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: “I’m Your Number One Fan”
That line, and Stephen King’s MISERY—which I wrote about last week—are apparently inseparable. In the hope of finding some more material I entered “writers’ number one fans” into a search engine and guess what: the first four links that show up are for MISERY and Annie Wilkes.
Films About Writers: Humor Me
I can’t say that the 2018 comedy, HUMOR ME, did poorly at the box office. That’s because it did almost NO box office. It just sort of came and went, and we all missed it…and that’s a shame, as it definitely is funny, and at times even poignant.
Throwback Thursday: Films About Writers—Misery
Authors, athletes, actors—heck, just about everyone in the public eye—all have a Number One Fan. Or two. Or a thousand. Even I had some Number One Fans back in the day. Sounds like an interesting topic for a post—which will appear next week.
Sally Forth With Don Quixote In THE 22ND GEAR
Once again the trilogy is complete. My revised comedy/sci-fi story, THE 22ND GEAR (A Retro Ride: Book Three) joins BICYCLING THROUGH SPACE AND TIME and THE ULTIMATE BIKE PATH to chronicle bicyclist Jack Miller’s weird and wonderful adventures in some pretty strange places.
Throwback Thursday: A Head Case?
“Hi, I’m Mike, and I’m a head case.”Okay, I hope that didn’t prompt you to counter with the typical twelve-step response, because if it did, I gotta worry about you. 😊
A Ginormous Hoax: The Cardiff Giant
“There’s a sucker born every minute,” someone once declared. No, it wasn’t P.T. Barnum, the great showman, as many believe. But Barnum did have a role to play in the story of the CARDIFF GIANT—the greatest hoax of the nineteenth century.
Throwback Thursday: Common Writing Mistakes
In my centuries of evaluating and editing manuscripts I’ve probably been through five million of ’em. (Wait, I’m not supposed to exaggerate; it’s only one million.) With that large a sample size it’s clear that many of the same mistakes plague writers, whether they’re newbies or successful, multi-published authors. Here are just a few of them.
Inconceivable: A Star Wars Film That Flopped?
I don’t get it; I just don’t. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, the second spinoff after ROGUE ONE, has been around over a month—long enough for it to be considered a box office bomb. Jacqueline and I totally enjoyed the film, and from what I learned, so did critics and audiences alike.
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—Conan The Destroyer
Last week I mentioned that a new Conan movie with the Governator was doubtless NOT going to happen. Such is life. Here is a 2014 post about the last time he appeared as the indomitable barbarian.
A Few Thoughts On A Dark And Stormy Night
Okay, first of all I’m writing this on a sunny Southern California afternoon, and the next storm is not expected here till at least November. But hey, I am a purveyor of fiction, and as my dear bride can confirm, I tend to exaggerate upon occasion. Just a little bit though. So here are some thoughts and updates about this and that.
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