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.
From Bedtime Story To Book: The Dark Corner
When my daughters were little I used to tell them stories that, for the most part, I made up on the fly. One such fantasy tale was about two teens, brother and sister, who enjoy a simple life in an idyllic land under the protection of Tutors (wizards). When a dark, festering Evil threatens to overrun their land the kids—Vall and Corrie—join an unlikely trio in a quest to destroy the Evil and save their people.
Native American Film Gems: Edge Of America
Outstanding director Chris Eyre (SMOKE SIGNALS, SKINS) took a true story and turned it into EDGE OF AMERICA, a 2003 made-for-cable film. On the surface it appears to be an inspirational sports movie, but that is only a small part of the big picture.
Guilty Pleasures: Virus
Jamie Lee Curtis once called VIRUS, a 1999 sci-fi/horror flick, a “piece of shit.” Why is that significant? Because the renowned scream queen was one of its stars—along with Donald Sutherland and William Baldwin.
A Grand (Canyon) Mystery
Did the newlywed couple drown in the river and get washed out to sea? Were they murdered? Or did aliens abduct them right out of their boat? Nearly ninety years after Bessie and Glen Hyde set off down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, their disappearance remains shrouded in mystery.
Remembering Bill Paxton
A fine actor—and, from all I’ve ever heard about him, and even better person—Bill Paxton passed away a little over a month ago at the all-too-young age of sixty-one. A personal favorite of mine, Paxton played in quite a few of the fifty or sixty films that I include in my Top Ten. My way of remembering him is to look back at some of those roles.
Exploring The Planet Of The Apes: Part Four
If Rise of the Planet of the Apes was outstanding, then its sequel was even better. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes received a great deal of critical acclaim (90% on Rotten Tomatoes), and it took in over $700 million at the box office. Not bad for a franchise once thought moribund.
Exploring The Planet Of The Apes: Part Three
After the “craze” died down following BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES in 1973, not a whole lot happened for a long time regarding the series’ return to the big screen. Plans for a remake of the original began in the late ’80s but would wind up in “development hell.”
Exploring The Planet Of The Apes: Part Two
So how did the producers of the first two highly successful Apes films manage to get three more sequels out of the series—especially after the Earth was blown to space debris in the fortieth century at the end of the second movie?
Exploring The Planet Of The Apes: Part One
It began in 1963 as a slim novel, La Planète des Singes, written by Pierre Boulle, a Frenchman. Alternately translated as Monkey Planet or Planet of the Apes, it told the futuristic story of a world turned upside down, a place where apes were the dominant species, while humans had become mindless, speechless beasts. The concept just begged for a Hollywood adaptation, and thus began a film series that is still going strong to this day—the eighth installment scheduled to hit the big screen this summer.
The Bill Russell Syndrome
What does former National Basketball Association great Bill Russell have to do with leading classes and workshops about writing novels? I’ll tell you…shortly. But, first things first.
Latest Release
