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: Report From The Quarantine Cave 7.0
Another look back at a rather horrific event in the history of our planet. This post first ran in 2020.
The Ghost Town In The Foothills
Circumstances preclude my presenting a new post for today. But here is one of my favorites from long ago.
Throwback Thursday: The King Of Turdville
All of the books in my “Bicycling” series are a combination of comedy, science fiction, satire, and an occasional serious moment or two. The excerpt I’m going to share from the fourth book, BACK ON THE BIKE PATH, is a mixture of them all, with an emphasis on satire.
A Very SPECIAL Special Effects Collection
The late, great Ray Harryhausen was an animator and special effects creator, well known for his development of stop motion model animation (known as Dynamation). The largest body of his work was done during the 1950s-1970s. He retired after his efforts on the 1981 gem, CLASH OF THE TITANS.
Throwback Thursday: JACK MILLER IS BACK ON THE BIKE PATH!
With a fifth book in the series on the horizon, here is my 2020 post about book #4, BACK ON THE BIKE PATH.
Yea Verily, The Month Of March Bringeth Madness
“Et tu, Brute?” For sure, March did not turn out to be the best of months for Julius Caesar. But for those of us who love college basketball, this month is “…the most wonderful time of the year.” That, of course, is because the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments are upon us.
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—GEOSTORM
The much-maligned 2017 film, GEOSTORM, is a disaster movie. And a sci-fi movie. And a political thriller. Guess what: I enjoy disaster movies; and sci-fi movies; and political thrillers.
An Iowa Basketball Story
My bride, Jacqueline, is a Hawkeye through and through. After we met in the early ’90s we would fly back to Cedar Rapids once or twice a year to visit her parents, Carol and Jack Benzinger. On a visit in the early 2000s Jack took me to a basketball game at the University of Iowa…a WOMEN’S basketball game, to be exact, featuring the Lady Hawkeyes. And that’s where this story begins.
Throwback Thursday: Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks?
My bride and I have watched a lot of police procedural/detective shows on BritBox, Acorn, and PBS Masterpiece. They range in presentation from intense (VERA, MYSTERY ROAD) to outrageously funny (AGATHA RAISIN). Somewhere in the middle, joining favorites such as MIDSOMER MURDERS and THE BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES, is the delightful BBC production, NEW TRICKS.
78 Is Just A Number
Yeah, but later this week (March 6, to be exact) it becomes more than a number to me. It marks how many years I’ve been on this plane of existence since the day I was deposited here by the Mother Ship. HOLY CRAP, 78?!? I thought only old people achieved that number. Oh, wait…
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