Blog

As the well-deserved accolades are pouring in for Dolly Parton, RIP, there is one blind spot I am seeing in the coverage. I just released a collection of fictional stories about strong women, so I have a thought or two.

As a GenX-er, I fondly remember Dolly at the absolute peak of her ~70-year career.

Her talent was undeniable; but she was born a poor girl. So, I found it interesting how she allowed herself to be something of a punch-line in order to get a foothold in a man's world. To be...

Since nearly my entire creative writing practice has taken place in my forties and fifties—with all printed published works being in the latter decade—I recently became interested in my favorite authors' various ages. That is, how old were they when they wrote (what I considered to be) their best works?

Here are my 24 favorite all-time short stories, listed chronologically, and further subdivided by how old the authors were when they produced them:
~~~~~

19th-Century Authors
“The Tell-Tale Heart...

Macy glances up—Seatac baggage is just empty: forsaken, like Grandma's "guest room". Or home.

S'okay. They/Their world is online. Validation.

The red light spins. Thud! Even with earbuds, she hears the luggage arriving. Across the room she sees her parents approaching. Not smiling.

Back to her phone, they departs.

(2024)

“Most writers nowadays have to put all their personal opinion and views on ever page of their books. The difference between [LitFic] and [GenreFic] is not style of quality of prose. [It’s that] one makes you think, the other doesn’t…which is why a lot of modern literary fiction that spoon-feeds readers hyper-specific political or social commentary is not literary fiction. While cheap paperbacks with no delusion of grandeur and yet which make you think deeply for a long time after reading them...

A live dragon’s skeleton is filled with blood.
Their plasma burns, as a star
—but it’s only shards of white bone that fall from the sky
when their will breaks and their magicks from within, are consumed

with silent cries, combusted and mute. But should not
their sharp feathers fall just as far?
As fast? As alone?

No one can understand why
they explode, in mid-flight, self-immolating silhouettes upon the sun
leaving only a metallic chalk, argent tincture,
holy talcum to land on us who...

I. ESCAPISM, More Than Just Diversion
About 70 years ago, J. R. R. Tolkein (b. 1892) published what became the seminal written work of capital-F fantasy in the 20th Century: The Lord of the Rings (LOTR). But, in his time, he was a minor figure in England's academic circles—well regarded, but not really famous until after LOTR was published.

Although his publishing of The Hobbit seventeen years earlier was enough of a hit that the publisher requested its sequel in the first place. And that's...

Sometimes when I rub
my eyes, fear keeps them open —
and they bleed the truth

One easy thing to
jumpstart your career! Just learn
to not use AI

Techno-fascism
and muerte. Wherever Podcasts
Are Available

In the theaters,
kindness bounced off hallowed seats
like childhood pew! pews!

Haiku without rules,
“[something] …without tears,” Peter
Gabriel said, “[bla bla]…

…without...

I've noticed that most readers (and writers, being largely an unoriginal and mercenary lot) are being trained—by the industry, by big tech algorithms, etc.—to dislike storytelling. This is ironic because we've all been turned into storytellers by the technologies.

In the 20th century ("the before times"), one turned on a TV or a radio show, or bought a book as a deliberate act—adjacent to your life. You stopped doing whatever you did to do media. Now, of course, every minute of our lives is...

Hey Everyone! Re-acclimating after some end-of-Spring travel. Much more to come. In the meantime, feel free to check out:

A NEW SHORT STORY (a 'Tale of Myrrek'—readers of Darlings That Kill will know the reference). It's in four parts, roughly 5-10 minutes reads each. Part I is here.

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY ON LITERARY VERSUS GENRE FICTION. Maybe a new spin on an old discussion? Yeah, probably not. [Spoilers: Essentialism is the Big Bad.] Again, it's on the Substack, and again it's in...

Off and on, I set virtual pen to make-believe paper and put my thoughts down regarding books that either i) touched me at a specific time in a specific way; or wherein ii) I've had an interaction with the author and wanted to support them. Or both.

So, here is a list of my twelve (so far) written book reviews. They are all housed at The Storygraph (which I recommend, instead of Goodreads...only 4MM users instead of 150MM, but all the books are there, so who cares?). But I offer these links to...

Welcome to my new blog, which I've titled Counts as Writing.

For those of you unfamiliar: A blog is where one blogs.

Let me explain—A blog is where your blogs, which you have blogged, appear. That is, "blogging" is to do something as of, or pertaining to, a blog. Or, as Shakespeare famously said:* "Wherever one so blogs, there must, therefore, a blog be."

And so. Like the Far Side cartoon where the man paints labels on everything (he paints the word "door" on his front door, "dog" on his dog,...