https://www.jquinnmalott.com/about/jasonquinnmalott daily 0.75 2025-11-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/af4ceb7d-551a-4fdd-92f2-70004814ed61/Author+Portrait+JQMalott+-+1A.png About Jason Quinn Malott - About Jason https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/af4ceb7d-551a-4fdd-92f2-70004814ed61/Author+Portrait+JQMalott+-+1A.png About Jason Quinn Malott - About Jason https://www.jquinnmalott.com/new-work daily 0.75 2025-03-24 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/evolution-of-shadows daily 0.75 2020-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1497409234428-W9FDEOUKVWECTTKNEHTW/The+Evolution+of+Shadows+CoverB.jpg The Evolution of Shadows https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1497409234428-W9FDEOUKVWECTTKNEHTW/The+Evolution+of+Shadows+CoverB.jpg The Evolution of Shadows https://www.jquinnmalott.com/media daily 0.75 2021-02-03 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/contact daily 0.75 2020-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1602428376707-J7L3Z0EW20ETBH8I6FAH/IMG_0513.jpeg Contact - Send me a message . . . https://www.jquinnmalott.com/other-publications daily 0.75 2025-06-08 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/writingspaces daily 0.75 2025-06-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780539816-4ZVUVSC360DDKT9GEICZ/First+desk.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - The Contract Although I’d been writing stories since I was twelve, this was my first dedicated writing space in 1997. It was two years after I finished college, and I was living in my mother’s basement. I’d been unemployed for a few weeks, but I took $150 of the $300 I had to my name then and purchased an IBM Selectric II and a box of typing paper. I promised myself I’d get up every morning at 5am to write. In the thirty years since, I’ve missed fewer than 90 days at some writing desk somewhere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780595458-7ATGUYZJ5GXKBGSZQ7SI/First+desk+V2.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Start of a habit It wasn’t long before I expanded the real estate (getting a job helps one’s ambition). A good friend I’d known since grade school gave me an old Dell NX20, but I still wrote all my rough drafts on the IBM, which chopped off the top of every third tall letter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780744209-GMDZKSZKZSEPL296K8K1/Grad+school+desk+1.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Grad School I had a small studio apartment in Boulder, CO when I started at Naropa University. By the time I took this picture, I’d entered the 21st Century with a Gateway Solo laptop. I still had the NX20. Sometimes, I wish I’d kept the IBM Selectric. It may have been magic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780911958-0LONFBMJT82URBK4LYS2/After+Grad+Closet.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - The Closet This is the only decent picture of the storage closet I used as an office when I was sharing an apartment with my friend, the writer Laura Hawley Smith. She had the bigger of the two bedrooms. I took the smaller bedroom so I could have the closet office. This is where I finished The Evolution of Shadows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781153969-B19KC433P2WEHCWP23V8/Event_11.JPG I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Basement Redux After being fired from my job in Boulder just before the lease on the apartment expired, I returned home to Wichita and my mother’s basement rather than be jobless and homeless in Boulder. After getting a job at Watermark Books and starting to teach composition at Butler Community College, I got my first Mac, an iBook G4, which lead me to think I could do anything. So, I started The Project for a New Mythology, a DIY literary zine inspired by Wallace Berman’s mail art publication “Semina.” That battleship of an office desk I got from my father may have had something to do with it, too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781362799-PNFAUPZ0VINV7PNHRM4L/Apartment_19.JPG I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Breakthrough After I became the inventory manager at Watermark, I moved into an inexpensive, but large one bedroom in a complex not far from the store. My sister had been leasing the place but decided to move to New York with a friend, so I grabbed it. I was still doing The Project for a New Mythology and sending out The Evolution of Shadows. This may have been where I finished a project called By The Still, Still Water, which may never see the light of day. It was about the Korean War and the generational trauma experienced by a survivor of the Chosin Reservoir and his family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781543048-ALO55EEK0N4MDUI97MJI/100_0819.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Breakthrough #2 There was a large closet in the living room of that one bedroom apartment, and I thought I’d try a standing desk there, which would allow me to close the doors when people came over. It didn’t last long. This was where I was standing when I read the email from Fred Ramey telling me Unbridled Books wanted to publish The Evolution of Shadows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781813457-DL5AL9Z5S9ZL7K6WWUG6/100_1238.