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: Guilty Pleasures—Armageddon
The 1998 sci-fi/disaster flick, ARMAGEDDON, grossed well over half a billion dollars—so why is it a Guilty Pleasure? Doubtless because its reviews were uniformly awful.
Throwback Thursday: “Did You Bullshit Last Week?”
In these challenging times we could all use a good laugh, so this edition of Movie Lines is all about quotes from comedy films. The post first ran in 2017.
Throwback Thursday: A Touch Of Football, A Touch Of Fantasy
The 2012 film, TOUCHBACK, is another inspirational sports movie that you undoubtedly missed. I viewed it on Netflix last year because I enjoy sports movies, and because Kurt Russell, one of my favorites, had a co-starring role in it. The film proved a pleasant surprise, and a copy of it is now a part of my collection.
Throwback Thursday: Films About Books—The Babadook
When William Friedkin, director of THE EXORCIST, proclaims, “I’ve never seen a more terrifying film,” you have to take notice. He was referring to the 2014 Australian psychological horror film, THE BABADOOK, and I definitely agree with his assessment. This one is designed to cause more than a few sleepless nights.
Throwback Thursday: Films About Writers—In The Heart Of The Sea
Okay, calling this 2015 historical adventure a film about a writer may be a reach. Then again, one of the primary characters is Herman Melville, author of MOBY DICK, so it may not be too far out after all.
Report From The Quarantine Cave 6.0
Day 18,764 of the coronavirus pandemic: enough already! I mean, FREAKING ENOUGH! Are we back in the Dark Ages with the Black Plague? And it only seems to be getting worse.
Remembering Sean Connery
Just like the many larger-than-life characters that he played on the silver screen, Sean Connery toughed it out for ninety years on this plane of existence before succumbing on Halloween. I count many of his films among my favorites and have previously written about some of them. The one I’ve chosen for this post as an homage is the lesser-known 1981 science fiction “space western,” OUTLAND.
Can’t Say It Enough: WRITE WELL, NOT FAST
There are those who stress sitting down with your laptops on fire and writing novels just as fast as you can. Write 5,000 words over a weekend. Or better still, write 50,000 words in thirty days. As a professional novelist and writing coach of a thousand years, I disagree with this method of helping writers, or wannabe writers, explore their creativity.
My 2020 Halloween Playlist
To tell the truth, I don’t think any horror movie, past or present, could be much scarier than YEAR 2020. Am I right? (Well, maybe THE CONJURING or THE BABADOOK come close.)
Attack Of The Giant…Penguin?
Would a horror movie with a title like that make you want to sign up with another streaming service so you can watch it? No, I didn’t think so. But just such a creature emerged from the ocean off Clearwater, Florida over seventy years ago—or did it?
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