Thankful
For my beautiful wife of 25 years. For my two kids, even though they’re both presently teenagers and at times bear more resemblance to the Martian visitors in Mars Attacks! Both of them have the ability to be kind, understanding, courteous and thankful–just not on the same day. For my extended family. For my many […]
Sharon, will you go out with me?
It took me twenty minutes to make the ten minute drive to the bank. My palms were sweating and my heart was racing as I finally came to a stop at the drive through. Sharon waved and smiled, pulled the microphone close and said “Hi John.” I fumbled with the metal cylinder, inserted my […]
A Review of Lowcountry Boil
Are you looking for a clever murder mystery? One with a unique sense of place and enough quirky characters to make the cast of The Big Bang Theory take notice. Can you deal with a ghost as a central character? And I don’t mean a ghost in the traditional sense, one that fades in and […]
15
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 […]