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Domestic Bliss #1 After selling The Evolution of Shadows to Unbridled, I quit my job at Watermark, got a job in the corporate world as a technical editor, and moved in with my girlfriend. The book was on its way to advance reviewers at this point, and I was starting work on what would become The Palace of Winds, a novel set during the Great Depression that combines my grandfather’s biography and the story of Jason and The Argonauts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782100533-UYFUKTU4EV09EVP2HEIT/100_1545.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Domestic Bliss #2 At some point, we realized my girlfriend wasn’t going to use her half of the office, so, I took over the whole room. I was still working on The Palace of Winds, and I was coming to terms with the knowledge that By The Still, Still Water was irreparably flawed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782417099-LBLLQUCTCFRIJYOWPSCB/100_2122.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Domestic semi-Bliss #4 This was sometime after 2010. I was still deep into working on The Palace of Winds, and was beginning to think about a podcast so I could talk to more writers on a regular basis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782813064-JIVEZWF45GCCZ1IIMLX8/100_2062.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Domestic non-Bliss #5 I started The Outrider Podcast shortly after this picture was taken. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782956566-UV8WY3T1XCV9KQ39V2G2/100_2280.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Writing Buddy #1 This is Isobel. She was the cat who lived with us. She would sit in the hallway outside our bedroom every morning and wait for me to get up. I’d feed her, make coffee for myself, and then she’d follow me to the office and lie on the floor next to me for a while, waiting for belly rubs. The rest of the time, when my girlfriend was awake, Isobel pretended not to know me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783248275-BHUDQ9IES4LNNPXGBTFP/IMG_0198.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Breakup Space We broke up in 2014, politely and on good terms, after nine years together. I moved into a small one bedroom in the Midtown neighborhood of Wichita. To economize space, I tried a half-loft with my bed on a trundle. It was a bit wobbly. As you can see from the mic, I was well into the podcast by then. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783447651-7GX6IB37QF171XK9PUQ9/101_0056.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Lowrider Trying to control the wobbly state of the platform, I decided to get low. It didn’t help much. My coffee still sloshed all over the place. I was still working on The Palace of Winds, and may have made my first stabs at what would become Far Nineteen and a few other still unformed things. Words do pile up, even if they never turn into anything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783677129-IF1K7VNADHC9XIPXK3FS/IMG_0514.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Getting Stable I bought a sturdy desk and put the bed on the platform, which made it real fun when the earthquakes started. By this time (2015/2016), I was working on Far Nineteen and starting to submit The Palace of Winds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783968062-727KPSW1DDBZ8T7DS5YP/IMG_0832_2.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Upgrades Why all the computers, Jason? For a long time I had a complicated back-up system that was born out of the failures of the Gateway Solo 1150. I would back up on the main computer, back that up to an external hard drive, and back up again to a second and sometimes a third computer. Why? Nerd. It all stopped when I got a 2012 MacBook Pro, and my 2009 Macbook stopped being included in the newer versions of the Mac operating system. After some upgrades to the MacBook Pro, (SSD drive, replaced the internal DVD drive with a second SSD) I no longer felt like I would lose everything next time something crashed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784323022-P7DRTGJULESIC0GB4RIX/IMG_0669.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - New Writing Buddy After a couple of years in the one bedroom in Midtown, I got Dawn from some friends who were looking to thin their herd of pets. She found me during a Christmas party, decided I was safe, and spent the party sitting on my lap. Before the end of January, she’d come to live with me. She doesn't normally sit on the desk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784525075-SIR9EKWJQ374VUG2SW1U/IMG_0161.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Writing Buddy #2 This is where she prefers to be when I’m writing. I rarely get to use the whole chair anymore. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784646641-6GWKC4E34TCR9X1IKWZ2/IMG_0227.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Writing Buddy's Buddy Dawn was having some separation anxiety. She’d come from a house with three other cats and two dogs, so being alone eight hours a day while I was at work was a bit lonely. She started over-grooming and licking the fur off her forelegs. So, this little weirdo came to live with us. Her name is Ursula. Where Dawn is gentle, docile, and affectionate, Ursula is every crazy cat stereotype, but still adorable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784889486-7TM49XM5XOCEKWNTZGCG/IMG_0329.