Welcome to Random Access!
So, you’ve come across this site, either accidentally or by design. Now that you’ve found it, I hope you’ll stay a while and come back often. Moreover, I hope I’m doing my job by giving you reason to do so.
Just so you know what you’re getting into before you proceed, here’s the handy reference guide to Random Access in the form of an FAQ list:
1. Just who are you, anyway?
I’m Travis King, and I’m a writer. For more information, peruse the section entitled About Me in the sidebar to the right.
2. What is Random Access?
The purpose of this site is to share my writing with the world. In the Blog section, you will encounter random thoughts regarding any number of topics. In the My Works section, you will be able to read poems, short stories, and more formal non-fiction.
3. What do you write about, and in what formats?
I identify myself primarily as a poet; I write a great deal of poetry on various topics, but mostly nature, religion and spirituality, politics, love, and sadness. Poetry isn’t really a profitable field, though, and so I also write fiction. I focus primarily on short stories that can be broadly categorized as speculative fiction—but I don’t bother trying to classify what I write to any real degree of specificity.
Since I love to learn, I find myself doing a great deal of research, and I occasionally write essays or research papers on the subjects I’m interested in. These are typically formal pieces more suitable for publication in topical magazines or professional journals, and subjects range across a broad spectrum, including, but not limited to, language, literature, philosophy, religion, esoterica, politics, current events, and science.
As an adjunct to such pieces, I author a blog on this site, as mentioned above, wherein I can comment on subjects of interest to me in a less formal manner, in the tradition of the great essayists I admire, like Mark Twain, Harlan Ellison, and Dave Barry, to name a few.
4. What is the copyright status of your works?
As the author of the works presented on this site, I retain the copyright to all of them. That being said, I am a firm believer in sharing my art with those who enjoy it, and so much of what I post here will be available for distribution through a Creative Commons license. Each post, whether a standalone work or a blog entry, will carry either a full copyright notice or a notice of licensing.
While I’m on the subject, I would like to note that I will occasionally reference, quote, or include other people’s works in my blog. I do my best to limit myself to fair use as defined by the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, and I am a firm believer in citing sources and giving credit where credit is due. I know that’s not something everybody is used to, but it’s the way things work here.
5. So, what’s the deal with all the hypertext in your blog?
This is the world of Web 2.0, folks. Interactive formatting is what it’s all about. To that end, I often link to the websites of persons, places, and things I mention in my blog. I also throw in links to pictures to illustrate concepts. Last time I checked—and I do keep an eye on such things—linking to media without downloading it was still considered legal, and for that I’m grateful. I think it adds a little flavor to the blog. (N.B. I got the idea from NenaGasm, the MySpace blog of CaptainHentai.)
6. Why isn’t this site located at randomaccess.wordpress.com or something else that makes a little more sense?
I think ”grailseeker” conveys the way I view life. It’s a journey—a quest. Read more in the About Me section.
I hope that was a painless introduction. Please, continue on by choosing one of the links in the sidebar. I hope you enjoy what you read, and I hope to connect with you in some way—as writer to reader, as writer to writer, as blogger to blogger, as a friend, or, perhaps, simply as a fellow traveler on the road of life, a fellow grailseeker. Feel free to leave comments in the form of praise, criticism, random thoughts, invites to view your blog, whatever. I look forward to them all.
