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.
Throwback Thursday: FREEDOM’S HAND—Let’s Hope It Never Comes To This
Sadly, this award-winning novel—about a brutal white supremacist group in the 1990s—continues to be relevant today, as it was in 2017, when I last presented this post.
What Are The Lincoln Canes?
Abe Lincoln, our 16th president, is remembered for a great many achievements. The commissioning of the Lincoln Canes is probably not one of them…but it should be.
Throwback Thursday: “They’re Coming To Get You…”—Lines From Classic Horror Movies
The dialogue in horror movies can range from outrageously humorous to super creepy. Here are just a few, all of the films prior to 1990. This post first ran in 2017.
Myths And Legends: The St. Augustine Lighthouse
The Florida city of St. Augustine, located on the Atlantic coast and founded in 1565 by explorers from Spain, is the oldest European-established and occupied settlement in the U.S. It is also home to one creepy old haunted lighthouse—if you can believe the legends.
Throwback Thursday: Along The River Of Lost Souls
Lots of amazing things to see in the Four Corners region. I first presented this post in 2017.
A Journey Across Time To Save An Empire
A reader in the UK, one of my 17 international fans, 😊 recently wrote me to say that his old copies of my Sword & Sorcery novels, BERBORA and FLIGHT FROM BERBORA, had disintegrated and blown away on a slight breeze. I advised him that I had rewritten and reissued those two gems as THE SWORD OF TYRON and THE QUEST OF TYRON, which pleased him no end.
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—THE RELIC
This 1997 horror film is based on the best-selling book, RELIC, by popular authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Fans of these two know that this novel marks the initial appearance of the enigmatic FBI Agent Pendergast, who is totally absent from the movie.
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.
Throwback Thursday: I Walk The Line
Okay, I’m not walking as much as I did back in 2017, when this post first ran…but I AM walking. Three to three-and-a-half miles, at least every other day. Not bad for an old (young) fart!
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.
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