Where among the desert sandsSome deserted city stands,All its children, sweep and prince,Grown to manhood ages since,Not a foot in street or house,Not a stir of child or mouse,And when kindly falls the night,In all the town no spark of light.There I’...

 The characters and items pictured above have been my writing companions for a few years now. On the left is what may be an Aztec death whistle. It makes a sound like rumbling wind or growling jaguar. There are two stone dice from Texas, som...

 Interview with Jeff ChapmanAuthor ofThe Great Contagion, The Sniggard's Revenge, Last Request: Victorian Gothic, and more Please tell me a little about your current work in progress. I’m working on a novel in my Merliss Tales fantasy seri...

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,The flying cloud, the frosty light:The year is dying in the night;Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.Ring out the old, ring in the new,Ring, happy bells, across the snow:The year is going, let him go;Ring out...

 Let's return to the Omnibus bill of 1850. Stephen Douglas succeeded where Daniel Webster had failed and brought the provisions through the Senate in small bites instead of at a single gulp. Getting the provisions through the House would be...

 See How They Run, 2022, directed by Tom George and written by Mark Chappell, stars Sam Rockwell as Detective Stoppard and Saoirse Ronan as Constable Stalker. This parody of the murder mystery genre is actually funny. We've recently watched...

 "There she is!" Christmas and New Years are visible through the Mutara Nebula. I'm doing my part to help you navigate the holidays without functioning sensors. Don't get caught in two-dimensional thinking.The first three books in...

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes,I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.--from: "Song of Myself," by Walt WhitmanI have to a...

 The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! -- The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene...

 A still from the live footage of black Friday shopping. Did you put away your dreams today,Fold them up and lock them away?Did you put them in a drawer at the close of day,Or consign them to the dustbin of never may? When do the th...

Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.From what I’ve tasted of desireI hold with those who favor fire.But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice.--Fire and Ic...

 Artwork by Cedar Sanderson from interior of Space Cowboys 6: Fission Chips. It may even go with my story, "Love under a Purple Sky."There's something about the idea of the cowboy that persists in the imagination of humanity. It'...

  I watched this 1952 black and white movie staring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford during my workout sessions on the M5 over a few days or a week. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and features Alexander Scourby as Max Fabian, Howard...

"While the process of becoming lost is usually a lot of fun, the entertainment value diminishes rapidly once the act is accomplished."--Patrick McManus--A Fine and Pleasant MiseryIf you haven't read any of the Patrick McManus books of short stories a...

 It's a tragic tale of youthful exuberance and avarice tainted by overconfidence unburdened with the requisite competence. It was the beginning of the quest for the Mysterious Cauldron within the Cursed Ruins. Our two young heroes were to fi...