The Escapist Community?
There’s a good deal of honesty among those I normally speak with. That counts for a lot.
What is your favorite color?
While I have heard red is objectively the best color, I’m going to have to go with blue.
What was the last game you played?
I most recently played a few rounds of Tribes: Ascend. I also tried to get farther in Amnesia so I can finally review it but that game scares the shit out of me.
How long have you been writing reviews, and what inspired you to begin?
I’ve been writing reviews for about 3 years. I wanted to express opinions on storytelling in various mediums and reviews seemed a good way to do that. Additional readers coming by to check out my words never hurts, either.
In your opinion, what’s the best review you’ve written up to date?
It’s not strictly a review, but the open letter I wrote to Confused Matthew about The Departed is probably my best critical work to date.
If there was a movie made of your life, who would you want to play the lead role?
Stanley Tucci or Jason Schwartzman.