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - New Space. New Ambition. I moved across the street in 2019 to get a slightly bigger apartment with more space for me and the cats, and I once again had a dedicated writing space instead of writing in my bedroom. The podcast was still rolling along, I’d completed three manuscripts (The Palace of Winds, Far Nineteen, and The Poisoned Moon), and a host of new projects and ideas were in the works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1594569884201-9G42N2160TWOCNKNR26A/IMG_0846.png I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Office of Quarantine A few minor upgrades and allowances for the COVID-19 pandemic. The mark-up desk on the right was given over to a workspace for the day-job, which was keeping the lights on and refrigerator full. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1602428376707-J7L3Z0EW20ETBH8I6FAH/IMG_0513.jpeg I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Evolving Space With the pandemic, I was spending a lot more time at the desk than I normally would have. Also, working my day job from home meant the second desk I would normally use for spreading out and hand editing manuscripts and organizing all my notes was surrendered to the man. So, I invested in upgrades to the writing desk to move things back and up for more space to write by hand when the mood struck me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1625497734580-R9G1J1JHA1TUQ5AVYL2S/New%2BHome%2BOffice.jpg I like big desks, and I cannot lie . . . - Nesting In June 2021, I bought my first house as an early fiftieth birthday present. It’s a lovely 1920 Craftsman bungalow that needs a little love, but is incredibly sound for 101 years old. My writing space is huge, and I can’t wait to pull up the carpet and restore the hardwood floors, and also refinish the window frames, which should be the same stained wood as the doorframe. https://www.jquinnmalott.com/projectforanewmythology/archive daily 0.75 2025-11-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664729667064-26ONOWU8WJXP1QHSKKDI/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 1 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 1 The first ever issue was a simple staple bound document, reproduced at a Kinko’s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733018214-VY7SSLCFES9OEOV3H6OW/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Vol 1 Issue 1 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Vol 1 Issue 1 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664729875078-LEUS4FIUPB3K3YGZFHLI/image-asset.jpeg The Project for a New Mythology Archive - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 2 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 2 This issue was hand-bound with red thread and red end pages. The cover images was hand stamped and embossed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733142966-SUGL5NRM42SVNW3Z08HW/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Volume 1 Issue 2 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Volume 1 Issue 2 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664730188988-DVDE1G31N5AG91NZMXM1/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 3 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 3 This issue was staple bound, but it came in a hand-cut card stock envelope with a string closure. Each copy of the issue also came with a music CD from the Dauphin Street Sonic Arts Collective. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733228498-DZITIKN8D8VW2JEWTBZL/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Volume 1 Issue 3 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Volume 1 Issue 3 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733278904-32OVD51KO0DYCKDDPH6X/image-asset.jpeg The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Vol 1 Iss 3 CD (Copy) PFANM Vol 1 Iss 3 CD Sounds to Read By: The Dauphin Street Sonic Arts Collective. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767314445-CQF0STO8WA969DQEHBG5/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 3 CD Track list (Copy) PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 3 CD Track list https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664730359728-RE9QODYT3KKE4LFJODQE/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 4 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 4 This issue was staple and tape bound. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767405127-01XWTVZ2M1KH2HHZH2L1/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 4 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 4 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664732836465-H21WB3MI1OKJFSEUYEFQ/image-asset.jpeg The Project for a New Mythology Archive - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 1 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 1 Printing labels on card stock with clasp binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767473164-K329L9PIW9QC1IK8RUL4/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM VOL. 2 ISS 1 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM VOL. 2 ISS 1 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664732924877-YDAL0K378DV9EQIUJMPY/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 2 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 2 Plain white card stock with the magazine philosophy in stark black letters. Bound with two brass brads. