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.
“The Play’s The Thing”—SHAKESPEARE AND HATHAWAY
No, we’re not talking about William Shakespeare, or his wife, Anne Hathaway—not exactly, anyway. This is about Luella “Lu” Shakespeare (Jo Joyner) and Frank Hathaway (Mark Benton), stars of the delightful BBC British detective/comedy series, “Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators.”
Myths And Legends: The Ohio State Reformatory
If you saw the excellent film, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, or the political thriller, AIR FORCE ONE, then you’ve had a glimpse inside the Ohio State Reformatory, located in Mansfield, OH. But you likely didn’t know that this former prison is considered to be one of the most haunted places in America.
One And Done…Again
Oh man, this month promised Madness, did it not? But for my bride and I, it turned into March Sadness! Our two beloved basketball teams, the Iowa Hawkeyes and the San Diego State University Aztecs, both qualified for the Big Dance, aka the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. So far, so good. Then, both were disqualified…on the first full day of the tournament!
Spirit Of 76: The Good And The Bad (Not Ugly) Of Aging
Yeah, I turned 76 last week, and to tell the truth, approaching that number kind of weirded me out. Not sure why; maybe inching closer to 80 (eee-yoo!) had something to do with it. Whatever. I’ve never been one to subscribe to the “76 is the new 56” mode of thinking, so for a while there it was kind of a bummer.
Ghostly Rankings: The GHOSTBUSTERS Films
A while back, when I ranked the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World films, I mentioned that it was not a matter of Worst to First, given that I did not think any of them sucked. Good to Great was more like it. The same thing holds true for the four Ghostbusters movies.
“I Ain’t ’Fraid-A No Ghosts”—Lines From A Great Film Series, Part Two
The 2016 version of GHOSTBUSTERS (“Answer the Call”), a remake of the original, featured an all-female starring cast. Many folks had an issue with that. I didn’t…I just enjoyed it for what it was. Get a life!
“Ghostbusters, Whaddya Want?”—Lines From A Great Film Series, Part One
Having just watched the fourth film in the nearly forty-year-old franchise, GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, I decided to feature these movies in my next three posts. This week: lines from the first two films. The following week, lines from the more recent entities. And finally, I’ll rate the films—in my humble estimation, of course.
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?
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.
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.
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