Swords, Specters, & Stuff
Welcome to My World
I started this blog in January 2012 for one simple reason: I love to write. I named it “Swords, Specters, & Stuff” because I especially love to write about writing, about books and movies in my favorite genres, about authors that mean a great deal to me. But there’s more to it than that, which is why I included “Stuff” in the title. It is “Stuff” that gives me carte blanche to write about anything, which is why you’ll see stories about special trips to Cooperstown, Sedona, and other places; about getting older; about baseball; about the otherworldly way in which I met my soul mate; about the loss of good friends, and so much more. Enjoy! And feel free to leave a comment.
Vampires In…New Mexico?
I could easily have presented the 1998 horror flick, VAMPIRES (aka John Carpenter’s VAMPIRES) as a Guilty Pleasure, since it met all of my parameters. (A D+ rating by audiences, no less!) But I gave it a pass because it was filmed in New Mexico, one of my favorite places, and the film’s scenery was totally cool. Apparently the bloodsuckers liked it too.
Nightmare On The East River
The 9/11 terrorist attack on New York in 2001 was—and still is—the city’s worst disaster involving loss of life. Prior to that, the dubious record was held by an incident that occurred nearly a century earlier. This is the story of the paddle steamer GENERAL SLOCUM and its ill-fated voyage in 1904.
Guilty Pleasures: DEAD SILENCE
Horror producer/director James Wan has been associated with a number of successful films, including the INSIDIOUS franchise and the (mostly) awesome “Conjuring” Universe. But his 2007 effort, DEAD SILENCE, is not exactly one of those successes.
Blowing Shit Up: PREDATOR And PREDATOR 2
Each of these two movies, the classic PREDATOR (1987) and the not-so-classic PREDATOR 2 (1990), features a single antagonist—a nasty-looking dude with dreads. So why, one would wonder, does it take an ungodly amount of blowing shit up to bring these alien hunters down?
Stop And Smell The Flowers
No great body of text for this week’s post. No haunted houses, hotels, or hovels. No “bad” movies that I love to watch. Just a photo essay about the beauty of the flowers that I get to enjoy on my morning walks…
Myths And Legends: The Myrtles Plantation
Built in 1796, the antebellum Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana has a reputation as one of America’s most haunted houses. Currently a bed & breakfast, the main house is said to have been built above a Native American burial ground, and we all know what that means.
A Walk-Off To End All Walk-Offs
The batter standing at home plate was a second- or third-string catcher for most of his 14-year career, with a lifetime batting average of .233 and 34 home runs. The pitcher poised on the mound would win 363 games and become a first-ballot Hall of Famer. What happened on that fateful day could only have been construed as improbable, corny fiction.
“A Wild And Sick Imagination”
I thought you might get a hoot out of the first few pages of my latest literary gem, BACK ON THE BIKE PATH. Since I hadn’t written anything for a while, it surprised me that I managed to ease into the story so easily. But when my character, Jack Miller, is a barely disguised me, it wasn’t all that hard.
Final Report From The Quarantine Cave…I Hope
When 2020 began, I had no idea that I’d be writing a whole lot of posts over the course of thirteen months while hiding out at home to avoid the nasty coronavirus. (Age and underlying health issues gave Jacqueline and me no choice.) Things are finally looking up, and I truly hope this will be the last mention of it. But as Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over till it’s over,” and guess what, folks—it ain’t over!
Roger Dorn Had It Right
Rich guy Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen) is the third baseman for the Cleveland Indians in the outrageous 1989 sports comedy, MAJOR LEAGUE. Dorn is also a philanderer, which prompts his wife, Suzanne, to enact revenge by seducing the team’s star pitcher, Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen).
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