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767520605-Q3M0LQVX0P6O0JLQ18RQ/image-asset.png The Project for a New Mythology Archive - PFANM Vol. 2 Iss. 2 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Vol. 2 Iss. 2 Table of Contents https://www.jquinnmalott.com/gallery-2 daily 0.75 2024-11-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664729667064-26ONOWU8WJXP1QHSKKDI/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 1 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 1 The first ever issue was a simple staple bound document, reproduced at a Kinko’s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733018214-VY7SSLCFES9OEOV3H6OW/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM Vol 1 Issue 1 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Vol 1 Issue 1 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664729875078-LEUS4FIUPB3K3YGZFHLI/image-asset.jpeg Gallery #2 - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 2 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 2 This issue was hand-bound with red thread and red end pages. The cover images was hand stamped and embossed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733142966-SUGL5NRM42SVNW3Z08HW/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM Volume 1 Issue 2 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Volume 1 Issue 2 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664730188988-DVDE1G31N5AG91NZMXM1/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 3 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 3 This issue was staple bound, but it came in a hand-cut card stock envelope with a string closure. Each copy of the issue also came with a music CD from the Dauphin Street Sonic Arts Collective. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733228498-DZITIKN8D8VW2JEWTBZL/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM Volume 1 Issue 3 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Volume 1 Issue 3 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664733278904-32OVD51KO0DYCKDDPH6X/image-asset.jpeg Gallery #2 - PFANM Vol 1 Iss 3 CD (Copy) PFANM Vol 1 Iss 3 CD Sounds to Read By: The Dauphin Street Sonic Arts Collective. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767314445-CQF0STO8WA969DQEHBG5/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 3 CD Track list (Copy) PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 3 CD Track list https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664730359728-RE9QODYT3KKE4LFJODQE/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 4 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 1 Issue 4 This issue was staple and tape bound. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767405127-01XWTVZ2M1KH2HHZH2L1/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 4 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Vol. 1 Iss. 4 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664732836465-H21WB3MI1OKJFSEUYEFQ/image-asset.jpeg Gallery #2 - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 1 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 1 Printing labels on card stock with clasp binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767473164-K329L9PIW9QC1IK8RUL4/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM VOL. 2 ISS 1 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM VOL. 2 ISS 1 Table of Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664732924877-YDAL0K378DV9EQIUJMPY/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 2 (Copy) The Project for a New Mythology Volume 2 Issue 2 Plain white card stock with the magazine philosophy in stark black letters. Bound with two brass brads. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1664767520605-Q3M0LQVX0P6O0JLQ18RQ/image-asset.png Gallery #2 - PFANM Vol. 2 Iss. 2 Table of Contents (Copy) PFANM Vol. 2 Iss. 2 Table of Contents https://www.jquinnmalott.com/landing daily 1.0 2025-11-20 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/gallery1 daily 0.75 2024-11-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780539816-4ZVUVSC360DDKT9GEICZ/First+desk.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - The Contract (Copy) The Contract Although I’d been writing stories since I was twelve, this was my first dedicated writing space in 1997. It was two years after I finished college, and I was living in my mother’s basement. I’d been unemployed for a few weeks, but I took $150 of the $300 I had to my name then and purchased an IBM Selectric II and a box of typing paper. I promised myself I’d get up every morning at 5am to write. In the twenty plus years since, I’ve missed fewer than 60 days. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780595458-7ATGUYZJ5GXKBGSZQ7SI/First+desk+V2.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Start of a habit (Copy) Start of a habit It wasn’t long before I expanded the real estate (getting a job helps one’s ambition). A good friend I’d known since grade school gave me an old Dell NX20, but I still wrote all my rough drafts on the IBM, which chopped off the top of every third tall letter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780744209-GMDZKSZKZSEPL296K8K1/Grad+school+desk+1.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Grad School (Copy) Grad School I had a small studio apartment in Boulder, CO when I started at Naropa University. By the time I took this picture, I’d entered the 21st Century with a Gateway Solo laptop. I still had the NX20. Sometimes, I wish I’d kept the IBM Selectric. It may have been magic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574780911958-0LONFBMJT82URBK4LYS2/After+Grad+Closet.