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.
Guilty Pleasures: Anacondas
Wait, what? Hey Mike, didn’t you write about this film already? Nope, this one is Anacondas, plural. This 2004 film has a whole lot more of the slithering creatures than the first one did. (Anaconda had two, so technically it could’ve been called Anacondas, but…oh,...
To Outline Your Story…Or Not?
For you writers, or even wanna-be writers out there, this bit of information may be helpful. I first presented it as a newsletter for my writing community a while back. To some writers, “outline” is a dirty word (much like “synopsis”). To others, it is an...
Writing To Vent
Those of us who write novels have a great platform for saying pretty much anything we want. The characters we create often reflect our likes, our dislikes, our politics, our worldviews, and many other things. And there is nothing wrong with venting our spleens through...
Guilty Pleasures: Q, The Winged Serpent
On the Weird Scale, this 1982 flick ranks pretty high. A word of warning: you might not want to eat anything while you’re watching Q, The Winged Serpent. Within the first five minutes we have a window washer high up on the Empire State Building decapitated and see his...
A Quixotic Struggle
The word “quixotic” has its roots in—what else?—Don Quixote, the subject of my last post. By definition the word means, “Foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals; marked by rash, lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action.” Yep, that...
Tilting At Windmills
It may surprise you to know that my favorite literary character is not John Carter of Mars, or Conan the Barbarian, or even Frodo Baggins. That distinction goes to a rather odd, middle-aged, seventeenth century Spaniard named Alonso Quijano. If that name doesn’t ring...
Celebrating A Friend
Jeff Sherratt is a Newport Beach, CA mystery writer with three published novels among his credits. Jeff is also my friend. In recent years the younger (and even older) generation has overused the slang word “bro” to the point of meaninglessness, even referring to...
Guilty Pleasures: Anaconda
I gotta say, when it comes to guilty-pleasure horror movies I’m a sucker for anything BIG. Give me giant arachnids, rats, bugs of any kind, reptiles, dogs, cats, lions, tigers, and bears—even Fifty-Foot Women or Amazing Colossal Men—and I’m as happy as a clam. (Good...
Writing Novels For Fun And—Fun?
Did you expect to see the word “profit” in that title? Not likely. Let me share some thoughts from what I’ve experienced over the past gazillion years and nearly thirty novels written. When I made the commitment to start writing novels a long, long time ago I began...
John Carter: The Movie Wasn’t So Bad
Okay, if you read this blog you must know how I feel about Edgar Rice Burroughs—my muse, the author whose works inspired me to start writing back at the dawn of time. So do I have an opinion about John Carter, the 2012 overhyped movie named for ERB’s second most...
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