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: Films About Writers—THE LAST WORD
It is always a pleasure to see eighty-something Shirley MacLaine on the silver screen. Sadly, not a whole lot of people saw her perform in the 2017 comedy-drama, THE LAST WORD.
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.
Throwback Thursday: Righting Old Wrongs—THE TALISMAN OF OKORRO
By this time I have rewritten and reissued all of my previously published novels, a monumental task. This post first ran in 2017.
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?
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—C.H.U.D.
When I wrote about the late John Heard last week I mentioned that one of his earliest screen roles was in the 1984 horror movie, C.H.U.D. I would’ve eventually written about this weird film, given that it is one of my Guilty Pleasures—so why not now?
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…
Throwback Thursday: Remembering “Charlie Bloom”
Wow, time not only flies…it breaks the sound barrier! I first wrote about John Heard’s passing in 2017.
“The Only Good Indian Is…”
You likely know how that sentence ends. More about it shortly. In a previous post, “Writing Humor: It Doesn’t All Have To Be Funny,” I documented how my first comedy/science fiction novel, BICYCLING THROUGH SPACE AND TIME, came to be published in the ’90s. Berkley bought it based on seven chapters…six totally outrageous ones, and a seventh that just about tore my heart out as I wrote it.
Throwback Thursday: Myths And Legends—Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery
One of the most haunted places in the U.S. is located in suburban Chicago, of all places. The Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, abandoned over four decades ago, is surrounded by the Midlothian Forest, which sounds more apropos to Middle Earth rather than Middle America. As creepy sites go, this one has it all.
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.
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