Non classifié(e) Archives - Clément Martin

Network(s)

Maybe this is what we all need to do.

As a freelancer at the beginning of their career, you always sort of have to do self-promotion, to make sure you’re visible, etc. Social networks seem to be a good tool for that. For instance, among all the scribblers and ink slingers I am now a part of, a microblogging network such as X (formerly Twitter) has long felt unavoidable. But as every other tool, it is not neutral, and its recent evolution is extremely alarming.

Indeed, early this week, on January 20, the inauguration of Donald Trump happened, and the 47th President of the United States brought to the government far-right billionaire Elon Musk (who supports the AfD in Germany and does nazi salutes to “throw his heart to the crowd”). That’s why the HelloQuitX initiative, launched by members of the CNRS, has picked this very day to incite everyone to leave X, which Musk acquired in 2022. Now he’s part of the United States government, the billionaire answers even less to their justice department, and can freely manipulate the network’s algorithm to suit his sordid political ends. Indeed, under the guise of “freedom of speech”, X has been flooded by extreme speech and fake accounts that make it more or less unusable. Besides, for some people, remaining on X also means refusing to oppose Musk’s fascist turn. That is the reason why many famous media outlets decided to quit it.

Quitting X, then. Why not? But to go where?

Night of the Hogmen

Today, I’d like to say a few words about a translation I’m quite proud of, because it’s my small contribution to the bountiful world of indie role-playing games (RPGs). But before telling you all about it, a quick word about context.

If you’re roughly my age (almost forty, God how time flies), you probably remember a time when this hobby was reviled and the object of media scares that were as justified as they were rational (i.e. not at all). But today, geek culture has become cool (and is a huge market) and thus playing role-playing games, which you could describe as telling more or less structured collaborative stories around a table (or over the internet), is no longer taboo. Spearheading this new-found popularity is a household name owned by financial mammoth Hasbro, Dungeons & Dragons, which has become synonymous with role-playing games for many (thanks to that Stranger Things episode amongst other things).

Stranger Things, season 1, episode 1. Aren’t nerds cool?

New year and not so vain wishes

Choo chooing into 2024

I feel like I have begun all the posts on this blog by apologising for not writing more. So here’s my sole new year blog resolution (which is dual, see how I’m already trying to wriggle out of it). This year, I want to:

Stop apologising for not writing more.
Write more.

That should work.

But to the matter at hand. Speaking of writing, and publishing, I can finally announce the upcoming release of my first translation: Le dernier grand train d’Amérique, by James Grady (originally published in 2022 with a very sober title: This Train).