Before I get to a review of the movie, I note that everything seems to be on fire. Roaring flames encroach on the old homestead across the state and evacuation notices are in place there; the hiking trail I wrote about in the previous post in on the...

   That mound of gray material atop the rock, according to the sign, is ash that was all hot and sticky and formed a kind of concretesque substance when it got compacted. I didn't get to go up and examine it closely because...

  The picture isn't from Writers Cantina, it's one I created from a scene in my book, Accidental Wizard, which will be published in September.___________  I had planned to be on the road by 3 pm. The assistant who...

 Thomas R. Yarborough's A Shau Valor takes you to the action that brought individuals recognition with wards of Congressional Medals of Honor and other distinctions for courage, bravery, and service. A lot of those recipients received the aw...

  It's pretty good, but I think it's fake.This email praising my work, I mean. This time the praise is for Crisis in Fire and Snow - the most recent novel in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series. Hello Stanley Wheeler,AMAZI...

 I realize not everyone is a fan of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but everyone is entitled to their opinion--even a wrong one. So, if you don't find that message above highly amusing, you'll need to read the play or the posts I've done about adaptat...

<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE...

                                     Battle of Dresden, by Thomas Char...

  Before I get to my review of Tim Powers' Declare, I must report on the weekend doings.Comedienne got baptized on Saturday and asked me to do the honors while her other grandpa performed the confirmation. I got to reacquaint myself...

'E lifted up my 'ead,An' he plugged me where I bled,An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water-green:It was crawlin' and it stunk,But of all the drinks I've drunk,I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.   It was "Din! Din! Din!--From "Gunga Di...

  The unboxing continues at Xanadu. It's nothing like the Battle of the Pyramids pictured above, except for the chaotic nature of the job. I unloaded three boxes in the garage and another three in the basement. I'm finding books and...

The stars are with the voyagerWherever he may sail;The moon is constant to her time;The sun will never fail;But follow, follow round the world,The green earth and the sea,So love is with the lover's heart,Wherever he may be.Wherever he may be, the st...

Prepare, prepare the iron helm of war,Bring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb;Th' Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands,And casts them out upon the darken'd earth!Prepare, prepare!--William Blake, "A War Song to Englishmen"Iron Helm sound...

Though you should build a bark of dead men's bones,And rear a phantom gibbet for a mast,Stitch shrouds together for a sail, with groansTo fill it out, blood-stained and aghast;Although your rudder be a dragon's tailLong sever'd, yet still hard with a...

Souls of Poets dead and gone,   What Elysium have ye known,  Happy field or mossy cavern,  Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?--From "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern" - KeatsElysium, paradise, heaven, shangri-la - Well, I'm ins...