manoftoomanywords

I'm a fellow indie writer (we're friends on facebook, actually). This isn't a question so much as a thank you. I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I could remember, but got burned out on trying to query agents and publishers years ago, then burned out on prose altogether, and figured I'd try becoming a screenwriter instead.

Your self-publishing and subsequent career explosion are what pushed me not only to try self-publishing my stuff, but to get back into prose at all. "You're an inspiration" is an understatement; I'm just straight-up chasing after you, like a rabid dog. You know those posts you wrote about George RR Martin? You're my George RR Martin.

Also, be honest: are the silos actually spaceships? I bet they are.

Police don't have "because I say so" authority. They're actually required to have legal justification when exercising their authority. Shocking, I know.

What's the precedent for what police did when this story was first breaking: setting up a "media zone" on a public street and threatening to teargas/arrest any journalists who left it? Why / how did Vice justify leaving the "media zone", and why were other outlets so reluctant to do so? Have you experienced anything similar to that covering any other story?