The Casualty Reports.
Acquisition Log, Reassessment 6.
Cross-reference Log 55G
The Human Condition.
Playing The Long Game.
The Drop.
Guardian Communications Buoy – Serial Number: GD3007821
Sins of the Father.
The Next Generation.
PRAISE HIM!
Hyko and Caylee
Lamentation Day.
Satellite Relay Buoy 8 – A.I. Security Report: “Mourning” Folder.
A Matter of Faith.
Lessons From The Front – Excerpt From An Exclusive CNG Interview On “Beasts.”
Playing With Fire.
Flight Risk.
Server Log 54-C: “Art.”
The Interrogation
A Creator’s Burden.
2019
Founded
10,000+
Total Visitors
16,000+
Reads
2000+
Pieces of Free Content
Books
The Marionette Man
Life just isn’t easy in Central Universe if you’re not one of the immortal gods. As the only family related to a deceased navy captain serving The Guardians of Destiny, Arthur Brass and his mother lived a relatively quiet life. At least up until the day the G.O.D.’s secret police pushed just a little too far.
Brought up on unfair charges – with his execution suddenly looming, Arthur is soon forced to make a decision that will change the rest of his life.
In Central, everyone is a pawn of the ascended, and Arthur is about to find out the terrifying truth when it comes to the types of cruel games played by those who live forever…
The Marionette Man was my second published book, after my poetry book. It has a long and sordid history of signing to some publisher, then being dropped unceremoniously years later. Thus, it was rewritten no less than 4-6 times. The original drafts were in first person perspective, which were later rewritten again and again to third person, and “deep” perspective shortly after that. It’s a good first romp if you’re looking to learn about Central Universe and enjoy a good pulpy sci fi space opera. It’s also my first “real” foray into self-publishing! (Not to mention being the most overedited book of all history!)
The Paper Moon Gang
These small time gangsters have no clue what’s coming next.
The Paper Moon Gang was a fun little gangster romp through Central Universe. If you enjoy both gangster and science fiction, it should be right up your lane. Sometimes the most fun you can have is at the edge of all the ruckus, out in The Neutral Territories! I’d love to revisit these characters again sometime in the future, even if only as one of my cute easter eggs.
The Alphabet Of Hope
I have a short piece in this anthology about being Demisexual called: “Demi Means Half.” I hope it can become a resource for educators, families, and more. I’m very glad Trevor reached out to me to participate, and hope my piece can somehow help other grey ace spectrum folks out there.
The Butterfly King & Other Poems For Self-Reflection
The Butterfly King and Other Poems for Self Reflection rings clear with purpose – and is filled with poetry steeped in the act of self-reflection. Centered around the titular heroic epic poem, which is written entirely in rhyming couplets – the book is further broken down into several different sections with dozens of poems, including nature and society, individual self-reflection, as well as love and sexuality.
This is my book of baby McRae poems. I say that because I wrote The Butterfly King when I was 18 or so. Many of the poems in this poetry anthology are from around that era, compiled almost a decade ago now. Back then I just wanted to prove myself by besting Coleridge in an act of some silly defiance by writing a better Heroic Epic. But looking back, it’s kind of nice to have an artistic time capsule from a time before I took my decade long break from writing.
Non Fiction
The Pickup Truck Diaries
The Pickup Truck Diaries is a non-fiction article series. Each article, I take on a topic or two at a time to explore them through my unique childhood lens. All those hundreds of hours in the bush had to be worth something, right? Coming from a logging background gives some world wisdoms and insights one might not expect. Expect some fairly heavy subjects in here, as well as some personal insights you don’t see in my other work. Trigger warnings all over the place for those sensitive to the topics I’m writing about in each article. I do try to keep each article to around roughly three thousand words, unlike my fiction work. We all have things to do and places to be, right?
Dave's Itty Bitty Dilly Dally
This project is pretty personal to me. I stole the name from an old show to create a family legacy podcast, with a goal of cataloguing my 63 year old father Dave McRae’s stories. It’s a storytelling podcast, where we ADHD-style meander our way through our strange histories. I’m treating this as a personal project, meaning there is no release schedule, no consideration for audience or demographic whatsoever, and it’s obviously pretty precious to me. Each episode will have a general one or two word topic to keep us on track, and we’ll be shooting for about an hour-ish for each episode.
The folks that have been following our strange family for a time will remember Dave as one of the main roles on “Ax Men Season 8.” Thus far, we’ve only put out one Episode on Spotify, as no joke Dave is currently working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s on Animals, with maybe more to come?
The Brewery
The Brewery was our Casual EDH format Magic: The Gathering Show. Every week, we brewed up brand new Casual EDH decks to play against each other on Cockatrice based around a singular theme. The Project is currently on indefinite hiatus as of Summer 2023 as Tobin has decided to step away from the show for more privacy.
