Boston: In Summary

Though I only spent a few days there, I'd like to live in Boston. It's a big city that manages to avoid feeling like one. New York feels like a cramped, seething, writhing mass of cranky people, which Boston has managed to avoid. Mainly, I think, by not cramming 13 million people onto an island. … Continue reading Boston: In Summary →

Boston Borne

It's been a good long while since I've last gone anywhere new. Hell, it's been a long time since I've traveled more than a state away, new or not. So I'm looking forward to going to Boston. That might be an understatement of sorts. I should specify that I am looking forward to the experience … Continue reading Boston Borne →

The Healing Powers of Touch

I have an innate need to touch things. It makes the object more real, more immediate. Seeing something is almost never enough for me to verify the existence of whatever it is I'm looking at. I run my hands along fences and brush and buildings, especially if I'm in a new place. I like to … Continue reading The Healing Powers of Touch →

I Asked For Water, She Gave Me Gasoline

I like rock 'n' roll and its illegitimate daddy, the blues, just as much for the mythology as for the music itself. You've got musicians who may, or may not have sold their souls to the devil just so they can play the guitar faster than a normal man. You've got a death count that … Continue reading I Asked For Water, She Gave Me Gasoline →

On Life

One of the big flaws in human thinking has been the tendency to view things from the wrong way round. We see things as they are now and then work backwards from this point. We look at the world around us and see the entire breadth and depth of history as a chain of events … Continue reading On Life →

Food of the Gods

Food and I have an unhealthy relationship. I have a tendency to go toward the strange and bizarre. And by that I don't mean, say, octopus (too crunchy, not enough flavor). I mean that weird crap that lurks on the bottom shelves of grocery stores and gas-stations, like mint flavored frappucinos and snack cakes made by … Continue reading Food of the Gods →

Pitfalls

There are two huge issues that I deal with when I'm writing, both of them dealing with me thinking too much. One happens immediately after I finish a story. Every story starts off as an idea in my head. I know, you're shocked. The process of the story going from my head to the computer … Continue reading Pitfalls →

Checklist

I've never been real good about sticking to a schedule. Generally, I do stuff when I feel like it. So, chores don't really get tackled. And stuff that I might enjoy, but require energy. Or anything that really requires energy. This means I get next to nothing done in a day, save for the fact … Continue reading Checklist →

The Healing Powers of Horror

Since I write horror, I often feel the need to defend it. It's the creepy, inbred cousin in the writing family, the one that you just know is going to pull an Ed Gein and live in a house decorated with body part furniture he got from a satanic Ikea. For me horror, in most … Continue reading The Healing Powers of Horror →

Set in Stone…Like Talc or Something

One of the more interesting and appalling aspects of history is its malleability. I constantly have to relearn what I thought I knew about history. For example, it's common knowledge that Egyptians used slave labor to build their pyramids, who were a bunch of sad bastards who were worked to death against their will. Except … Continue reading Set in Stone…Like Talc or Something →