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Father and son, both shirtless, we stood in front of the mirror, razors in hand. He carefully mimicked my actions as we applied a thin sheen of Gillette’s best before he hefted the razor suspiciously. “You don’t need to rush this,” I offered. “These blades may be incredibly thin but they’re unimaginably sharp. So […]
Barbed Wire Butterfly
On first glance Jessica Kristie’s debut novel has a distinct Dickens’ like narrative: Kidnapped pre-teenage children living out a meager existence as slave labor of a shadowy manufacturing complex far removed from the caring eyes of civilized society. The child-laborers are coerced through beatings, rape, intimidation and starvation and should one falter then that […]
Kid Stuff
This essay originally appeared in the September 2002 issue of Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine The Beechcraft King Air 200 has shut down; the passengers disembarked and as the pilots are walking away I whisper into my 4-year-old son’s ear “Wave at the pilots”. It works like a charm. One of the pilots walks […]
Bits of Glass
I recently picked up one of my favorite books from my childhood, Edward Jablonski’s Flying Fortress. It’s a highly researched and detailed account of the brave American airmen that flew B-17 bombers during World War 2. I can remember devouring that book in fifth grade and hoping that one day I would also be […]
Bits of Glass
I recently picked up one of my favorite books from my childhood, Edward Jablonski’s Flying Fortress. It’s a highly researched and detailed account of the brave American airmen that flew B-17 bombers during World War 2. I can remember devouring that book in fifth grade and hoping that one day I would also be […]
Hopping that Blog
My dear friend Shaunda Wenger invited me to participate in a blog hop titled “The Next Big Thing” which is meant to showcase a writer’s work in progress. If you ask me that sort of sounds like a lead-in to an old Godzilla movie. So imagine if you will: Police Commissioner in thick glasses speaking […]
A Book Review
Today’s forecast, grey, cold, cloudy and humid. The day I started reading Emlyn Chand’s Torn Together, the weather mimicked the feel of the first forty pages of this novel. 20 year-old budding artist Daly English is struggling through life. Her father has recently passed away and she is ostracized by her own mother who […]
The Good Lady Upstairs
Bonnie, our faithful and fearless Jack Russell Terrier was growling, a deep threatening growl that meant business. She was determined not to let this intruder near our bed. The hair on the back of her neck spiked upward and her teeth were bared. She was this close to leaping on and ripping into this intruder. […]
Do you hear that?
Those were foot-steps. No question about it. Even in the darkness I could see the fright on my wife’s face. She threw the blanket over her and clutched me like never before, the flesh on my shoulders proving no match for her recently manicured nails. Someone was walking on the third floor of my […]
Breakfast Anyone?
Breakfast. I love cooking breakfast. Muffins, pancakes, waffles with Vermont maple syrup, quiches, yogurt and fresh fruit parfaits, freshly squeezed orange and apple juice, fruit smoothies, bacon and eggs, buttermilk biscuits, scrambled eggs with cheese and herbs; I could keep going but I think you get the idea. My kids used to happily sit […]