While Season 1 has mostly been lost to the ages – aside from a few pieces of raw footage hidden somewhere on my hard drives… All 50 episodes of Season 2 are still available, decklists included. You can find them on Youtube or Twitch. Most Episodes do run about 2.5 to 4-ish hours, so they’re a slow burn – play by play with lots of friendly comedy and some jabs here and there.
The little Pomeranian used for our classic alter photoshop photoshop is cast-member Joseph’s old Pomeranian, not the new ‘lil guy Toski that features on the show at times. RIP OG ‘lil guy. I do still have a presence on Moxfield, but I’ve taken a break from Magic: The Gathering for now due to the horrendous treatment upon the publishing of my “Rainbow Bible” from the CEDH community. Put a bad taste in my mouth for the whole game, despite being a passion on and off for like 20 years.
5th Edition TTRPG Resources
McRae's 5e TTRPG Item Resource
You can tell that I wrote most of my 5e resources before I came out as Non Binary. Please ignore my first name in these resources. I just go by “McRae” now.
This first 5e resource consists of 71 wacky and intriguing Magical items, many of them cursed or with a mix of pros and cons to ensure a more engaging story for players and DMs. There are a few special nods near the end to some of the more famous Dungeon Masters in the DnD Media scene, too!
While I originally developed this as a DM, both on my various DnD shows as well as home games, I’m sure players could utilize it in conversation with their DM to tell some awesome stories. Each item is annotated with a blurb by me, revealing playtest information, fun little comedy bits, or the like. Some of these items featured on my old mothballed DnD 5e show.
Please feel free to use these 5e resources for home games, live shows, or any other projects. Just credit me if you’re making money off it, please!
McRae's 5e Character Resource
This one was originally designed with DMs in mind, consisting of dozens upon dozens of both player characters and non player characters I’ve played across various shows and home games. The goal was to produce a quick and dirty character resource for other DMs, to reduce a lot of their prep time down in regards to populating worlds or campaigns.
Upon reflecting further in the few years since I published this – I see no reason why a player couldn’t choose one of these characters to flesh out further and play as a PC with whatever build would make sense! I’d be honored if anybody out there played anything I’ve ever method acted, to take and transform and build upon in new ways!
I do have other resources, regions, cities, dungeons, and lots for my homebrew world and region of Karnifexia and Ghastheim – Featuring in a mothballed old show. Some of them are on DM’s Guild, but the maps I mostly keep for myself. Maybe I’ll do a project that brings it all back one day.
Please feel free to use these 5e resources for home games, live shows, or any other projects. Just credit me if you’re making money off it, please!
Other Work
Publications
Trash Culture Memoirs – Jimi Hendrix Poem Contribution – https://trashculturememoirs.tumblr.com/
Spadina Literary Review – April 2020 – https://www.spadinaliteraryreview.com/SR36-Ver-02.html
Cotyledon – Vancouver Youth Poetry Charity Anthology – https://www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com/cotyledon/
Open Minds Quarterly – Spring 2020 – https://www.openmindsquarterly.com/
Teachers Pay Teachers – A Plethora of Education Resources – https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mcraewrites
On Camera & Audio
Ax Men Season 8 – Two Episode Bit Role (Self) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muUHOMhEPZs&ab_channel=HISTORY
“You’re Listening To:” Music Podcast – “Gorillaz – Demon Days” – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/demon-days-gorillaz/id1587941724?i=1000536900973
The Itty Bitty Dilly Dally – General Topic Podcast – https://open.spotify.com/show/1LkawCf0OGGJWGQuYd6EuL?si=9dacc002dcb449d0
Something Wicked – 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Homebrew Gothic Horror & Comedy Live Twitch Show + Podcast (Producer & DM) – https://open.spotify.com/show/7AvMg55V81mTO5RUb0UbU9?si=b909292f69974bb0 (I only have a couple highlight videos. Most of the show only available on Spotify as a Podcast.)
Another Bad Side Quest Podcast – 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Podcast (Sassafrass) – No Longer Available.
Magic: The Gathering Primers & Guides
The Rainbow Bible – Tribal Tribal & Rainbow Commander Resource + Rukarumel CEDH Primer – https://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-the-rukarumel-gay-pirates-tribal-tribal-cedh-primer-aka-the-rainbow-bible/
Siloing CEDH & EDH – Basic “how to” to adjust power up or down in EDH – https://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-siloing-cedh-edh/
MTG “Tempo For Dummies” – The basics of tempo and some easy speed tips – https://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-tempo-for-dummies-especially-for-commander/
“Garth Loves Puss” – Garth One-Eye & Displacer Kitten Combo CEDH Primer – https://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-garth-loves-puss-a-cedh-primer/
The Pickup Truck Diaries
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Good & Evil.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Boundaries & Change.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Toxic Masculinity, Part 1.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Honor, Ethics, & Morals.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Ableism and Disability
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Road Trips.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Organized Religion.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: ADHD, Hyperfocus, & Auteurs.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Efficiency & Symbolism.
The Pickup Truck Diaries: Accomplishment & Pride.
Share this:
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)