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.
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...
Guilty Pleasures: Conan The Barbarian
The thundering drums from Basil Poledouris’s awesome score tell me that, for perhaps the hundredth time, I’m about to immerse myself in the 1982 screen exploits of author Robert E. Howard’s most famous character, Conan the Barbarian. What can I say? I love this film,...
Ray Bradbury: “Everyone Must Leave Something Behind…”
For many years now, Ray Bradbury was often referred to as “the world’s greatest living science fiction writer.” Not many people would dispute that statement. Sadly, this giant of science fiction and fantasy passed away earlier in the week at the age of ninety-one. But...
Otis Adelbert Kline: Who’s He?
Since I’ve spent the last two posts on my favorite and most inspirational writer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, I decided to continue that theme with a story about a less famous author, Otis Adelbert Kline. What does one have to do with the other? Readers of the science...
Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Master Of Lost Worlds
In my last post I noted that Edgar Rice Burroughs was the single greatest source of inspiration for both my love of reading and my own writing career. With the recent re-release of the first book I ever wrote, The Master of Boranga—which had the Burroughs stamp all...
Thank You, Edgar Rice Burroughs
In the 1980s I published a sword & sorcery novel titled, The Twentieth Son of Ornon (reissued earlier this year as The Sons of Ornon). It might have been my tenth or eleventh published book at the time; I’m not sure. More important was the dedication/author’s note...
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