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - The Closet (Copy) The Closet This is the only decent picture of the storage closet I used as an office when I was sharing an apartment with my friend, the writer Laura Hawley Smith. She had the bigger of the two bedrooms. I took the smaller bedroom so I could have the closet office. This is where I finished The Evolution of Shadows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781153969-B19KC433P2WEHCWP23V8/Event_11.JPG Writing Spaces Through The Years - Basement Redux (Copy) Basement Redux After being fired from my job in Boulder just before the lease on the apartment expired, I returned home to Wichita and my mother’s basement rather than be jobless and homeless in Boulder. After getting a job at Watermark Books and starting to teach composition at Butler Community College, I got my first Mac, an iBook G4, which lead me to think I could do anything. So, I started The Project for a New Mythology, a DIY literary zine inspired by Wallace Berman’s mail art publication “Semina.” That battleship of an office desk I got from my father may have had something to do with it, too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781362799-PNFAUPZ0VINV7PNHRM4L/Apartment_19.JPG Writing Spaces Through The Years - Breakthrough (Copy) Breakthrough After I became the inventory manager at Watermark, I moved into an inexpensive, but large one bedroom in a complex not far from the store. My sister had been leasing the place but decided to move to New York with a friend, so I grabbed it. I was still doing The Project for a New Mythology and sending out The Evolution of Shadows. This may have been where I finished a project called By The Still, Still Water, which may never see the light of day. It was about the Korean War and the generational trauma experienced by a survivor of the Chosin Reservoir and his family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781543048-ALO55EEK0N4MDUI97MJI/100_0819.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Breakthrough #2 (Copy) Breakthrough #2 There was a large closet in the living room of that one bedroom apartment, and I thought I’d try a standing desk there, which would allow me to close the doors when people came over. It didn’t last long. This was where I was standing when I read the email from Fred Ramey telling me Unbridled Books wanted to publish The Evolution of Shadows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574781813457-DL5AL9Z5S9ZL7K6WWUG6/100_1238.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Domestic Bliss #1 (Copy) Domestic Bliss #1 After selling The Evolution of Shadows to Unbridled, I quit my job at Watermark, got a job in the corporate world as a technical editor, and moved in with my girlfriend. The book was on its way to advance reviewers at this point, and I was starting work on what would become The Palace of Winds, a novel set during the Great Depression that combines my grandfather’s biography and the story of Jason and The Argonauts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782100533-UYFUKTU4EV09EVP2HEIT/100_1545.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Domestic Bliss #2 (Copy) Domestic Bliss #2 At some point, we realized my girlfriend wasn’t going to use her half of the office, so, I took over the whole room. I was still working on The Palace of Winds, and I was coming to terms with the knowledge that By The Still, Still Water was irreparably flawed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782417099-LBLLQUCTCFRIJYOWPSCB/100_2122.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Domestic semi-Bliss #4 (Copy) Domestic semi-Bliss #4 This was sometime after 2010. I was still deep into working on The Palace of Winds, and was beginning to think about a podcast so I could talk to more writers on a regular basis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782813064-JIVEZWF45GCCZ1IIMLX8/100_2062.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Domestic non-Bliss #5 (Copy) Domestic non-Bliss #5 I started The Outrider Podcast shortly after this picture was taken. Things were not going well in the relationship. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574782956566-UV8WY3T1XCV9KQ39V2G2/100_2280.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Writing Buddy #1 (Copy) Writing Buddy #1 This is Isobel. She was the cat who lived with us. She would sit in the hallway outside our bedroom every morning and wait for me to get up. I’d feed her, make coffee for myself, and then she’d follow me to the office and lie on the floor next to me for a while, waiting for belly rubs. The rest of the time, when my girlfriend was awake, Isobel pretended not to know me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783248275-BHUDQ9IES4LNNPXGBTFP/IMG_0198.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Breakup Space (Copy) Breakup Space We broke up in 2014, politely and on good terms, after nine years together. I moved into a small one bedroom in the Midtown neighborhood of Wichita. To economize space, I tried a half-loft with my bed on a trundle. It was a bit wobbly. As you can see from the mic, I was well into the podcast by then. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783447651-7GX6IB37QF171XK9PUQ9/101_0056.