Find my sci-fi humor short, "Drugs Are Really Good For You, Really" for free at The Cynic.
Link
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
7/2/12: Interview
Suzanne Robb, an author I've had the privilege of sharing several anthologies with, was kind enough to conduct a brief and humorous interview with me.
Find it here.
Find it here.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
6/23/12: Doughnuts
Today I saw a Krispy Kreme box, and it spawned the weirdest thought: Mr. Chihani wouldn't serve doughnuts to his group.
I'll explain.
Mr. Chihani is a character in a novel I'm reading right now. In the book, the man heads a reading group, to which he only serves plain, unsweetened crackers, and other Spartan foods.
That explains why I thought Mr. Chihani wouldn't serve such blasphemous food to his reading group. But as for why I thought this in the first place ...
In any case, an hour after I saw the doughnut box, I went home and read some more of the book. Not two pages in, it described how, because of special circumstances, Mr. Chihani served doughnuts to his reading group.
I stand corrected.
I'll explain.
Mr. Chihani is a character in a novel I'm reading right now. In the book, the man heads a reading group, to which he only serves plain, unsweetened crackers, and other Spartan foods.
That explains why I thought Mr. Chihani wouldn't serve such blasphemous food to his reading group. But as for why I thought this in the first place ...
In any case, an hour after I saw the doughnut box, I went home and read some more of the book. Not two pages in, it described how, because of special circumstances, Mr. Chihani served doughnuts to his reading group.
I stand corrected.
Monday, June 4, 2012
The End of Jack Cruz
My first novel, The End of Jack Cruz, a post-apocalyptic thriller of opiated proportions, is now available, from Montag Press.
Blurb, straight from the back of the book:
"The movies never prepared him for this, even the ones that ended badly. Jack “Colonel” Jones is suddenly alone in the world. After surviving a plague that decimates the U.S., and perhaps the entire human population, he is left in a junky’s nightmare where hard drugs are the only remedy for an ongoing virus and dead bodies are his only companions. Sick and desperate, he meets a savior who goes by the name Jack Cruz. Jack Cruz is a hulking behemoth with a giant pistol and stockpile of post-apocalyptic supplies, but he also has a mysterious past and an increasingly disconcerting obsession with the death and decay that surrounds them. As Colonel's suspicions rise, and he begins to feel complicit in the wrongdoings of his post-apocalyptic roommate, Colonel must grapple new the questions: Can you be moral when there are only two people left on earth? Can there be sanity? And who decides? Is Colonel just paranoid, or are his fears justified? As the stakes heat up and the intensity flares, Colonel must find out the truth and decide – when your only companion in the world might be a murderer, and there is no one left to kill, is surviving worth it?"
Amazon link
Blurb, straight from the back of the book:
"The movies never prepared him for this, even the ones that ended badly. Jack “Colonel” Jones is suddenly alone in the world. After surviving a plague that decimates the U.S., and perhaps the entire human population, he is left in a junky’s nightmare where hard drugs are the only remedy for an ongoing virus and dead bodies are his only companions. Sick and desperate, he meets a savior who goes by the name Jack Cruz. Jack Cruz is a hulking behemoth with a giant pistol and stockpile of post-apocalyptic supplies, but he also has a mysterious past and an increasingly disconcerting obsession with the death and decay that surrounds them. As Colonel's suspicions rise, and he begins to feel complicit in the wrongdoings of his post-apocalyptic roommate, Colonel must grapple new the questions: Can you be moral when there are only two people left on earth? Can there be sanity? And who decides? Is Colonel just paranoid, or are his fears justified? As the stakes heat up and the intensity flares, Colonel must find out the truth and decide – when your only companion in the world might be a murderer, and there is no one left to kill, is surviving worth it?"
Amazon link
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
5/18/12: What's a brevet?
Brevet. An interesting word, perhaps the name of a freckly and rambunctious redhead boy. It means to be promoted euphemistically, sort of how flipping burgers now makes you a "Food Preparation Specialist."
Anyway.
I was reading a book recently, and it brought "brevet" to mind, for No Real Reason. At the time, however, I couldn't remember the word, nor what it meant, only that there was a word I had looked up a few months ago and that this word was now nagging me to death. For days this phantom word bugged me, making shapes from my subconscious like a cat under a quilt.
