To Whom it May Concern:
Welp, Mike Speegle is basically one of my very favorite contemporary writers.
While reading his novel, "Something Greater Than Artifice", I found myself simultaneously caught up in the story, the characters, its philosophical points, and Mike's vibrant world. It felt like I'd taken methamphetamines and went to Disneyland, but only had time to run through really fast and take one ride so I was looking around and trying to take it all in but was only capable of taking some of it in, not all of it.
A pretty good storyteller is capable of creating that magical waking dream state. Extremely rare ones keep you in that state long after you've put the book down. And Mike Speegle fucking pulls it off. Without meth!
Yet Mike is somehow able to do this while still making it feel like he's sitting next to you, spinning a yarn in between yammerings about some futurehistorical matter, occasionally popping wordwheelies while suppressing a smirk beneath his beard. And then making you cry a whole lot. In a good way.
And what's Mike like in person? Remarkably like his writing—many many words coming oh so fast—but almost all of them so entertaining, inspiring, interesting, and very specifically none of them allowed to again be the word "byzantine" or I will cut him.
Sincerely,
Adam Brault
P.S. No, but seriously, I think Mike is one of the most creative people I've known and certainly one of the most fun people I have ever collaborated with.