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Lowrider (Copy) Lowrider Trying to control the wobbly state of the platform, I decided to get low. It didn’t help much. My coffee still sloshed all over the place. I was still working on The Palace of Winds, and may have made my first stabs at what would become Far Nineteen and a few other still unformed things. Words do pile up, even if they never turn into anything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783677129-IF1K7VNADHC9XIPXK3FS/IMG_0514.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Getting Stable (Copy) Getting Stable I bought a sturdy desk and put the bed on the platform, which made it real fun when the earthquakes started. By this time (2015/2016), I was working on Far Nineteen and starting to submit The Palace of Winds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574783968062-727KPSW1DDBZ8T7DS5YP/IMG_0832_2.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Upgrades (Copy) Upgrades Why all the computers, Jason? For a long time I had a complicated back-up system that was born out of the failures of the Gateway Solo 1150. I would back up on the main computer, back that up to an external hard drive, and back up again to a second and sometimes a third computer. Why? Nerd. It all stopped when I got a 2012 MacBook Pro, and my 2009 Macbook stopped being included in the newer versions of the Mac operating system. After some upgrades to the MacBook Pro, (SSD drive, replaced the internal DVD drive with a second SSD) I no longer felt like I would lose everything next time something crashed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784323022-P7DRTGJULESIC0GB4RIX/IMG_0669.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - New Writing Buddy (Copy) New Writing Buddy After a couple of years in the one bedroom in Midtown, I got Dawn from some friends who were looking to thin their herd of pets. She found me during a Christmas party, decided I was safe, and spent the party sitting on my lap. Before the end of January, she’d come to live with me. She doesn't normally sit on the desk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784525075-SIR9EKWJQ374VUG2SW1U/IMG_0161.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Writing Buddy #2 (Copy) Writing Buddy #2 This is where she prefers to be when I’m writing. I rarely get to use the whole chair anymore. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784646641-6GWKC4E34TCR9X1IKWZ2/IMG_0227.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Writing Buddy's Buddy (Copy) Writing Buddy's Buddy Dawn was having some separation anxiety. She’d come from a house with three other cats and two dogs, so being alone eight hours a day while I was at work was a bit lonely. She started over-grooming and licking the fur off her forelegs. So, this little weirdo came to live with us. Her name is Ursula. Where Dawn is gentle, docile, and affectionate, Ursula is every crazy cat stereotype, but still adorable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1574784889486-7TM49XM5XOCEKWNTZGCG/IMG_0329.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - New Space. New Ambition. (Copy) New Space. New Ambition. I moved across the street in 2019 to get a slightly bigger apartment with more space for me and the cats, and I once again had a dedicated writing space instead of writing in my bedroom. The podcast was still rolling along, I’d completed three manuscripts (The Palace of Winds, Far Nineteen, and The Poisoned Moon), and a host of new projects and ideas were in the works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1594569884201-9G42N2160TWOCNKNR26A/IMG_0846.png Writing Spaces Through The Years - Office of Quarantine (Copy) Office of Quarantine A few minor upgrades and allowances for the COVID-19 pandemic. The mark-up desk on the right was given over to a workspace for the day-job, which was keeping the lights on and refrigerator full. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1602428376707-J7L3Z0EW20ETBH8I6FAH/IMG_0513.jpeg Writing Spaces Through The Years - Evolving Space (Copy) Evolving Space With the pandemic, I was spending a lot more time at the desk than I normally would have. Also, working my day job from home meant the second desk I would normally use for spreading out and hand editing manuscripts and organizing all my notes was surrendered to the man. So, I invested in upgrades to the writing desk to move things back and up for more space to write by hand when the mood struck me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5937746cebbd1aec2220f02d/1625497734580-R9G1J1JHA1TUQ5AVYL2S/New%2BHome%2BOffice.jpg Writing Spaces Through The Years - Nesting (Copy) Nesting In June 2021, I bought my first house as an early fiftieth birthday present. It’s a lovely 1920 Craftsman bungalow that needs a little love, but is incredibly sound for 101 years old. My writing space is huge, and I can’t wait to pull up the carpet and restore the hardwood floors, and also refinish the window frames, which should be the same stained wood as the doorframe. I hope to produce a lot of good work here. https://www.jquinnmalott.com/outrider-archive daily 0.75 2025-10-26 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/outrider-archive/general monthly 0.5 2025-10-26 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/outrider-archive/interviews monthly 0.5 2024-11-28 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/outrider-archive/live-shows monthly 0.5 2024-11-28 https://www.jquinnmalott.com/outrider-archive/series monthly 0.5 2024-11-28