I don’t know why, but Wictors and airplanes don’t mix. Chapter Three of Hallucinabulia: the Dream Diary of an Unintended Solitarian is devoted to my experiences with the Old Hag and my nightmares of being in airplane crashes. Dad hated flying as much as I do. It’s my final unconquerable fear. Though I’m not afraid…
Estrangement
April 23, 2024
Today I read of two things that underscore my estrangement from what I guess would be called the mainstream world. But they also show how far I’ve come in my drive to banish the rage that shackled me. First, I saw a piece about a writer whose story is being covered by most of the…
Talking points for Ghosts and Ballyhoo
April 22, 2024
Since I’ve accepted that Ghosts and Ballyhoo can no longer be professionally marketed, I may as well explain what I did to try and publicize it. The overwhelming majority of radio hosts don’t read the books that their guests have written. I had to prepare talking points so that they could fake it. Mike Albee…
Today I made a decision
April 21, 2024
It hit me today: The Ghosts Trilogy is dead. I won’t be able to find another publicist. That’s why I made the decision to give away books in exchange for reviews. For those of you who aren’t writers, let me explain something: Writing is a life of groveling. You grovel to agents, you grovel to…
Happy Easter
April 20, 2024
Happy Easter to everyone. Though I don’t identify as a Christian, I’m a theist, meaning I believe in God. The reason I can’t call myself a Christian is because I don’t meet the criterion. I can’t say that I believe that Yeshua Ben Yosef of Nazareth was the Christ, or son of God. It’s not…
For Tony
April 20, 2024
This post is for Tony. It’s part of the chapter titled “Lessons Learned,” from Ghosts and Ballyhoo. Things Just Might Turn Out All Right When I was sixteen, I died. It was an attack of irregular heartbeat, the primary cause of death from cardiac arrest. Medications have kept my episodes under control since 2007, except…
Hurricane House, the Tin Man, and free e-books.
April 19, 2024
During our time in Venezuela, we spent three summers on Sanibel Island, Florida, in a little resort called Hurricane House. As best as Tim and I can remember, the years were 1969, 1970, and 1971. Tim took these photos in 1970; our brother Paul shot the picture of Tim. It was on one of these…
Gibberish and massive bags. And free e-books
April 18, 2024
Thomas Piketty is a French economist who’s here in the US on a tour for his new book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. He’s a professor at the Paris School of Economics and a purveyor of gibberish and massive bags. When I saw his photo, I was reminded of an e-mail I got from a…
Cautionary tales always become manuals. And win free e-books!
April 17, 2024
I just read an article titled “Ten Things Idiocracy Predicted Would Happen, and Sadly Already Have.” Though I haven’t seen Idiocracy, I’m not surprised. Cautionary tales always become manuals. This phenomenon is not new. And win free e-books by answering a question! I’ll tell you how later. In 1941 Budd Schulberg published a novel titled…
The spiders demand it. And win free e-books!
April 17, 2024
I’ve been reading a lot about the dissatisfaction with the really dumb decisions Facebook is making. Let me tell you why we need Facebook. Or at least why some of us need Facebook: The spiders demand it. And win free e-books! You can benefit from my absolutely horrible experiences over the past year and half….