Then, after three nag-filled days, I happened to (very randomly) come across the word in my word ledger: "brevet." I recognized it at once. Queue "Hallelujah."
This was enough to net it a "word synchronicity" entry in my log, with my mysterious remembrance of it occurring so close to when I would happen across it in my ledger review (which I do linearly, between the several such word-definition ledgers I've amassed). However, it wasn't upgraded to blog-post status until a few hours later, when "brevet" turned up in the book I was still reading, the very one that had dislodged it from my subconscious.
As it were, the only time I'd seen "brevet" used was in the novel that originally spawned the word-ledger entry, and then in the latter book, which spawned this post.
Anyway.
I was reading a book recently, and it brought "brevet" to mind, for No Real Reason. At the time, however, I couldn't remember the word, nor what it meant, only that there was a word I had looked up a few months ago and that this word was now nagging me to death. For days this phantom word bugged me, making shapes from my subconscious like a cat under a quilt.
Then, after three nag-filled days, I happened to (very randomly) come across the word in my word ledger: "brevet." I recognized it at once. Queue "Hallelujah."
This was enough to net it a "word synchronicity" entry in my log, with my mysterious remembrance of it occurring so close to when I would happen across it in my ledger review (which I do linearly, between the several such word-definition ledgers I've amassed). However, it wasn't upgraded to blog-post status until a few hours later, when "brevet" turned up in the book I was still reading, the very one that had dislodged it from my subconscious.
As it were, the only time I'd seen "brevet" used was in the novel that originally spawned the word-ledger entry, and then in the latter book, which spawned this post.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
5/12/12: Thanks for the gloves
I cut grass. I wear gloves when I cut grass. Since March, when I started cutting grass for the season, I've needed new gloves. However, since I must cut the grass to get the money to get new gloves, I have been going without.
Yesterday, I got my first paycheck of the season, so I planned on buying my new gloves today.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, the place from which I buy such things closes early on Saturdays, and I would had to have made a special, early trip to town to get there on time. Needing new gloves, I almost did this, but was Compelled not to, despite it meaning a delay on said gloves. Strange, since I really, really needed some new gloves.
Today was busy. Since getting paid yesterday, I went about buying all the things that had failed to materialize magically in my cupboard or refrigerator these last couple months. After all was said and done, however, I decided to get one more thing, from a certain supermarket (I almost didn't go, having shopped myself tired, but I felt Compelled to, as much as I'd been repelled from buying the gloves this morning). As I did my business and left this supermarket, I was alerted to something in the parking lot: a glove, lying in a gutter.
I almost ignored it. But then I thought, if there's one glove, maybe there's two.
When I stopped and went back, there were in fact two. As it turned out, they were the thin, tight-fitting kind used for yard work, advertising a brand of tools. They were a little dirty, from being discarded in a gutter, but were otherwise in good shape. They fit perfectly.
A pair of gloves: $15
Finding a pair of gloves on the very day I nearly bought some: Priceless
Yesterday, I got my first paycheck of the season, so I planned on buying my new gloves today.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, the place from which I buy such things closes early on Saturdays, and I would had to have made a special, early trip to town to get there on time. Needing new gloves, I almost did this, but was Compelled not to, despite it meaning a delay on said gloves. Strange, since I really, really needed some new gloves.
Today was busy. Since getting paid yesterday, I went about buying all the things that had failed to materialize magically in my cupboard or refrigerator these last couple months. After all was said and done, however, I decided to get one more thing, from a certain supermarket (I almost didn't go, having shopped myself tired, but I felt Compelled to, as much as I'd been repelled from buying the gloves this morning). As I did my business and left this supermarket, I was alerted to something in the parking lot: a glove, lying in a gutter.
I almost ignored it. But then I thought, if there's one glove, maybe there's two.
When I stopped and went back, there were in fact two. As it turned out, they were the thin, tight-fitting kind used for yard work, advertising a brand of tools. They were a little dirty, from being discarded in a gutter, but were otherwise in good shape. They fit perfectly.
A pair of gloves: $15
Finding a pair of gloves on the very day I nearly bought some: Priceless
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