RIP Art Bell

RIP Art Bell

A weekend news item that may have gotten lost in the shuffle with all the stories about Syria, Russia, and Trump's lawyer was the death of legendary talk radio host Art Bell. Art had been mostly retired for over a decade. My audience tends to skew younger, so it's unclear…
April 18, 20183 Comments
A Comical Tragedy in Nine Parts

A Comical Tragedy in Nine Parts

Courtesy of nonexistent Nazgûl @kaijubushi: For more short fiction that's equally insane, but in a different way, check out my new SFF short story collection Strange Matter.
April 13, 20182 Comments
Sparing the Poet

Sparing the Poet

It's my pleasure to present the readers of this blog with the foreword to my upcoming short story anthology. Spend some time on authors’ blogs or online writing groups, and you’ll meet people who claim to be aspiring writers. I use “claim” because there’s no such animal. Our actions define…
April 9, 201813 Comments
We Have to Go Back

We Have to Go Back

All the way back. Not to the 1950s. The rot had already spread far and deep by then. Express a desire to turn the clock back to a better time, and nine out of ten Americans will instantly assume you mean the 50s. That's because there are no real traditionalists…
April 6, 201818 Comments
Selling Our Past Back to Us

Selling Our Past Back to Us

Author JD Cowan issues a Jeremiad against the Morlocks who destroy culture while pretending to create it, occasioned by his viewing of a Netflix nostalgia cash-grab. The program was called Everything Sucks! and is supposed to be a Wonder Years or Freaks and Geeks of the 1990s. For those that…
March 28, 20189 Comments
We’ve Passed Peak Pop Star

We’ve Passed Peak Pop Star

In recent Decline of the West news, record sales have fallen off a cliff. Record sales are being touted these days as on a comeback. All you hear is: streaming will save us. But things are pretty dire. For example, Justin Timberlake’s “Man of the Woods,” touted so highly on…
March 15, 201833 Comments
How Publishing Companies Die

How Publishing Companies Die

Over at Jeffro's blog, veteran author, editor, and publisher Jeff Duntemann delivers his own Blood in the Streets prediction for the Big Five New York publishing houses. Ebooks have *not* plateaued. Perhaps ebooks published with an ISBN–something of less and less usefulness as time goes on–but you can sell ebooks…
March 6, 201819 Comments
Gen Zed Perspective

Gen Zed Perspective

Reader and high school student Eliza offers her informed commentary on yesterday's post about the Left's efforts to normalize obesity. As part of Generation Z, it is interesting to read about the excuses that people have for "letting go." At the high school level I think everyone knows that being…
February 14, 20181 Comment
Reason #1,000,001

Reason #1,000,001

The following FaceBook post found its way into my feed yesterday. Names and faces are concealed to protect the innocent. Anon is right on the money. Body positivity/#HealthyAtAnySize is pure rhetorical snake oil for all the reasons listed. Furthermore, it's downright evil for ulterior reasons not-so-subtly hidden in this comment…
February 13, 201814 Comments
What’s New Is Old

What’s New Is Old

A curious phenomenon I started noticing about fifteen years ago hit me as a sort of jump-cutting in time. The effect wasn't internally consistent, though--like when I sit down to write at 7 PM, get into a groove, and suddenly it's midnight. The temporal anomaly I'm referring to is oddly…
February 9, 201826 Comments