Lies have cost me almost everything, as I document in Ghosts and Ballyhoo. Why do people lie to create outrages that don’t exist? Let’s say you passionately believe that the world is getting worse. What happens when it’s all based on lies? My next novel is about titanic, unfathomable lies. I need help in grasping…
Is it just me?
May 22, 2023
Do you ever have one of those days in which you ask yourself, “Is it just me, or has the planet lost its collective mind?” One of my favorite films is Miller’s Crossing. It’s very violent, so you’ve been warned. I didn’t understand it until recently. It’s a movie about coming to sad realizations and…
I got fans!
May 21, 2023
I never had any interest in Facebook. A few years ago I opened an account under a pseudonym because I wanted to find out what happened to the youngest ghost of my life. After I discovered that all my worst fears for her had come true, I didn’t do any more Facebooking until I created…
A first for me
May 20, 2023
I HATE commercials. The main reason is the music and the actors. Since I don’t watch TV, I see commercials only on the Internet. They drive me crazy. For whatever reason advertising companies use ukulele music or jinga-jinga-jinga acoustic guitar music or tinkly piano kindergarten music or smarmy Wal-Mart slop. And the actors are always…
The truth will set you free, but—
May 19, 2023
Like almost everything, there’s a caveat. The truth will set you free, but only if you can take it. I don’t begrudge anyone their desire to spare themselves terrible knowledge. We’re under no obligation to know the truth. That’s different from lying. Here’s how I look at it: The truth is behind a closed door….
The price of secrecy
May 18, 2023
For over a year, I looked for an artifact that I found yesterday. In the process I sorted through thousands of photos. One box came from my Great-aunt Clarinda, sister to my paternal grandmother Angelina. Every photo in the box is unmarked. I have no idea who these people are. The price of secrecy is…
Your fate is to have free will
May 17, 2023
Today I found an artifact that had gone missing. I’d heard about it for years, but I’d never laid eyes on it. Now I’ve examined and touched it. Part of me had wondered if it really existed. Does it prove anything? Yes. It proves that our fate is to have free will. I broach the…
Crazy from the heat
May 16, 2023
Currently I’m writing a novel about a monstrous suspicion and the quest to prove or disprove it. Several people have contacted me to tell me that they finished Ghosts and Ballyhoo and liked it, so I’ve asked them to please leave Amazon reviews. Every Amazon review will help me rebuild my writing career. As I…
In praise of warriors
May 15, 2023
I just saw a tweet by author Joyce Carol Oates. It’s about a movie titled Les Chevaux de Dieu (Horses of God). I’ve never had the urge to read anything by Ms. Oates. Clearly I haven’t missed anything. Ms. Oates suffers from the mental illness of moral equivalency. She compares American warriors to suicide bombers….