Writing/Editing/Reading Update, September Edition

September kicked off with our Labor Day Weekend Extravaganza. Ella and a bunch of her friends arrive at the house in the country and put up tents in the yard. There's a fire going all day and into the night—luckily we got some well-timed rain to allow for fires outdoors. I took some extra days …

Writing/Editing/Reading Update, August Edition

As previously mentioned, we bought a smaller condo last month, closing date July 30. Sandra did a lot of shopping to find just the right place, and it turned out to be only a couple miles down the road from our old place. The closing date on selling the old condo was August 6, so …

Writing/Editing/Reading Update, July Edition

Things got going this month when Sandra and I headed out to Lancaster, PA, for the Shore Leave convention. This was the twentieth anniversary of my first attendance, though not my twentieth time attending, as I missed a few years here and there. It was great as always, getting to see my gang of writer …

Writing/Editing/Reading Update, June Edition

Oof, this has been a month. A couple weeks ago, an external drive I have plugged into my old iMac stopped booting. I use it for my photo and music libraries, as they had grown too large for the iMac's hard drive. The files are backed up, so although it was a bummer, I knew …

Writing/Editing/Reading Update, May Edition

The mad king's murdering thugs, aka ICE, are still disrupting people's lives, so please consider visiting the website Stand With Minnesota to find all sorts of charities you can support. You can be a good neighbor even if you don’t live here! Awkwardly jumping from that to a selfish note, if anyone in the Carlton/Cloquet/Duluth region reads …

Writing/Editing/Reading Update, April Edition

I'm probably going to keep mentioning Stand With Minnesota while the mad king reigns. Many people here are still feeling the repercussions of his secret police. Visit Stand With Minnesota to find all sorts of charities you can support. You can be a good neighbor even if you don't live here! Now to the topic …

Hammer Time: Frankenstein Edition, Pt. 3—The Evil of Frankenstein

When we last saw Frankenstein and his sidekick Kleve in The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), it was around 1863, and the not-good-at-all doctor had relocated to London under the impenetrable alias of Dr. Franck and the equally impenetrable disguise of a moustache and monocle. As I bemoaned in my post on that film, I would …

Writing/Editing/Reading Update, March Edition

Minnesota has gotten through the worst of the occupation by mad king Trump’s murdering secret police, but make no mistake, ICE thugs are still around, and the ramifications of their lawless surge will linger for months if not years. People here still need help. People are still afraid of ICE brownshirts coming after their children, …

Writing, Editing, Reading Update, February Edition

Although the mad king Trump’s lawless thugs have been slowly leaving Minnesota, the scars left by the "surge" will linger painfully. People of color—regardless of immigration status—will long be looking over their shoulders. Many are still wary of leaving their homes. If you're financially able, please visit Stand With Minnesota to find various charities helping …

The Thing from Over the Lake (An Excerpt)

I generally put excerpts from my published works on my website, appearing on the pages devoted to the anthologies in which they were first published. However, my recent collection, The Sad Rains of Mars: New and Collected Stories, does include a couple of brand-new stories. One of them, the title story, "The Sad Rains of …