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.
More Dinosaurs? Yaay!!!
The long wait is almost over! (Drum roll here.) JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION is scheduled to open in theaters on June 10th. I haven’t seen a film inside a movie theater in years, but I will make an exception for this one. I mean, it’s dinosaurs, right?
Throwback Thursday: Where Was #MeToo Back In The Day?
The demeaning of women, a problem that just doesn’t seem to go away. I first presented this post in 2018.
A Novelist’s Challenge: “What Book Should I Write Next?”
When the pandemic drove us indoors in early 2020, I found a number of ways to keep busy. At that point I hadn’t written a new book in years, but circumstances being what they were, I decided the time had come to do just that. So I journeyed far and wide to the repository of unfinished stories and unrealized book proposals—aka the file cabinet in my attic—to see what I could find. And one partial manuscript of 35,000 words that seemed to call out “finish me, please finish me” caught my attention.
Throwback Thursday: Myths And Legends—The Ghosts Of Alcatraz
I had no idea that I’d come to one of the most haunted places in the country when I visited Alcatraz many years ago. This post first ran in 2018.
Bernie Smith Is Back! Well, Soon…
It is about time to announce (trumpets, here) that I am hard at work on a new book! THE HORRORS OF HARRMEL, a Sword & Planet spoof, is a sequel to my 2016 novel, THE WIZARD FROM HARRMEL, sub-titled “The Weird Adventures of Bernie Smith on the Distant and Deadly World of Persus.” If the tides don’t rise and the meteor misses Earth, it should be ready in a month or two.
Throwback Thursday: Exploring THE PLANET OF THE APES—Part Five
Will we ever see another PLANET OF THE APES film? Hollywood says that one is in the works…but you know Hollywood. This post first ran in 2018.
The Mystery Of The Ghost Blimp
I’ve written about ghost ships and ghost trains, but a GHOST BLIMP? This true story about an incident that took place during World War II ranks way up there on the Weird-O-Meter, I kid you not.
Throwback Thursday: Whole Lotta Shaking Goin’ On
When will the Big One hit? We Californians know that it’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN. This post first ran in 2018.
The Changing Face Of Baseball: A Woman Hired As A Manager!
Rachel Balkovec has broken through the domed ceiling of professional baseball in a big way. The New York Yankees had hired her in 2019 as their hitting coach, making her the first woman to hold that position full-time. And recently the Bronx Bombers promoted her as manager of their Low A affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons, making her the first woman to manage a team affiliated with MLB.
Throwback Thursday: Dreadlocked Rodents And Elephant-Flies
Four years ago I revised and reissued the second book in my comedy/sci-fi series, THE ULTIMATE BIKE PATH. (A Retro Ride: Book Two.) Along with all his strange adventures on the other side of the numerous gates along the Path, cosmic cyclist Jack Miller encounters some weird riders on the mhuva lun gallee itself. Here are two of them.
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