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: So Glad Shoeless Joe Came To Iowa
Yes, I do write a lot about FIELD OF DREAMS, the best movie ever. Here is my original post, which I did in 2012.
The Incredible Shrinking Man—Me??!!
I scored my first driver’s license as a teen in New York City, shortly after they invented the automobile. It listed my height at 5’10”, and it still says that today. Tell the truth, I don’t think I was ever actually 5’10”, but at 5’9¾” I guess that was close enough.
Throwback Thursday: The Modocs—Reality And Myth
I wrote this post in 2012, a couple of years before publishing my historical novel about this tribe, Stone Woman: Winema and the Modocs.
Guest Post: Remembering Madeline
A recent post about my German shepherd, Barney, moved one of my readers, Dr. Bill Wright, and brought back memories of a beloved dog named Madeline. Bill sent me this beautiful remembrance, which, with Bill’s kind permission, I’d like to share with you.
Throwback Thursday: Guilty Pleasures—Krull
I actually watched this old guilty pleasure a few weeks ago. Here is what I wrote about it in 2012.
Blacklisted Writer Dalton Trumbo Stuck To His Convictions
Some critics—predictably—knocked the 2015 biographical drama, Trumbo, for its “historical inaccuracies.” Still, this excellent film, starring Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo and Helen Mirren as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, served to open the eyes of many who might otherwise not have been aware of the dark period in the 1940s and ’50s known as the Hollywood Blacklist.
Throwback Thursday: A Dog Story With A Ghostly Ending
Over three decades later, losing my beloved German shepherd still hurts. I wrote about Barney back in 2012.
Guilty Pleasures: The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Actually, I could have launched a new series with this 2003 fantasy: “Films About Literary Characters.” There sure as heck are enough of them in the story. But The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, starring Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain in his last screen role before retiring, qualifies as a Guilty Pleasure by virtue of the many critics and filmgoers that hated it (not me, of course), if not for its box office take, which was quite good.
Throwback Thursday: Scaring People—A Few More Thoughts
Here are some more observations from a 2012 post about how we writers of horror fiction go about scaring readers.
Films About Writers: Crimson Peak
In the 2015 Gothic thriller, Crimson Peak, director Guillermo del Toro has crafted an atmospheric period piece designed to scare the living crap out of viewers. Young, aspiring novelist Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) likes to write ghost stories, but I doubt if she planned on living one.
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